Anonymous

How come a billion of people are born just from Adam and Eve, does it mean that an incest was going on between the first people on this planet?

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Tom  Jackson Profile
Tom Jackson answered

The truths of divine revelation cannot be deduced through natural
reason.

The primary purpose of the way the story of Adam and Eve is constructed is to show that each of us as humans were all represented by the first Human---Adam, from which all of us "came."

In this case, I find it is useful to go with the the general concept and point of the story, rather than trying to figure out the details of how it might have worked.

sm cl Profile
sm cl answered

Short answer: Yes. Regardless of how you believe humanity has flourished, the modern definition of "incest" would have played a major role in reproduction.

AnnNettie Paradise Profile

Circumstances were quite different in biblical times. Our first parents Adam and Eve were created perfect, and the instructions for them to "multiply and fill the earth" would necessarily require that their offspring marry one another and produce. (Genesis 1:28)  Therefore, as perfect humans, their children would have been perfect as were their parents.

Even though Adam and Eve sinned and became imperfect, Cain and his brothers and sisters were still so near to physical perfection that the children they produced did not suffer the same adverse effects as do children born of such unions today. Even some 2,000 years afterward, God’s faithful servant Abraham married his half-sister Sarah, and God did not disapprove. (Gen. 20:12) It was yet another 450 years or so before God saw fit to provide his nation of Israel a body of laws that forbade incest on penalty of death. (Lev. 18:8-17) By that time imperfection had apparently developed to such an extent that no longer was it safe for close relatives to marry.


Arthur Wright Profile
Arthur Wright , Florida Paralegal with a BS degree in Social-Psychology, answered

Very interesting question here as basically it means that we all are related because of this. 

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Ray Dart
Ray Dart commented
Bryson - "A brief history of almost everything" has quite a lot to say. Almost all of us with European roots will be related to both William Shakespeare and Charlemagne.
Hope This Helps Profile
Hope This Helps answered

And consider how fast the population of the world has exploded, just over the last 100 years.

Humans are capable of multiplying quickly, and 4000 years (since the global deluge) is a lot longer than a mere century.  There was plenty of time to build up to the exponential state that exists, today.

As others have stated, 'incest' was not a crime, in the ancient world, but in fact, considered an important act of rescue and deliverance from dishonor, in some cases.

Not a good or healthy idea in the contemporary, western world, however.  :)

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