How did Adam and Eve's children populate the earth?

[sixth seal]

I was having a discussion with a prospective member of the church today. He brought up a question that I did not really know how to answer. He was talking about Adam and Eve and the fact that all people on the earth came from them. He asked how the population grew beyond the first generation of Adam and Eve's children. Basically for further generations to come forth, Adam and Eve's children would have had to have had sexual relations with each other and reproduced with each other. He asked if this was the only way that the earth could have been populated. He was very uncomfortable with the notion of "incest" taking place. This is a subject that most of us have at one time or another thought about I'm sure. I'm just not really sure how to answer him. If anyone has a good answer on this it would be very helpful. :ymblushing:

[Steve Clark]

Yup. That's how it happened. Theories I have heard include that the blood lines were not corrupted so incest wasn't a problem from a genetic standpoint.

[LukeAir2008]

Yes Adam's children paired off, married and brought forth children. Their Father and Mother had been immortal before they partook of the fruit of the earth. Their children came from good stock and lived for hundreds of years.

[7cylon7]

That is exactly right.

Many approaches to this statement one of which could be also how did they live so long? They lived hundreds of years long and now we are lucky to 90. So how do you explain that. The basic fact is that God commanded it and they obeyed. God blessed them that their siblings could in fact have children as brother and sister yet their offspring would have no ill effects that we see today. One of the main reasons incest is outlawed is because of the defects that come from those kinds of unions. You will remember that the English so called Royalty had all kinds of problems with birth defects from only marrying brothers and sisters. Why did they start this pratice. It was a selfish one, they wanted to concolidate power to only their family. They wanted to keep all the power of the kingdom in a small few hands. So God cursed the incest relationship.

Another thing to note is that Adam and Eve's bodies were more pure, for lack of a better word, and the genetic make up of their bodies could withstand the brother sister relationship.

But the best answer is when God commands it and you follow you will always be blested. They were commanded to marry and have children even if at that time they were brother and sister. But as soon as enough population was on the earth you can see where this practice was no longer needed even God cursed it, if you will.

The bottom line is do you believe God to have all power or not? God's ways are not MAN's ways. We have to understand that God tells us what is right and what is wrong and when God commands you he will then bless you with your obedience.

[AshleyB]

I think a lot of it also had to do with the physical conditions in which they lived on the earth. We are told by quotes from the early brethren that the earth lived within a great constellation of stars and that the earth once basked in the light of other sun's. Anthony Larson has some very interesting ideas about this. He talks about how the earths main sun used to be more like a brown dwarf and that it dwelled very closed to that parent star and that it caused much different conditions upon the earth then we see now. And that those conditions also had to do with why everything on the earth just spontaneously grew and why the people lived so long.

http://mormonprophecy.blogspot.com/2008 ... ospel.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Cowboy]

We can't apply today's standards to yesterday's situations. We can try to explain it away all day to make it feel less " icky ", but the fact remains that there was nothing wrong with it and that is how it was in the beginning.
No problem.

[sbsion]

isn't your wife your sister(spiritually), and besides, if we are all Adams AND Eves, who to say when they were transplanted here, that there wasn't more than just one, or that Adam had many Eves, etc, etc.

[Amore Vero]

who to say when they were transplanted here, that there wasn't more than just one, or that Adam had many Eves, etc, etc.

The Bible & Joseph Smith's scriptures are the ones who say it, that the earth was started with one man & one woman, Adam & Eve.

Eve was called the 'mother of all living' because that's exactly what she was.

What the scriptures say is our 'rod of iron' so we don't get off track on wrong ideas & philosophies.

[Fiannan]

I was having a discussion with a prospective member of the church today. He brought up a question that I did not really know how to answer. He was talking about Adam and Eve and the fact that all people on the earth came from them. He asked how the population grew beyond the first generation of Adam and Eve's children. Basically for further generations to come forth, Adam and Eve's children would have had to have had sexual relations with each other and reproduced with each other. He asked if this was the only way that the earth could have been populated. He was very uncomfortable with the notion of "incest" taking place. This is a subject that most of us have at one time or another thought about I'm sure. I'm just not really sure how to answer him. If anyone has a good answer on this it would be very helpful. :ymblushing:

First, some observations. Abraham and Sarah had the same father, different mothers. Jacob married two sisters, not his but something forbidden by Mosaic Law. Thing is, Eden was not subject to Mosaic Law. So incest in this context is not a sin. Also, if one believes in evolution they too have to accept the idea that there were a limited number of humans that evolved from other primates and so they had to made with close kin as well.

[sbsion]

who to say when they were transplanted here, that there wasn't more than just one, or that Adam had many Eves, etc, etc.

The Bible & Joseph Smith's scriptures are the ones who say it, that the earth was started with one man & one woman, Adam & Eve.
Eve was called the 'mother of all living' because that's exactly what she was.
What the scriptures say is our 'rod of iron' so we don't get off track on wrong ideas & philosophies.

my POV....WRONG.........what is spoken in the endowment and scriptures is FIGURITIVE ONLY, speaking of a "suppossed" first, there was NO first, man has always been, and so has woman, Adam is merely a title of when a "certain intelligence" became tabernacled, even YOU, man was CERTAINLY transplanted to earth after being born on another earth, of woman, denoted as Eve, as where would one "begin"?.........hmmmm btw, man was ONLY made of the dust of an earth because he eats fruit that grows from the "the dust of earth"...........right?

[Amore Vero]

my POV....WRONG.........what is spoken in the endowment and scriptures is FIGURITIVE ONLY, speaking of a "suppossed" first, there was NO first, man has always been, and so has woman, Adam is merely a title of when a "certain intelligence" became tabernacled, even YOU, man was CERTAINLY transplanted to earth after being born on another earth, of woman, denoted as Eve, as where would one "begin"?.........hmmmm btw, man was ONLY made of the dust of an earth because he eats fruit that grows from the "the dust of earth"...........right?

The scriptures are still correct & clear, Adam was the 1st man upon 'this earth' & Eve, the 1st woman & the mother of all living upon 'this earth', even though they were brought from another planet.

[LukeAir2008]

Brigham Young stated that "He (Adam) was made as you and I were made and no person was ever made on any other principle." In fact, the Lord told Moses what it meant to be 'made from the dust of the earth.' The Lord said it meant to be 'BORN. . .by water, and blood, and the spirit which I have made, and SO BECAME OF DUST A LIVING SOUL.' (Moses 6:59)
(Working Memorandum on the Creation Story; Handout, p. 14; BYU; Cleon Skousen; 1972. )

[Original_Intent]

my POV....WRONG

So easy to take out of context with all the ellipses.......maybe.........complete......thoughts....fill in more blanks....... )

[sbsion]

RU trying to memic me...........he he?

[Tribunal]

This has been a fascinating subject for me for years and I've heard numerous credible explanations to answer the poster's question. Some things to consider are:
1) What do we know of the Adam and Eve story from it's most original source?
2) Are we taking the Bible story "as far as it is translated correctly"?
3) All things considered (from what we know historically, scientifically, and Biblically) what can we conclude actually or might have happened?

[JerL]

I would love to see the look on the prospective members face when he heard some of these answers. =)) Not saying they aren't true, it would just be quite a bit to take in.

[sbsion]

hey............we know, man has procreated forever and will also, just like galaxies, etc relationships don't matter, but, due to the gradiations of intelligences, we respect their "limitabilities"

[freedomforall]

That is exactly right.

Many approaches to this statement one of which could be also how did they live so long? They lived hundreds of years long and now we are lucky to 90. So how do you explain that. The basic fact is that God commanded it and they obeyed. God blessed them that their siblings could in fact have children as brother and sister yet their offspring would have no ill effects that we see today. One of the main reasons incest is outlawed is because of the defects that come from those kinds of unions. You will remember that the English so called Royalty had all kinds of problems with birth defects from only marrying brothers and sisters. Why did they start this pratice. It was a selfish one, they wanted to concolidate power to only their family. They wanted to keep all the power of the kingdom in a small few hands. So God cursed the incest relationship.

Another thing to note is that Adam and Eve's bodies were more pure, for lack of a better word, and the genetic make up of their bodies could withstand the brother sister relationship.

But the best answer is when God commands it and you follow you will always be blested. They were commanded to marry and have children even if at that time they were brother and sister. But as soon as enough population was on the earth you can see where this practice was no longer needed even God cursed it, if you will.

The bottom line is do you believe God to have all power or not? God's ways are not MAN's ways. We have to understand that God tells us what is right and what is wrong and when God commands you he will then bless you with your obedience.

It is also noted that Adam and Eve had not been assigned their reckoning of time, rather, they were on God's time of 1000 years being one day to God. This explains how Adam and Eve lived so long, yet died before the thousand years were up. He said "in the time thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die". One key word here is...time. How long?

Abraham 5:
13 But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the time that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. Now I, Abraham, saw that it was after the Lord’s time, which was after the time of Kolob; for as yet the Gods had not appointed unto Adam his reckoning.

[LukeAir2008]

I would love to see the look on the prospective members face when he heard some of these answers. =)) Not saying they aren't true, it would just be quite a bit to take in.

If he joins the Church he'll probably find these things out for himself and then he'll have to deal with them. And if he's sincere he'll want to understand these things. He wont want to play a mental trick on himself and say oh they probably didn't mean that or Im sure they didnt say that or its been recorded incorrectly or maybe they were just giving their personal opinion.

Im just glad that the missionaries who taught me were cleansed every whit from iniquity and who brought the Spirit into my home so powerfully that I knew by revelation that the Church was true. Im also glad that I knew the Church was true first and then I later discovered the meat of the gospel.

I've just heard of another person that I know, a High Priests group leader in another ward, who's leaving the Church because of what he discovered on the internet. He's been bearing testimony that he knew the Church was true for years when in reality he didn't know at all. Thinking that you know and actually knowing are two very different things.

[AshleyB]

Very true LukeAir. It's sad to see that happen. You should have him read Denver Snuffer's book. It would probably help him a whole lot and maybe he would realize that this is still the Lord's church and the best place for him to be. The book has already helped bring quite a few people back into the fold. If he is truly questioning things and is not happy with the sugar coated answers then it would probably be the best thing for him to read.

But back to the Adam and Eve subject, I know in the apocrypha in the books of Adam and Eve it talks about how Cain and Abel were both born with twin sisters. And part of the reason Cain wanted to kill Abel was because Abel was going to be marrying the sister he wanted. I had never considered that she may have had twins. So just with the first two pregnancies she could have already had four children. I know the apocrypha has a lot of errors but it is a possibility. If I remember right Abel was supposed to marry Cains twin sister and vise versa.

[LukeAir2008]

Very true LukeAir. It's sad to see that happen. You should have him read Denver Snuffer's book. It would probably help him a whole lot and maybe he would realize that this is still the Lord's church and the best place for him to be. The book has already helped bring quite a few people back into the fold. If he is truly questioning things and is not happy with the sugar coated answers then it would probably be the best thing for him to read.

But back to the Adam and Eve subject, I know in the apocrypha in the books of Adam and Eve it talks about how Cain and Abel were both born with twin sisters. And part of the reason Cain wanted to kill Abel was because Abel was going to be marrying the sister he wanted. I had never considered that she may have had twins. So just with the first two pregnancies she could have already had four children. I know the apocrypha has a lot of errors but it is a possibility. If I remember right Abel was supposed to marry Cains twin sister and vise versa.

There is so much we don't know or have lost. This reminds of the account that Nibley tells in one of his books about how Ham went into his parents room while they were asleep and copied their garments. The story is told in Genesis 9 but has been corrupted with Ham being cursed for seeing their nakedness but of course it seems to make no sense.

There seems to be a pattern with the gospel of the real information later being hidden or denied as the people go into apostasy and are no longer worthy of sacred information.

[Henmasher]

You should ask the person in question if they have a testimony of God and His daughter Mary. But you will notice that most saints ignore that doctrine and merely refute back to the stork theory. Interesting that God would take one of His daughters from His marriage to Heavenly Mother as an eternal companion in marriage also. Yet Christ must have both mortal and immortal parents to fulfill His atonement for us. His earthly Mother was His spiritual sister.

[bobhenstra]

It isn't incest if they're married! Especially for eternity. We were all born male and female (twins) to Heavenly Parents, some where out there we all have a twin brother or sister.

After I left the USAF I met a very pretty young lady by the name of Ruth Ann, we dated and I was in love! But the Bishop called me in and wanted me to go on a mission, I didn't wanna, I wanted to stay home and marry that pretty little girl. However that Sunday night after I had my little talk with the Bishop, I had a remarkable dream, I saw the woman I was going to marry, and it wasn't Ruth Ann!

So, I went on a mission, got home and it took me another two years to find JoAnn, 27 days after our first date we were married in the Salt Lake Temple, everybody said it wouldn't last, we were together in mortality for 40 years. She was the girl in my dream, is she my literal spirit sister---I don't know--- yet!

Bob

[Tribunal]

I would be more concerned with the population discrepency for those who don't believe in Scripture as opposed to those who do. If the human population is a million years old, even accounting for disease, wars, and cataclysms, why is the population today only 6+ billion?

And for those who believe in Scripture why is the population only 6+ billion? At the rate that men and women have children, and the length of a generation, even with Adam and Eve as 'first parents' the population should have been in the billions and billions just before the Flood, and after the Flood with Noah and his family, the population should have grown to billions and billions again. There just aren't enough people on the earth today to justify evolution or even Scriptures.

[freedomforall]

One child at a time, hither and thither.