How did Adam and Eve's children have their own children?

Answer 1

The following are opinions from contributors:Opinion (Christian Perspective)They could have offspring with each other without genetic problems because the first few children were perfect and did not have any problems with their DNA. It was not uncommon during those times for brothers and sisters to marry and have children as did cousins. It was only later that incestuous marriages were forbidden. Even Abraham and Sarah were half siblings, having the same father but different mothers.

In those times, man lived to be very old, so there were plenty of years to have lots of children. Also, sin was not around as long and had not taken the toll on man that it has today, and being inbred did not cause the birth defects that it causes today. The world was young and not so defiled. People don't keep in mind that it was a different time, and things that they think couldn't be, actually could.


The statement that children of Adam and Eve married each other usually provokes a further objection that God would not permit incest. In modern times, incest is regarded as reprehensible, and rightly so. This is because of what scientists refer to as 'the genetic load'. This 'load' is the accumulation of bad mutations during the centuries. Fortunately for us, the genetic effect of these mutations is usually recessive. It remains latent, unless both parents carry the particular recessive genes. In that case, the offspring has a significant chance to exhibit the defect. The more closely the parents are related, the greater the risk of carrying matching recessive bad mutations from 'the genetic load'.


In summary, Adam and Eve were bodily perfect. in the early stages of the human race, there was virtually no 'genetic load', so when the offspring intermarried, there was no genetic risk to their children. Opinion (Christian Perspective)An alternative answer is that there could have been other people created after Adam and Eve, the creation of whom is not mentioned in The Bible. This does not contradict what is said in Genesis.

A further alternative acceptable to many (non-fundamentalist) Christians is that the Adam and Eve story is an allegory about Mankind's fall from grace and that (inter alia) this aspect is not meant to be taken literally.
Opinion (Islamic Perspective)Regarding the Islamic view of this question: Adam was created from mud; Allah ("God") caught a piece of mud from every place in the earth, and Adam was created from a collection of these different types of mud.

Eve gave birth to twins at a time, a male and a female; the male is prohibited to marry his female twin, but not his brother's twin; since Adam was created from different materials, carrying the genes of all humankind races, his children differed in their characteristics, too, i.e. each twin had specific characteristics different from the other. Opinion (Islamic Perspective)Adam was not the first man, he was the first prophet. The word "Adam" in the Quran can refer to all life on the Earth. He was among many humans so he was able to reproduce like a human being. Islam will not contradict science on such a simple topic of reproduction because it is foolish to think Adam would live 1000 years or that he was the first human created.
Opinion (Scientific Perspective)Examination of the DNA of living and dead humans and archaeological and paleontological evidence shows that humans have been on Earth much longer than suggested by the genealogical information given in the Bible. According to National Geographic Magazine, Homo erectus evolved 1.7 million years ago. Homo sapiens (modern humans) go back as far back as 100,000- 150,000 thousand years ago. This contradicts the belief of fundamentalist Abrahamic religions that Adam and Eve were the first two Human Beings.


Opinion (Christian Perspective)Genesis 1:27 says God made other people. They married other people. No incest. It is written on the sixth day God made male and female. Adam and Eve were different from the other humans. God had a plan for them but they did not commit incest.

Opinion (Christian Perspective)Although it is true that the Bible doesn't say that Seth (one of Adam and Eve's sons) married his sister in order to "be fruitful and multiply," I think that it would make more sense to believe he did, than to believe that God made several couples all at once just to avoid them committing incest. As the first answer suggests, brothers and sisters marrying would not have been a problem in the first few centuries of mankind's history. People's vitality was a lot stronger back then, as indicated by their much longer lifespans which dropped considerably after the flood of Noah's time which caused the breakup of the protective canopy surrounding the earth when the floodgates were opened. Many creation scientists believe the watery canopy, prior to the flood, was shielding everyone from the harmful effects of the sun and created a better atmosphere allowing for more life giving oxygen to be available to sustain health. After the flood, you don't read of anyone living hundreds of years, which is probably why there were more health laws given then, such as prohibiting marrying within one's household, since if you lived subsequent to the breakup of the protective canopy you would be susceptible to a lot more diseases than before.

Some would say that Adam & Eve were not the only first parents, that on the 6th day God created many couples besides them. But, if that were the case, there would be too many verses of Scripture that wouldn't make sense. For example, Romans 5:12 says "Sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men." And 1 Corinthians 15:22 says who that one man is: "For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive." How could we all be said to inherit death from Adam unless everyone could trace his ancestry to him and not another?

And, Adam and Eve were not figurative of all the couples God supposedly created from the earth. If you hold the Bible to be true, then Adam was "the first man" (see 1 Corinthians 15:45) and since he is listed in the genealogy of Jesus (see Luke 3:38), we can know he and Eve were real and not a myth. Two of their grandchildren's names are listed for us as Enosh (a son of Seth) and Irad (a son of Cain). I believe there is no problem with saying that the mothers of Enosh and Irad were the daughters of Adam and Eve.

The days of Adam after he fathered Seth were 800 years; and he had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days that Adam lived were 930 years, and he died. (Genesis 5:4-5)

Opinion (Christian Perspective)Although it is not clearly state in the bible that the children of Adam and Eve married each other and had children there is scripture that shows that Adam and Eve were the first man and woman created. Although in Genesis 1:27 it says that God created man on the 6th day, later in Genesis 2:7 God created Adam and in Genesis 2:18 it goes on to say "Then the Lord said, 'It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him." Through these scriptures it appears clear to me that Adam was alone making him the first being on earth and that Eve who was subsequently created by God for Adam, was the second being on earth.

If Adam and Eve were the first people on the earth, then their children had to of married each other and furthermore have children with one another.

Answer 2

Adam and Eve's children, Cain and Abel, would have married and had children with their own siblings, according to the biblical story. This form of procreation was necessary in the early stages of humanity's existence to ensure the propagation of the species.