Are we descended from Adam and Eve?

Answer 1

ALL of us.

Genesis 3:20 says: "Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living."(NIV)

Acts 17:26 says: "And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth..."(ESV)

Answer 2

A:

No. We now know that humans evolved from more primitive ancestors millions of years ago. Leon R. Kass (The Beginning of Wisdom: Reading Genesis) says we can learn most from their story by regarding it as a mythical yet realistic portrait of permanent truths about our humanity, rather than as a historical yet idealised portrait of a blissful existence we once enjoyed but lost. Adam and Eve were purely mythical and could not have been our ancestors.

Answer 3

AnswerDepending on whether you want a scientific or faith-based answer:

• We are not related to Adam and Eve because they are mythical. They did not really exist.
• We are all related to Adam and Eve by descent.

Answer 4

Many scholars say that the story of Adam and Eve should not be read literally, but as a moral tale. This is only one of two, clearly different creation stories in Genesis. Genesis chapter 1 says that unnamed humans (both male and female) were created after God created all other living creatures, while Genesis chapter 2 says that the creation of Adam occurred before the creation of all other living creatures, while the creation of Eve came after they were created. If both stories are true, then we could just as easily be descended from the people created in chapter 1 as from Adam and Eve, created in chapter 2.

Science tell us that modern humans evolved over two hundred years ago. We are therefore direct descendants of these much earlier people.

Answer 5

God created Adam and Eve perfect and purposed that all humankind descend from them. (Gen. 1:28; 3:20) Obviously some marrying of close relatives, especially within the first few generations, would occur. Even after sin made its appearance, there was relatively little danger of marked deformities in the children during early generations, because the human race was much closer to the perfection that had been enjoyed by Adam and Eve. This is attested to by the longevity of people then. (See Genesis 5:3-8; 25:7.) But about 2,500 years after Adam became a sinner, God prohibited incestuous marriage.

Answer 6

Many scholars say that the story of Adam and Eve should not be read literally, but as a moral tale. This is only one of two, clearly different creation stories in Genesis. Genesis chapter 1 says that unnamed humans (both male and female) were created after God created all other living creatures, while Genesis chapter 2 says that the creation of Adam occurred before the creation of all other living creatures, while the creation of Eve came after they were created. If both stories are true, then we could just as easily be descended from the people created in chapter 1 as from Adam and Eve, created in chapter 2.

Science tell us that modern humans evolved over two hundred years ago. We are therefore direct descendants of these much earlier people.

For more information, please visit: http://christianity.answers.com/theology/the-story-of-creation

Answer 7

If we suppose there were an Adam and an Eve, then yes. However, the story is only that, a myth created by a primitive people. We actually descend from hominids who evolved in Africa. DNA studies imply that we all had a common ancestress around 200 thousand years ago, and there is much other evidence that we are all (distantly) related.