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[Barracuda]

So I am a Christian, but I have always had this one question: How did humanity spread from Adam and Eve without incest? Or was there incest?

[jimwalton]

I don't believe that Adam and Eve were the first hominids. I believe there were probably thousands of hominids around, and Adam and Eve were chosen out from among them. It's possible that maybe A&E were the first sort of homo sapiens, but we assume that the homo sapiens evolved as a group, not necessary just as one couple.

I based these thoughts on the work of Dr. John Walton (The Lost World of Genesis One) who says that Genesis 1 & 2 are not about material creation, but rather about God bringing order and function to what was there. (According to the Bible God created the material world, but that's not what Genesis 1 & 2 are about.) He makes a convincing case. He says that A&E are presented as archetypes of the human race (not metaphors, not allegories) and represent what all humans were like and what all humans would have done in those same circumstances.

As far as support (without getting into too much detail), you'll notice in Genesis 2.15 that "the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden." Walton says, "Took him from where?" and concludes possibly out from among the other hominids. You'll also notice in Genesis 4.17 that after Cain's murder of his brother, Abel, he lay with his wife and had children. Well, where did she come from? Walton says there were many others around.

So it isn't incest. It's just very possibly not what we were taught in Sunday School.