Y-chromosomal Adam, Mitochondrial Eve

Y-chromosomal Adam is the name given by researchers to the man who is the patrilineal (male- lineage) most recent common ancestor for all living humans. Mitochondrial Eve is the female counterpart.  Male Y-DNA is transmitted through the male,  and is the DNA used in paternity suits to determine fatherhood.   A friend of mine once commented that coincidences are little miracles for which God gets no credit. Whether true or not, in these posts I have been chronicling things in science that fit well with the Genesis record.  You can make up your own mind about these things.  This morning we are moving towards “God created Adam....” (Genesis 1:27), but  I felt the science was worth mentioning. One of the puzzling things about Y-chromosomal Adam and  Mitochondrial Eve, is that she is said to be (in terms of human lifetime) very much older than Y-chromosomal Adam (millions of years). No one is saying she lived that long!

Without going into the details of reproduction, you have to realize that the only way that this could occur, is if all but one line of the males survived some sort of disaster, while at the same time a number of different female lines survived.  The Genesis flood story, if true, would be such a disaster. In particular we read “So Noah, with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives, went into the ark because of the waters of the flood” (Genesis  7:7).  And “On the very same day Noah and Noah’s sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them, entered the ark,” and the Lord shut them in (verses 13, 16).  The flood came,   “the waters increased and lifted up the ark, and it rose high above the earth, ”  and “all flesh died that moved on the earth” (verses 17, 21).  

As I say, you are free to make up your mind about these things. In his book “Quarks,  Chaos and  Christianity,” physicist-turned-theologian John Polkinghorne comments  “a big fundamental question, like belief in God (or disbelief), is not settled by a single argument. It’s too complicated for that. What you would have to do is consider lots of different issues,  and see whether or not the answers one gets add up to a total picture that makes sense.” Lee Strobel (The Case for a Creator) in chronicling his own journey from atheist to believer comments “when I opened my mind to the possibility of an  explanation beyond naturalism, I found the design hypothesis most clearly accounted for the evidence of science. The ‘explanatory  power’ of the design hypothesis outstripped every other theory. ” These books are likely to prove useful for an open-minded search for God. As with these men Francis Schaeffer comments “Ultimately belief is a leap of faith, but it does not have to be blind.”  Most people however don't realize that atheism is also a leap of faith, but in spite of their denials, it surely is!

Father, it was and is important to me to know that I have not believed cunningly devised fables (2 Peter 1:16). Though I find You only when I search for You with all my heart (Jeremiah 29:13), nevertheless the mind matters (Mark 12:30). I like to add to  Schaeffer's  words. Yes it is a leap of faith, but having leapt I was not left forever wondering if what I had believe is true. Your Spirit witnesses to my spirit that I am a child of God (Romans 8:16), and for this and many other things, I give You thanks and praise in Jesus Name Amen