Adam’s Prolific Princess

(2 Minute Read)

Mrs. Adam was the first wife and the first mother. Adam named her Eve because she was the mother of all the living (Genesis 3:20).

Today many people ridicule the Biblical assertion that all humans (trillions of them) have descended from a single woman (Eve) who lived only six thousand years ago. But over the last few decades geneticists have found supporting evidence.

Results of scientific research on mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) now support this Biblical truth that there is a single mother of the human race. Inherited only from the mother, mtDNA is found outside the cell nucleus in the mitochondria organelles, the power plants of cells.

Mitochondrial genes (mtDNA) and nuclear genes (DNA) are inherited differently. When a sperm fertilizes an egg, the sperm nucleus and the egg nucleus both contribute genetic material (DNA) equally to the nucleus of the zygote. But the zygote’s mitochondrial DNA comes from the egg, because the sperm’s mitochondria are destroyed after entering the egg, leaving only the egg’s mitochondria. Mitochondria are inherited solely through the mother, not the father.

All mtDNA today comes from a single female which scientists have nicknamed Eve. This does not constitute proof of a single female ancestor, but only that no female lines now exist except Eve’s. This is consistent with the Biblical record, and evolutionary theory does not predict it.

Today mitochondrial genes are very similar with little diversity. This means little time has elapsed for mtDNA mutations to occur. This suggests that mitochondrial Eve lived not long ago; how long ago is under dispute.

The mtDNA mutation rate is the rate at which copying mistakes occur. Estimating the mtDNA mutation rate (using evolutionary assumptions), scientists once conjectured this ancestral Eve lived 200,000 years ago. Later studies showed much higher mutation rates (as much as 20-fold faster than expected) with correspondingly younger ages for Eve.

Was there was a first woman (Eve)
about 6,000 years ago? Some scientific
research supports this Biblical truth.

A review of the data in the prestigious journal Science said Eve would be only 6,000 years old based on these re-calibrated mtDNA mutation rates:

“Evolutionists are most concerned about the effect of a faster mutation rate. For example, researchers have calculated that “mitochondrial Eve”–the woman whose mtDNA was ancestral to that in all living people–lived 100,000 to 200,000 years ago in Africa. Using the new clock, she would be a mere 6000 years old.”
(Gibbons, Ann. “Calibrating the Mitochondrial Clock.” Science 279.5347, January 2, 1998. p 28–29.)

This is again consistent with Scripture but contrary to evolutionary predictions. Other scientists have disputed these results arguing for ages ranging from 99,000 to 200,000 years ago for mitochondrial Eve.

Scientists may settle on different ages for mitochondrial Eve, depending on the evolution model used and many assumptions. But regardless of the age, it is clear that all human evidence found by scientists points to descent from a single woman.

According to Genesis this first woman is Eve, the wife of Adam. According to Biblical chronology and some scientific research, Eve lived about 6,000 years ago.

Questions to Ponder

1. Why does scientific evidence for a single 6,000-year-old female ancestor get so little publicity?
2. Do you think evolutionists are troubled by inconsistencies such as mitochondrial DNA?

Share your thoughts on these questions in the comments below. It could encourage or help another reader.

Soli Deo Gloria.

This is the 19th article in a weekly series on Adam.
Read the prequels:
1. Was Adam in the Garden of Eden?
2. Did Moses Believe in Adam?
3. Did Jesus Believe in Adam?
4. Did Paul Believe in Adam?
5. Does Belief in Adam Matter?
6. Adam and Puppies
7. Why Did Adam Sin?
8. What Should Adam Have Done?
9. What Did Adam Cause?
10. What Was Adam’s Forbidden Fruit?
11. How Long Was Adam in Eden?
12. Was Adam’s Garden of Eden Real?
13. Christmas & Adam (with videos)
14. Where Was Adam’s Garden of Eden?
15. Did Adam Wear Clothes in Eden?
16. Was Adam Backward or Brilliant? (with video)
17. Who Was Mrs. Adam?
18. Adam’s Dream Girl

Read the sequels:
20. Adam’s Problematic Princess
21. How Many Children Did Adam Have?
22. Whom Did Adam’s Sons Marry?
23. Did Adam Ride a Unicorn?
24. How Long Did Adam Live?
25. Did Adam Swat Mosquitoes in Eden?
26. Did Adam’s Garden Have a Talking Snake?
27. Why Should Adam’s Sin Affect Me?
28. Did Roses Have Thorns in Adam’s Garden?
29. Adam the Image-Bearer & Harambe the Gorilla
30. Did Adam Ever Return to Eden?
31. What Was Adam’s Tree of Life?
32. Will Adam Be in Heaven?
33. Did Adam See the Big Dipper?
34. Did Adam Know Earth Is Round?
35. Did Jesus Say When Adam Was Created?
36. Did Adam See Dinosaurs?
37. Did Adam Like Steak?
38. Could Adam Read & Write?
39. Did God Use Evolution to Make Adam?
40. Adam & the Olympics
41. Adam and the Gospel
42. Adam and the Genesis Road

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©William T. Pelletier, Ph.D.
“contending earnestly for the faith”
“destroying speculations against the knowledge of God”
“for the defense of the gospel”
(Jude 1:3; 2 Cor 10:5; Phil 1:16)
Wednesday March 9, 2016 A.D.

Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.” Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name. And the man gave names to all the cattle, and to the birds of the sky, and to every beast of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him. So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh at that place. And the LORD God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. And the man said, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” For this cause a man shall leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and they shall become one flesh….Now the man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all the living. (Genesis 2:18-24; 3:20 NASB)