Are Adam and Eve the First Dysfunctional Family?
If so, they were way ahead of their time!
I grew up Catholic and attended Catholic schools through high school. Naturally, I had to participate in religion classes where the Bible was the central textbook authority. I can remember being taught about the Creation and the story of Adam and Eve, just like every other Christian, Muslim, or Jew has been taught.
We were taught that God created Adam from the earth's dust and Eve from a rib taken from Adam. The Bible also teaches us that Adam and Eve had two sons, Cain and Abel. That was it. No questions asked; believe it.
…the offspring of closely related parents can and will be genetically defective.
Now that I am older, have completed my formal education, and am still educated by life, I have developed many questions. I think about these questions frequently.
Years ago, in biology class, I learned that for the population to increase and be healthy, men and women must reproduce, as in the union of egg and sperm. I also learned that there must be diversity in the gene pool for humankind to flourish. This means that the offspring of closely related parents can and will be genetically defective.
