Michelle,

>>You could always go read it.. Ahem... <g>
>
>Actually, I have read it. But that was years ago and I don't have a copy here at work. :)


Ahh... www.blueletterbible.org should fix that. <g>

>
>>Yes, after Cain murdered Abel he was banished by God. However, it was more along the lines of his being literally 'marked' by God and made into something of an outcast in society as opposed to being sent to a specific location.
>
>Ok, so he's an outcast in a society consisting of his parents? Or was this supposed to have happened after his parents had populated the Earth? Seems like a long time to go before anyone got pissed enough to kill someone.

No, not necessarily. There's no indication when this all happened. It could have been a couple hundred years and there could have been many many others by then. You need to remember to gear your thought process out a little to accomdate the longer lives.

>
>>Well, remember, the gene pool at that time was pure, or it started that way. Also, folks lived almost 1000 years which is entirely possible if the body's defense systems didn't have the problems. IOW, the body could heal itself almost indefinitely if it didn't lose that ability as a result of genetic impurities.
>>
>>Anyway, Adam and Eve more had more children and they intermarried. Do the numbers. Figure 500 years and maybe 30-50 children and within a few generations you could have several billions of people. There are women alive today who have had between 12-18 children so 50 isn't a stretch at all.
>>
>>Some have theorized that there could have about 6 billion peole on the Earth when the flood occurred.
>>
>>You are correct that today two people are not viable for a gene pool. That's because the gene pool is messed up whereas then it was not.
>>
>>The problem is people are thinking man is getting better as opposed to degrading. Man is degrading genetically not improving.
>
>So if you start with genes that contain no mutations, two people have enough genetic data to create billions with lots of different characteristics? I admit that genetics is not my area, but it still seems unlikely to me.

Well, I'm not a geneticist either but if you take the postulate that when Adam and Eve sinned that something was introduced into their system to cause the deterioration, leading eventually to death, it's not that big a deal. One of the more interesting theories I've encountered was that this particular fruit had some sort of enzyme or bacterium in it that affected the DNA.

In this case it's easy to move to the step of deterioration IMO.

Another interesting factoid is that after Noah's flood the lifespan of mankind dropped to what it is today - about 70 years. Many think that this was a result of ultraviolet radiation....

>
>Michelle (feeling rather sorry for Eve in the days before epidurals...)

*chuckle*

Well, God did tell her that there would be pain in childbearing. I don't think we men have a clue about the severity. <g>