Christianity Today interview with Joshua Swamidass about his new book, the Genealogical Adam and Eve

[Randy]

For what it’s worth, here’s the response from Dr Carter of CMI (Creation Ministries International) (this was before the book came out):

@gbrooks9

Randy:

@gbrooks9 Mr Brooks, Brother Chris @aarceng helped me contact Dr Robert Carter from CMI (who reviewed @DennisVenema “s Adam and the Genome”) . I already passed this by Dr Swamidass in October, and he was going to address it further after talking about other projects. I think he said it would help his discussion

Here is his response. He said “I appreciate Joshua’s efforts”

I am aware of Joshua Swamidass’ writings on this subject. …He solved one issue, but left many other unanswered. For example, the origin and definition of sin 1, the origin and meaning of death, and the reason Jesus had to die 1 to pay for sins. All of these are addressed using straightforward biblical reasoning. His evolutionary approach leaves them all unsolved.

If A&E were members of a larger society, they may have become the genealogical ancestors of the entire human race. That is simple math. But they would also not have contributed any DNA to the modern human race unless they were extremely lucky. So they are not the genetic ancestors. I believe this is something foreign to the entire concept of people being ‘of Adam’, etc.

Swamidass does a good job summarizing and explaining one of my favorite topics: genealogical vs. genetic ancestry, but this has been known since late 1990s. His only unique contribution is to suggest that, just maybe, God created Adam and Eve from scratch, but that they just happened to genetically and morphologically match the other humans who lived at the time. My question is simple: why? Why not just say we evolved from apes and get on with it?

Regarding the ‘sons of God’ section, see this section 1 of the book Alien Intrusion for the best analysis of the topic I have read to date. Also important would be my article How Old was Cain when he Killed Abel?

Sincerely,

Robert Carter

Again, I think this is a great place to discuss ideas as brothers and sisters in Christ. We support everyone’s right to an opinion. I think it was helpful to hear his side. I am sure Dr Swamidass will have an excellent review on Peaceful Science. It is also helpful to hear a theologically and scientifically different position.