The Proceedings of the Eighth International Conference on Creationism (2018)

Sanford, J., R. Carter, W. Brewer, J. Baumgardner, B. Potter, and J. Potter. 2018. Adam and Eve, designed diversity, and allele frequencies. In Proceedings of the Eighth International Conference on Creationism , ed. J.H. Whitmore, pp. 200–216. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Creation Science Fellowship. ADAM AND EVE, DESIGNED DIVERSITY, AND ALLELE FREQUENCIES John Sanford , FMS Foundation, 877 Marshall Rd, Waterloo, NY 13165, USA. jsanford@FMSFound.org Rob Carter , FMS Foundation, 877 Marshall Rd, Waterloo, NY 13165, USA. rcarter@FMSFound.org Wes Brewer , Computational Solutions LLC, P.O. Box 4752, Jackson, MS 39296, USA. wes@computational.io John Baumgardner , Logos Research Associates, 24515 Novato Place, Ramona, CA 92065 USA. Johnrbaumgardner@gmail.com Bruce Potter , FMS Foundation, 877 Marshall Rd, Waterloo, NY 13165, USA. brucemp7@gmail.com John Potter , FMS Foundation, 877 Marshall Rd, Waterloo, NY 13165, USA. jpotterm@gmail.com ABSTRACT Theistic evolutionists present multiple genetic arguments against a literal Adam and Eve. One key argument asserts it would be impossible for a single human couple to give rise to the genetic diversity seen in the modern human population. This implicitly assumes Adam and Eve would have been created without internal genetic diversity. If this were true, all observed variations would have to arise recently via random mutations. This would require incredibly high mutation rates, logically leading to rapid extinction. Yet, Adam and Eve could have been created massively heterozygous. We have argued for over a decade that they could have been created with “designed diversity”. We have previously shown that a vast amount of genetic variation could have been pre-programmed into their genomes. This could logically provide the genetic basis for: 1) our human gifts and talents; 2) the many forms of human beauty; and 3) the various ways people have rapidly adapted to new habitats. It is also claimed that the currently observed human allele frequency patterns could not arise from a single couple. The logic here is that, since there were only four sets of chromosomes in Eden, all variants would have had an initial frequency of either 25%, 50%, or 75%. Today, most allelic variants have frequencies in the range of 0–10%. Therefore, it is claimed that observed human diversity disproves a literal Adam and Eve. In this paper we have critically examined these arguments. Our analyses highlight several genetic mechanisms that can help reconcile a literal Adam and Eve with the human allele frequency distributions seen today. We use numerical simulation to show that two people, if they contain designed alleles, can in fact give rise to allele frequency distributions of the very same type as are now seen in modern man. We cannot know how God created Adam and Eve, nor exactly how Adam and Eve gave rise to the current human population. However, the genetic argument that there is no way that a literal Adam and Eve could have given rise to the observed human allele frequencies is clearly over-reaching and appears to be theologically reckless. There is no compelling reason to reject Adam and Eve based on modern allele frequencies. KEY WORDS human origins, demographic stirring, genetics, mutation, genetic drift, population bottleneck, designed diversity, designed alleles, designed gametes, founder effects, allele frequency distribution, numerical simulation. Copyright 2018 Creation Science Fellowship, Inc., Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA www.creationicc.org 200 INTRODUCTION The attack on the historicity of Adam and Eve began long ago (VanDoodewaard 2015; Carter 2015) and has increasingly been coming from within the church (Venema and McKnight 2017; Carter 2017). Many theistic evolutionists are aggressively advancing the argument that Adam and Eve never existed, and so they must be either mythical or allegorical (Faulk 2004). They typically assert that there was no miraculous creation, no Edenic state, and no literal Fall. Perhaps the most popular science-based argument against a literal Adam and Eve is the claim that it would be impossible for just two people to give rise to all the genetic diversity we see in the human population today. Some theistic evolutionists have been aggressively promoting this claim (e.g., Venema 2010; Venema and McKnight 2017). On various forums and blogs, some are even claiming they can prove the human population has never been less than several thousand individuals, or that that human allele frequency distributions are proof against a literal Adam and Eve (e.g., Shaffner 2017a, 2017b). Interestingly, other evolutionists caution that allele frequency analysis does not justify making dogmatic historical inferences (Myers, Fefferman, and Patterson 2008; Terhorst and Song 2015; Harpak, Bhasker, and Pritchard 2016; Baharian and Gravel 2018). This does not mean that allele frequency data are useless, however, only that one must be cautious when trying to derive historical models from them. We have been exploring the concept that Adam and Eve might have been created in a heterozygous state for more than a decade. We call this the Designed Diversity Model. Other creation authors have also been thinking along these lines. For example, the idea