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

have very few high-frequency polymorphisms. Overwhelmingly, the polymorphic alleles have very low frequencies. This is consistent with the Heterozygous Adam and Eve Model. These two very special chromosomes would have existed in Eden, not in four copies, but as single ancestral copies. Thus, they would have had zero designed alleles, and all the observed polymorphisms would be the result of newly accumulating mutations. We suggest that if we could strip all the designed alleles out of the rest of the genome, all human chromosomes would have allele distributions very similar to chrY and chrM. These chrY and chrM distributions seem to reflect very young chromosomes. It appears that there has been too little time for these chromosomes to accumulate very many mutational alleles and have them drift to higher frequencies. 3. Adam and Eve’s created gametogonia contained designed diversity. There could have been a vast number of created gametogonia within Adam and Eve. Each gametogonium could have been genetically unique. Every gamete in Eden could have been designed with its own unique set of alleles and its own unique linkage patterns. That original population of reproductive cells could have represented a “gene pool” comparable to a large human population. We have used numerical simulation to illustrate how designed gametes might give rise to modern allele frequencies. Our designed gametes simulations model a population that begins with 50 offspring of Adam and Eve, who were derived from 100 of Adam and Eve’s designed gametes (gametegonia). This initial population was designed with 989,000 or more allele pairs, with the designed alleles initially having a spectrum of frequencies. The population was allowed to grow for 9 generations, followed by a biblical bottleneck (3 reproducing couples), and then regrow up to 1000 individuals. The simulation was halted in the 200 th generation. The subsequent allele frequency spectrum is shown in Figure 7. Each designed allele pair had a purple (un-favored) allele, and a gold (favored) allele. All alleles were nearly-neutral in fitness effect. The plotted allele frequencies were from 1–50%. The designed gametes allele distribution was very similar to the actually observed distribution. Under the Designed Gametes Model, functional variants would have logically been organized into functional linkage blocks. This would not just create a vast amount of diversity, it would also create a vast number of fully functional and fully integrated linkage blocks within the genome. This model seems to most effectively refute the audacious claim that “There is no way…”. This model is not only consistent with what is observed, it would appear to be very hard to falsify. More than a strong counter-argument, this model seems to appropriately reflect the glory of God, the beauty and elegance of His design, and the nature of His providential planning. This biblical model is not only reasonable, it has inspired the authors to reflect, with wonder, upon what the human race might have been like if there had never been a Fall. In summary, our research indicates that it is reasonable that two miraculously created people, if endowed with appropriate designed genetic diversity, could have given rise to allele distributions similar to what we see today. Indeed, given a miraculous creation, it would only seem logical for the Creator to pre-program designed diversity into the genomes of the first couple. In retrospect, it would seem remarkable if He did not include beneficial types of variation. Our research indicates that after the miraculous creation event, there could be several ways that natural processes (such as accelerated genetic drift, selective sweeps, and sub-population surges), could help give rise to the specific allele distributions observed today. We began to investigate these issues more than a decade ago. Although the issues are complex, it is now very clear that the theistic evolutionist’s claim that “there is no way…” (that a literal Adam and Eve could ever give rise to our current allele distribution) was seriously over-reaching. In light of the current study, that claim appears to be incorrect. Given what is at stake–the authority of Scripture and the faith of millions of people–this militant attack on the historical Adam and Eve that is coming from within the church appears to be reckless and destructive. We exhort our Christian brethren who have been so vigorously arguing against a literal Adam and Eve to very carefully consider the possibility that they may be mistaken, and to prayerfully consider the possibility that they are undermining the faith of millions of souls. CONCLUSIONS In this paper we have used logic and numerical simulation to show that there are several Designed Diversity mechanisms that can reconcile a literal Adam and Eve with the allele frequency distribution now seen in the human population. These genetic mechanisms include: 1) designed diversity within Adam and Eve’s four sets of chromosomes followed by accelerated genetic drift associated with multiple population constrictions; 2) as above, combined with more powerful demographic forces such as selective sweeps, lineage extinctions, and differential sub- population expansions; and 3) designed diversity within Adam and Eve’s originally created gametogonia. Together, these various genetic mechanisms seem to falsify the claim that there is “no way” that two people could give rise to the human allele distribution that we see today. The designed gametes model appears to be especially robust, and in our opinion is even elegant. It seems to be the best explanation for how Adam and Eve might have simultaneously given rise to our current human allele patterns and our current linkage patterns. Future research will examine the concept of “demographic stirring” and how it may accelerate genetic drift. Given the premise of a miraculously created Adam and Eve, the most coherent, powerful, and compelling explanation for most of the genetic diversity found within the human race is “designed diversity”. This is especially true when we consider the various forms of human beauty and the various forms of human gifts and talents. Human traits of this type cannot rationally be attributed to Darwinian mutation/selection. In addition, designed diversity appears to have enabled rapid human adaptation after the flood. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We gratefully thank Stephen Lee for advice regarding statistical analysis. REFERENCES 1000 Genomes Project Consortium. 2015. A global reference for human genetic variation. Nature 52:68–74. Baharian, S., and S. Gravel. 2018. On the decidability of population size histories from finite allele frequency spectra. Theoretical Population Sanford et al. ◀ Designed genetic diversity in Adam and Eve ▶ 2018 ICC 213