Every so often there is a scientific study that appears attempting to explain the origin of mankind. One such study that has emerged seems to agree with the biblical worldview. Dr. Michael Guillen, the president of the organization Spectacular Science Productions in an article titled, “Did A Mysterious Extinction Event Precede Adam and Eve?” mentioned two researchers who have theorized that all of mankind had derived from a common mother and father. In addition, they also conclude that all animals in creation also came from common types of creatures. These researchers, observing big data from genetic databases saw what they called genetic “barcodes” from over 5 million types of species looking at what they call the mitochondria DNA, which is passed down from the mother. According to Dr. Guillen as the animals and human beings reproduced they passed these genetic “errors” in the mitochondrial DNA. These researchers measured the errors in between the animals, and as a result, they were able to suggest a time period.
Dr. Guillen article affirmed several points that are highlighted in Scripture. First, the researchers stated that these markers that are found in animals came from common types of creatures. This truth is underscored in chapter one of the Book of Genesis as it details the creation of the animals by God (Gen. 1:20-25). In addition, the Scripture also stated that animals would be brought forth after their kind (this word in Hebrew is miyn (מִין) (pronounced min) and refers to a creature that has the same form and structure. This particular word in Genesis chapter one concerning the animals described is used 7 times in verses 21-25). This is something that Dr. Guillen astutely notes in his article:
…the DNA bar codes reveal that species are quantized. Instead of there being a continuum of animal varieties, as one might expect from millions of years of gradual evolution, creatures fall into very distinct, widely separated populations – what the Bible describes as “kinds,” from the Hebrew word min.Did a mysterious extinction event precede Adam and Eve?https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/did-a-mysterious-extinction-event-precede-adam and-eve?fbclid=IwAR09k3etiqBhlscB0Rcm1UVBrcCaUVdN_CRAY8PXDDsijyVmL5dWCPil9LA
The second point Dr. Gullien notes is that humankind comes from one common mother and father. This truth is also highlighted in Scripture as outlined in the Book of Genesis:
26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”Gen. 1:26-28 NASB emphasis mine
Furthermore, the way that male and female is created by God is described in Genesis 2:14ff. This is something that the study seems to affirm due to the observations in the mitochondrial DNA made by the researchers. However, although the researchers mentioned man and woman come from a common ancestor the researchers due to their macroevolutionary perspective make assumptions about how long mankind has been on the earth, which is noted below
In one of the most provocative and misunderstood studies of the year, scientists in the U.S. and Switzerland have made an astonishing discovery: All humans alive today are the offspring of a common father and mother – an Adam and Eve – who walked the planet 100,000 to 200,000 years ago, which by evolutionary standards is like yesterday. Did a mysterious extinction event precede Adam and Eve? https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/did-a-mysterious-extinction-event-precede-adam and-eve?fbclid=IwAR09k3etiqBhlscB0Rcm1UVBrcCaUVdN_CRAY8PXDDsijyVmL5dWCPil9LA
This perspective runs against the biblical worldview. The earth itself, according to the Scripture is roughly about 6,000 years old (this age of the earth is determined by taking the ages of the human genealogies, starting with Adam who was the first man mentioned in the Bible and simply adding them together). By contrast, the macroevolutionary perspective instructs that changes in creatures develop gradually over a long period of time (roughly millions of years). Dr. Guillen also notes this is his article
…according to evolutionary biologists, species developed gradually over many millions of years. Stoeckle and Thaler’s discovery is that something happened roughly 100,000 years ago that created entirely new populations from long-existing species.Did a mysterious extinction event precede Adam and Eve? https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/did-a-mysterious-extinction-event-precede-adam and-eve?fbclid=IwAR09k3etiqBhlscB0Rcm1UVBrcCaUVdN_CRAY8PXDDsijyVmL5dWCPil9LA
The second point that contends against Scripture is the timing of what Dr. Guillen refers to as a cataclysmic event that occurred, which caused all life to “renew” at about the same time, in a short time in history. Due to the researcher’s macroevolutionary perspectives, they mention hypotheses such as greater animal predators, changes in the environment such an ice age, and fighting with other creatures for scarce resources (i.e., survival of the fittest). Dr. Guillen offers some theories of his own such as a giant meteor that crashed onto the planet, or an “a built-in evolutionary process that when the population gets too big, it crashes and must start itself from scratch” (Guillen, 2018). His basic conclusion leads to the following statement in his article:
What caused animal life on Earth to be almost completely renewed such a short time ago? For now, it remains a mystery.Did a mysterious extinction event precede Adam and Eve? https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/did-a-mysterious-extinction-event-precede-adam and-eve?fbclid=IwAR09k3etiqBhlscB0Rcm1UVBrcCaUVdN_CRAY8PXDDsijyVmL5dWCPil9LA
However, this mystery is solved by observing sacred Scripture. Dr. Guillen and the researchers are correct about one aspect of the historical narrative: there was a cataclysmic event that did occur on the earth, the problem is the timing of the event. The event did not happen before Adam and Eve, as the title of his article suggests, and the event was not due to a huge meteor, nor scarce resources, but due to a global worldwide flood (Gen. 6:13-19, chaps. 7-8:1-14).
The flood took place due to the wickedness of men that was multiplied on the face of the earth, as a result of sin caused by Adam and Eve’s actions in the Garden of Eden (c.f., Gen. 3:1-19; Gen. 6:6). After the waters of the flood subsided, God told Noah to bring out all of the animals that were in the ark so that they could produce throughout the earth (Gen. 8:15-19). At the same time, God had told Noah and his family told them also populate the earth, continuing the line of mankind from Adam and Eve (Gen. 9:1-7).
This account the sacred Scripture gives satisfies two points from the above article: It answers the mystery of the catastrophic event that caused the “reset” of all creation, and it satisfies that reason that most of the animals gave birth at around the same time in history. It was not due to a pre-Adamite destructive event, but the global flood that caused all life (with the exception of Noah, his families, and the animals in the ark) to perish. Again due to the researcher’s (and somewhat of the author of the article above) perspective they promote that creation itself is millions of years old, and this affects how they observe the origin and destruction of creation.
The discovery of the mitochondrial DNA highlighted the biblical truth that creation bears forth after its kind, and not from gradual changes in the taxonomy of creatures over an extensive period of time. In addition, the research underscores a destructive event that occurred in history, but this event did not happen before Adam and Eve but after Adam and Eve, due to the wickedness of man. God destroyed the creation in a global flood, and when the flood waters receded the animals were released from the ark to breed and populate the earth (along with mankind who was also to populate and fill the earth).
Despite the great study, when examining this from a biblical worldview some of the researchers (and the author’s) conclusions they come to run against what God has revealed regarding the origin and progression of human history. God who has disclosed this to man by His word gives us assurance that God has not subjected mankind to random acts of destruction by mysterious forces mankind is ignorant of, but human beings are all under the sovereign hand of God, and His will, found in His sacred word.
Until next time…
Soli Deo Gloria!
Dr. L.S.