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Question 258

If Adam and Eve had two children Kane & Abel what happened next how did they continue to reproduce?     

 

Answer to Question 258

 

Cain and Abel were born just after Adam and Eve were exiled from Paradise, and we are not told of another pregnancy until Seth who was born when Adam was 230 years old. So we may ask did Adam and Eve not have other children until more than two hundred years had passed? It seems very unlikely. They would have had many children between the firstborn mentioned and Seth, but they are not mentioned because they do not play a direct role in the plan of salvation. Up to when Seth was born, Adam and Eve probably had great, great, great grandchildren and probably even more descendants if we take into account that each generation is 25-30 years.  Thus when Cain was banished from the land of his parents, he left with all his household which included his wife, children, grandchildren and other descendants.

 

Cain taking his sister as his wife may be termed as incest, but that was how God ordained it [that all men should be the offspring off one couple - Adam and Eve]. It was not a sin (unlawful) because God willed that the entire Human race should come from one man and one woman. In should be noted that as yet there was no law forbidding such a thing. The law came after when the earth had been multiplied and even then it allowed marriage between first cousins. To this day it is lawful for Jews and Muslims to marry their first cousins because their religious laws allows them.

 

Our Church on the other hand believed that the human race had multiplied to an extent that there was no need to find a mate so close to the family core and not only forbade first cousins but also second cousins from entering into marriage. This was because such marriages confuse the relationships. If a man marries his first cousin, their children would not only be brother and sister but also second cousins. The man’s wife would also be his first cousin, his mother in law would also be his aunt and vice-versa, and his grandparents would also be his wife’s grandparents. With second cousins the lineage goes back to great grandparents who in many cases are still alive. Marriages between third cousins are allowed because now the lineage goes back to great great grandparents who in the majority of families have passed away.

 

There is another reason why marriages between close relatives were forbidden. We see in many of the Jews an illness in their complexion which is a result of inter-marriages. In Cyprus we also have the curse of Thalassemia which again is a result of inter-marriages. We find that in societies where the population is small even marriages of third cousins can cause illnesses in their offspring. In recent years with the compulsory blood tests before marriage, we have almost eradicated this illness from our people. The Jews also have blood tests before marriage for the same reasons.