WHERE DID CAIN AND ABEL GET THEIR WIVES
Many questions have been raised about the Biblical history of man, such as:
1. Where did Cain and Abel get their wives?
2. How did all the different human races come into existence if we all came from Adam and Eve?
Cain and Abel married their sisters. This was not wrong in the very beginning of the human race, for three reasons:
1. Marriage of close relatives was permitted by God.
2. God did not create many couples, He created one, Adam and Eve, so it was necessary for their children to marry among themselves.
3. In the beginning, there were no health problems caused by intermarriage.
1. Adam and Eve Were Created Perfect
Adam and Eve were created perfect (Genesis 1:31). They had no bad genes to pass on to their children, such as the genes that cause sickle-cell anemia, diabetes, blindness, sterility, and many other crippling conditions.
2. Most of the Bad Genes are Recessive
Most of the genes that cause genetic diseases, such as sickle-cell anemia, are recessive. Thus, if one of these "bad" genes is inherited from one parent, but the same gene that is normal is inherited from the other parent, the normal gene is dominant, and the child will be healthy. If one or more bad gene exists within a family, and if a sister would marry a brother, there is a likely possibility that each parent, even though healthy, will be carrying the bad gene, and the child will be a victim of the genetic disease.
This is why inter-marriage within today's families is not only strongly discouraged, but is, unlawful, in most countries of the world. Marriage of close relatives was later forbidden by God (Leviticus 18:6, 9).
3. After Adam and Eve Sinned, the World Came Under God's Curse
Of course, this situation did not exist in the family of Adam and Eve. When God created them, all of their genes were perfect. After Adam and Eve sinned, the whole world came under God's curse, bringing about death, disease, pain, and suffering.
Scientists know that bad genes are caused by mutations. Mutations occur when a good gene is changed slightly, due to the effect of x-rays, cosmic rays, ultraviolet light, radioactive substances, chemicals, etc. Mutations began to occur after the curse, but because of the strength of the genetic code created by God, it was many generations after Adam and Eve before bad genes became a problem. Although Cain, Abel, and Seth are the only children of Adam and Eve mentioned by name in the Bible, Genesis 5:4 tells us they had "sons and daughters." Taking into consideration the longevity of man in the pre-Flood world, there would have been an ample population, even among Adam and Eve's own children, from which to choose a spouse.
4. Origin of Human Races
4.1. Creationists Can Provide Satisfactory Answer to the Origin of Human Races
Creationists can provide satisfactory answer to the origin of human races. Creationists start with just two people, Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve were not white, black, Oriental, or of any other particular race. They, no doubt, were what we understand today as racially mixed. Their children were all likewise a mixture of the genetic traits that have subsequently produced the races. Among these offspring, one would be able to see tendencies toward various races, but since all marriages were mixed, no races emerged.
Even after the Flood (Genesis 6-8), all humans on the earth were the descendants of the 3 sons and 3 daughters-in-law of Noah and his wife, and so they, too, must have been racially mixed. As they and their descendants repopulated the earth, all peoples intermarried freely, and there was no isolation of genetic characteristics that would produce features inherent in one particular race.
4.2. At the Tower of Babel God Split the Human Population into Small Groups
"Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth." (Genesis 11:9)
At the Tower of Babel, however, God split the human population into small groups, by "confounding" the one language they spoke into many different languages. Each group of people spoke only the language that God gave them. They could no longer talk to the people in the other groups, so, of course, they no longer intermarried with them.
Soon the various groups began to migrate to other parts of the world, and became geographically isolated from one another. Thus, there was necessarily a lot of intermarriage within each group. When there are marriages of this kind, a concentration of certain genes is developed. If, for example, the group had a concentration of genes for dark skin and negroid features, then a negro people would result. If the group had a concentration of genes found in Oriental people, then the group would give rise to one of the Oriental races. If, on the other hand, the group had a concentration of genes for fair skin and blue eyes, one of the Scandinavian races would emerge.
5. Conclusion - No Contradiction Between Science and the Bible
There are no contradictions between the facts of science and the truth recorded in the Word of God. Furthermore, utilizing many facts revealed in the Bible helps us to solve some important scientific problems.
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