Jesus' DNA

[paulo75]

My understanding of DNA is that one gets 50% of your DNA from one parent and 50% from the other. So, my question is, if Jesus was born of a virgin, where did the other 50% of his DNA come from?

 

[mondar]

Does your question assume that the supernatural is impossible?

 

[paulo75]

Does your question assume that the supernatural is impossible?

I knew that would be the first response. I wouldn't say 'no', but my question would lean towards Jesus being scientifically impossible unless he had an earthly father.

 

[mondar]

Does your question assume that the supernatural is impossible?

I knew that would be the first response.

LOL, yes, we evangelicals seem to respond in similar ways. I think the reason for this is the influence of certain men like Gregg Bahnsen, or Cornelius Van Til upon Calvinist apologetic thinking.

The thinking of these men concerned the presuppositions behind the questions we ask. I was asking for your presuppositions. Is science the only way to arrive at truth? Can science prove or disprove the existence of God? If God exists, it is obvious that as the creator who made the laws of physics he can change the laws of physics. If we start with the presuppositions of naturalism, most likely there cannot be a virgin birth, resurrection, or miracles.

So then, is not your question a symptom of a deeper philosophy? Should it not be answered on a more philosophical basis?

I wouldn't say 'no', but my question would lean towards Jesus being scientifically impossible unless he had an earthly father.

Assuming that there can be no anomalies in genetics, I would agree that science would not allow any mammal reproduction without both male and female. However, that does not seem to be the question. The question is this---> Is there any truth beyond scientific observation? What does science do with something that is unobservable and untestable, does the scientific method demand that the unobservable and untestable as seen as not true?

 

[Pogo]

Originally posted by paulo75 -

My understanding of DNA is that one gets 50% of your DNA from one parent and 50% from the other. So, my question is, if Jesus was born of a virgin, where did the other 50% of his DNA come from?
My understanding of DNA is that one gets 50% of your DNA from one parent and 50% from the other. So, my question is, if Jesus was born of a virgin, where did the other 50% of his DNA come from?

Hello, paulo75 -

I'm sorry, but I see your premise as being heavily, majorly, flawed!

Why do you see a virgin birth as excluding the use of the mother's egg?

In my view, the only requirement for a virgin birth would be an intact hymen past the point of conception.

The supernatural event would be the fertilization of the mother's egg without conventional penetration (or even unconventional penetration, such as "in vitro") of the mother's body, from the ovaries on down, by mortal man!

Whether Mary and Joseph were intimate past this point, or after this fact, seems irrelevant to me.

In Christ,

Pogo

EDIT: Hmm...Upon re-reading the OP, I'm not sure which DNA source paulo75 is questioning!

Please clarify paulo75, is your issue with the DNA of Jesus concerning His divine Father, or His virgin mother?

 

[Gabe]

Pogo: paulo was referring to the DNA that would be attributed to the father in a normal human being.

I think the quick answer would be God's DNA but obviously not the same physical DNA like us humans. What makes a miracle "a miracle" is the very fact that it cannot be explained by science or that it goes against or bends currently established scientific laws of physics etc. If God created the universe without the aid of a scientific laboratory then he can surely create a virgin mother or a Son who has no earthly father and deal appropriately with all the issues that this would raise in His biological make-up. Think of it like this: there was a time when people were not aware of DNA, gravity, or photosynthesis etc but as we now know, that does not mean they do not exist. There was a time when people thought cloning animals or heart transplants were impossible, but we now know that even the 'impossible' can be possible so why not a God who allows a virgin to give birth to a scientifically impossible Son?

 

[one_lost_coin]

"...concieved by the Holy Spirit born of the Virgin Mary."

His flesh entirely came from Mary who God created. DNA was God's idea how hard could it have been for Him.

' Accordingly He revealed to us all that we have perceived by His grace out of the Scriptures, so that we know Him to be the first-begotten of God, and to be before all creatures; likewise to be the Son of the patriarchs, since He assumed flesh by the Virgin of their family, and submitted to become a man without comeliness, dishonoured, and subject to suffering....' - Justin Martyr (Dialogue with Trypho)

Thus, too, they preached of the advent of God in the flesh to the world, His advent by the spotless and God-bearing Mary in the way of birth and growth, and the manner of His life and conversation with men - Hippolytus

If anyone will not confess that the Word of God has two nativities, that which is before all ages from the Father, outside time and without a body, and secondly that nativity of these latter days when the Word of God came down from the heavens and was made flesh of holy and glorious Mary, mother of God and ever-virgin, and was born from her: let him be anathema - council of constantanople 2

God of God his Father, but man of his Virgin Mother, incarnate of her flesh with a reasonable and intelligent soul: of one substance with God the Father, as touching his godhead, and consubstantial with us as touching his manhood, and in all points like unto us, but without sin. - council of constantanople 3

 

[samuel]

I knew that would be the first response. I wouldn't say 'no', but my question would lean towards Jesus being scientifically impossible unless he had an earthly father.

With science the unexplainable is not possible, nothing is that cannot be proven. With God the unexplainable is called a MERICAL. That is what the virgin birth was, just one of Gods little MERICALS.

 

[Blazin Bones]

I knew that would be the first response. I wouldn't say 'no', but my question would lean towards Jesus being scientifically impossible unless he had an earthly father.

With science the unexplainable is not possible, nothing is that cannot be proven. With God the unexplainable is called a MERICAL. That is what the virgin birth was, just one of Gods little MERICALS.

Hey now, let's not sell the event short. It's not just another little miracle. God merged himself with human flesh and bones and somehow managed to allow this creation to be both All God and All Man! That is NO LITTLE Miracle!

As for Paulo, dna is an interesting thing to wonder about, but that's only if we forget God was the one who originally created life. If he is capable of creating a full grown man, Adam, surely he is able to create a child in Mary who was both God and man at once. Just because there is not some long drawn out theory as to how this could be done doesn't mean an all powerful God couldn't do so.

 

[Paidion]

Though I believe Jesus' birth to have been supernatural, I think that human parthenogenesis is a natural possibility. It occurs in some species of lizards.

I kept honeybees for many years. If a "queen" mates, then her eggs become either workers (females) or other "queens". But sometimes, a queen dies in a hive and is not replaced. In that case, the older workers which cannot mate with a drone (male bee), will lay eggs. These unfertilized eggs will hatch and always become drones. These drones receive 100% of their DNA from their mother. That is the only possible source.

Could Jesus also have received 100% of His DNA from His mother? Yet, somehow the pre-incarnate Logos of God became flesh!

When the Son of God became man, He divested Himself of His divine attributes (Philippians 2:7). As a baby He cried (in spite of "Away in a Manger") and wet his diapers. As an adult, He got hungry and thirsty just as any other man. He could do no miracles, except the Father did them through Him. The only part of His previous Divinity that He retained was His identity as the Son of God, the divine Logos.

 

[Alabaster]

We all have 46 chromosomes. Jesus had only 24--23 from His mother and one Y for maleness from a Father that was determined not human. The blood sample taken from the found ark of the covenant (the mercy Seat) has been tested and has revealed it. Amazingly, the blood testers in Israel were dumbfounded to discover that the blood is alive.

I trust that this man, Ron Wyatt, was a true man of God, even against much maligning. He was a man of great integrity and pointed only always to Jesus Christ always in his speech.


http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=EGLPADW_k ... re=related

 

[Pogo]

The Ark of the Covenant has been found?

I don't have a high-speed internet connection, so I don't attempt 'youtube' videos.

Plus, what would blood be doing on it, especially Christ's?

In Christ,

Pogo

 

[Alabaster]

The Ark of the Covenant has been found?

I don't have a high-speed internet connection, so I don't attempt 'youtube' videos.

Plus, what would blood be doing on it, especially Christ's?

In Christ,

Pogo

Jesus' blood is on it, as spoken in Scripture.

The ark was found beneath the hill of Golgotha. Jesus was crucified over it, The earth cracked open during the severe earthquake at the moment of His death, and the crack opened directly above in the vaulted ceiling of the cavern below where many tabernacle artifacts, plus the ark was discovered. Only God could align these things to bring prophecy to fruition.

The blood of the Saviour seeped down through the crack and landed on the Mercy seat.

You can read of Wyatt's amazing discovery on His website. Here is one such link:

http://www.wyattmuseum.com/

Here is some testimony concerning Ron Wyatt's integrity:

http://www.wyattmuseum.com/ron-wyatt.htm
http://www.ronwyatt.com/

 

[Free]

The Ark of the Covenant has not been found. :-?

 

[Alabaster]

The Ark of the Covenant has not been found. :-?

I choose to believe it has. It is still there.

 

[Free]

Don't you find it odd that that information can only be found on Wyatt's site?

 

[Alabaster]

Don't you find it odd that that information can only be found on Wyatt's site?

No. He has not been given authority to have the information made completely public, according to God's instructions to him. Wyatt has since died, but his findings are still in the hands of a conservator, I believe, according to a lecture I have seen of his.

 

[Pogo]

Uuuhh...Alabaster,

I'm afraid that I'm severely unimpressed with the Ron Wyatt site.

The web-master of the site seems to have went to great lenghts to capture the aura of a border town flea-market. The only thing missing was a clickable ad for a snake oil tonic/elixer that promises to cure all ailments.

In Christ,

Pogo

 

[cyberjosh]

Jesus being scientifically impossible...

Wow, that phrase is so loaded I don't know whether it shoots itself in the foot or everyone around it. :-D

Here's a great question: is God "scientifically impossible"? We might first have to define 'is', and ask if we mean God's "being" or just a specific attribute of Him, etc. And then ask the question "What do you mean by your question?", at which point we never reach a conclusion because of semantics. :D

 

[Alabaster]

Uuuhh...Alabaster,

I'm afraid that I'm severely unimpressed with the Ron Wyatt site.

The web-master of the site seems to have went to great lenghts to capture the aura of a border town flea-market. The only thing missing was a clickable ad for a snake oil tonic/elixer that promises to cure all ailments.

In Christ,

Pogo

That's ok. I'm not worried about it.