Paper 1 – DNA On The Witness Stand Pager 1- Examples from today’s headlines illustrate the forensic application of DNA techniques to identify individuals and establish relatedness between family members. These very same techniques, accepted as authoritative in the court room, are applied by science to address the question of humans’ nearest relatives in the animal kingdom. The DNA testifies of the continuity with nature and a close relationship between humans and African apes, with a common ancestor as recent as 5-7 mya. Corroborating evidence mounts as an ever- expanding fossil record documents an African origin of hominids and the evolutionary transition to the modern human physical tabernacle. Paper 2 – The Tree Of Life 2- Abstract How can the scientific data, which suggest that we descended from animals that lived and died on this planet for millions of years, be reconciled with the religious perspective that Adam and Eve, the first humans, were immortal? There are two distinct possibilities concerning the nature of their immortality. Either Adam and Eve were created inherently immortal or they were created as mortals and were made immortal by their circumstances within the Garden. If Adam and Eve were inherently immortal, what was the function of the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden?

D. Jeffery Meldrum, Trent D. Stephens