A couple of weeks ago, scientists announced that they had completed mapping of the human genome. Every cell has a strand of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid), called the double helix, which, if uncoiled, would be six feet long. Less than one inch of that 6 feet contains the genes that make up a human being. "Most of the rest of the human genome is filled with weird life-like entities that have settled in the genome like squatters. Among them are microscopic bits of foreign DNA that live like parasites on human DNA and even smaller bits that sponge off those parasites."

Moreover, hundreds of those genes, including one that's been implicated in depression, are actually genes from bacteria that infected human predecessors millions of years ago and left their microbial DNA behind.

But perhaps most remarkable, scientists said, is how little of the human genome -- the 23 pairs of chromosomes that contain the blueprint for human life -- is directly devoted to making human beings, and how much other biological activity is going on throughout the rest of the genome.

Not being a scientist, I cannot scientifically comment on the findings of the geneticists who have been studying the human genome. But I find some interesting things when comparing their discoveries with the Scriptures.

"Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me." Exodus 20:5. This statement is repeated three more times in the Bible: Exodus 34:7; Numbers 14:18; and Deuteronomy 5:9.

How can iniquity be visited¹ on the great grandchildren and the great great grandchildren when the Bible makes it clear that each person is responsible for his own sins? (See Ezekiel 18:19-28) I can think of one way in which this is possible. The genetic code. Man was physically altered by sin. This is evident from the beginning when God said, If you eat of the tree, you will die. Death is unnatural to creation. When looking at life spans before and after the flood, we find a difference of centuries between Noah (died at 900 years) and David (died at 70 years).

Notice that the scientists say that the gene which is implicated in causing depression in humans is part of the DNA code that is made up of proteins from some bacterial source. It didn't infect humans millions of years ago because we were only created a few thousand years ago.. It does seem to indicate to me that there have been influences on our genetic code, foreign influences that were not originally present when man was created. Those aberrations, or abnormalities, seem to be the source of the problems in humanity. Could this be what God meant when He said "visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children;" that we, through disobedience, cause changes, or mutations, to our genetic code, adding impurities that are then passed to our offspring and in turn is passed to their offspring down through the generations? As each generation repeats the sins of the fathers, does it finally leave a permanent mark on the genetic code that actually causes children to be born with genetic mutations, creating weaknesses that give us both physical and/or spiritual problems?

But our genetic code doesn't make us do things, but rather we are born with the weaknesses "the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life" (1 John 2:16). The scientists point this out:

In addition, humans have a huge repertoire of regulatory mechanisms that simpler organisms lack, with which they can fine-tune their genes' activities from moment to moment. Studies indicate that a wide range of environmental influences are involved in these regulatory decisions -- a reminder that biology and behavior are not genetically determined but are influenced by countless non-genetic variables.

I guess they mean all those "weird life-like entities that have settled in the genome like squatters." I am reminded of this statement by EGW:

Those who put their trust in Christ are not to be enslaved by any hereditary or cultivated habit or tendency. Instead of being held in bondage to the lower nature, they are to rule every appetite and passion. God has not left us to battle with evil in our own finite strength. Whatever may be our inherited or cultivated tendencies to wrong, we can overcome through the power that He is ready to impart. {MH 175.1}

I understand from this passage that we are indeed born with hereditary tendencies to evil and wrong, but we cannot blame them for our wrong doing.

You may say, "I was born with a natural tendency toward this evil, and I cannot overcome." But every provision has been made by our heavenly Father whereby you may be able to overcome every unholy tendency. You are to overcome even as Christ overcame in your behalf. . . Christ died on Calvary that man might have power to overcome his natural tendencies to sin. {YRP 350.3}

Our genes may be cluttered up with garbage, but we have assurance that we can overcome every wrong tendency and can have assurance that we can be clean and ready to go home when Jesus comes for His children.

¹Strong's Concordance: 6485. dqp paqad paw-kad'; a primitive root; to visit (with friendly or hostile intent); by analogy, to oversee, muster, charge, care for, miss, deposit, etc.