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WHERE DID THE RACES COME FROM?

by John D. Morris, Ph.D.

Waiting in airports and long airplane rides have become a way of

life for the ICR staff scientist. Imagine my appreciation when

two black servicemen engaged me in a delightful conversation

about creation the other day.

As it turned out, both men were dedicated Christians, but

had no previous teaching on creation, although both knew

evolution had to be wrong, based on the clear statements of

Scripture.

Finally, they asked the question which they had always

wanted to ask, but had never dared to: Where did the races come

from?

Perhaps I was reading too much into their comments, but I

felt like weeping (and still feel like weeping) as I recognized

what generations of racial prejudice had done to these two men.

From Darwin on down, evolutionists have preached that the Negro

race was lower on the evolutionary scale, much closer to the apes

than the Caucasian. As a matter of fact, the whole concept of

race is evolutionary, not Biblical, for "God hath made of one

blood all nations of men" (Acts 17:26). All of mankind springs

from our first parents, Adam and Eve, and then through Noah's

family. The Biblical distinction is between national groups, and

especially languages, not skin color or other physical

characteristics. These two men, and probably many blacks, had

been bludgeoned by evolutionary dogma into questioning their own

self-worth, wondering if their standing before God was equal to

that of other ethnic groups.

Actually, the Biblical model regarding the origin of

physical characteristics is easily the best historical and

scientific explanation. Starting with Noah's family, the

creation model postulates a "racially mixed" population, with

much biological potential for variation. As family groups were

isolated by language barriers, environmental factors allowed

particular traits already present to be expressed more

frequently, while genes coded for other characteristics were not

favored and were eventually suppressed.

Genetically speaking, the differences between the various

races are extremely small. All are of the same species, are

interfertile, and produce fertile offspring. The most noticeable

difference is in skin color, but the fact is, we are all the SAME

color; some people just have a little more of that color than

others. Skin shade is due to the amount of a substance called

melanin in the skin; the more melanin, the darker the skin.

Racially mixed individuals can parent children who are all the

way from quite dark to quite light, or anywhere in between. The

predominant shade for freely interbreeding individuals would be

brown.

While prejudice, persecution, and racial hatred follow

directly from the application of evolutionary teaching, some have

even proposed racism in the name of Christianity. The Christian

must not allow himself or herself to think this way. The Lord

Jesus certainly didn't. He was likely neither white nor black,

but somewhere in between. He died to provide all men the

opportunity for eternal life (II Peter 3:9, for example).

Indeed, heaven will be populated by "a great multitude...of all

nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues (who will) stand

before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes"

(Revelation 7:9), all redeemed by His blood. In the end, all

racism, as well as racial distinctions, will be abolished."

 

{PB