Where did the races come from?

From Darwin on down, evolutionists have preached that the Negro race, as well as other variations of colored skin, was lower on the evolutionary scale, much closer to the apes than the Caucasian. However, 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. This racial, evolutionary-dogmatic bias has bludgeoned many into questioning their own self-worth, wondering if their standing before God was equal to that of other ethnic groups.

Beginning with Adam, from whom all other humans are descended, was created with the best possible combination of genes — for skin color, for example. Approximately 1600 years after creation, God sent a global flood to destroy all but the eight people on the ark. Immediately thereafter, God ordered man to spread out, multiply, and fill the earth (Genesis 9:1).

The penalty for man not following God's commands to spread out and multiply some hundred and fifty years after the flood, was the confusion of their languages so they could not communicate with each other (Genesis 11:7). This confusion caused the people to scatter over the entire earth as God had originally commanded. Here we would have the beginnings of all the people groups — black Africans, Indo-Europeans, Mongolians, and others.

Noah and his family were probably a medium brown, with genes inherited from Adam and Eve for both light and dark skin, because a medium skin color would seem to be the most generally suitable (dark enough to protect against skin cancer, yet light enough to allow vitamin D production). In fact, most of the world's population today is still a medium brown.

Genesis 11 teaches us that up until this confusion of tongues there had been only one language and one culture group. Thus, there were no barriers to marriage within this group. This would tend to keep the skin color of the population away from the extremes. Very dark and very light skin would appear, of course, but people tending in either direction would be free to marry someone lighter or darker than themselves, ensuring that the average color, as well as their characteristics, stayed roughly the same.

Distinct differences in physical characteristics would never have been able to emerge. To obtain such separate lines you would need to break a large breeding group into smaller groups and keep them separate, that is, prevent interbreeding between groups. This is, biologically, simple to prove.

This is exactly what happened in Genesis 11 at the tower of Babel. Once separate languages were imposed, there were instantaneous barriers. Not only would people tend not to marry someone they couldn’t understand, but entire groups, which spoke the same language, would have difficulty relating to and trusting other language groups. This is still so apparent today. This would force the various language groups to somewhat isolate themselves from the other groups and into different environments. Again, this was what God intended.

It is unlikely that each small group would carry the same broad range of skin colors as the original, larger group. One group might have more dark genes, on average, while another might have more light genes. The same would be true for other characteristics; nose shape, eye shape, and mouth shape, etc… And since they would intermarry only within their own language group, these differences would no longer be averaged out as before. Thus, we’d see more, extreme characteristics just as we see today.

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 range from quite dark to quite light, or anywhere in between. The predominant shade for freely interbreeding individuals would be brown.

Actually, the Biblical model regarding the origin of physical characteristics is easily the best historical and scientific explanation available. It is extremely important to recognize the limited, biological potential God allowed for variation. Environmental factors would too have allowed particular traits already present to be expressed more frequently while genes coded for other characteristics were not favored and were eventually suppressed.

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 and 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).

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.