Biblical History of People Colors

Thus all the races as we know them, Negro, Caucasoid, Australian Aboriginal, Mongoloid, and others-have come into exstence since that time.

Noah and his family were probably mid-brown, with genes for both dark & light skin. A medium skin color (dark enough to protect against skin cancer, yet light enough to allow vita D production) would be most suitable in the world before the flood. It is most likely that there were no harsh extremes of climate then. Adam & Eve were probably mid-brown as well. In fact, most of the world's population is still mid-brown!

After the flood and up to the time of Babel, there was only one language and one culture group. Thus, there were no barriers to marriage. This would tend to keep the skin color of the population away from extremes. Very dark and very light skin would appear, of course, but the people would be free to marry some one less dark or light than themselves. The average skin color would stay roughly the same, and so too would the other characteristics. Under these sort of cirumstances, distinct racial lines will never emerge. This is true for animals as well as humans, every biologist knows. To obtain separate lines, you need to break a large breeding group into smaller groups and keep them separate, that is not interbreeding any more.

This is what happened at Babel. Once there was separate languages, there was 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 & trusting those that did not. They would tend toward, or be forced, to move away from each other, into different enviroments. This is what God wanted, and intended. He wanted man to spread through out the world. Now one group might have more dark genes, on average, while another might have more light genes. the same thing would happen with the other characteristics: nose shape, eye shape, mouth, etc. Sinc ethey would breed with only those in their own language group, this tendency would no longer average out as before.

As these new groups migrated away from Babel, they encountered different climate zones. This also would effect the balance of inherited factors amongst the population. Although the enviromental facters are nowhere near as important as the genetic mix each group began with. As an example, let us look at people who moved to cold areas with little sunlight. In those areas, the dark-skinned members of the group would not be able to produce enough vita D, and thus would be less healthy & have fewer children. So in time, the light-skinned members would predominate. If several different groups went to such a area, and one of the groups happened to be carrying few of the genes for lightness, this group could in time die out. This natural selection acts on the characteristics already present, and does not involve new ones.

The Neanderthals of Europe, an extinct race of men now reconized as fully human, vitually all show evidence of vita D deficiency in their skeletons. It was this, plus evolutionary prejudice, which helped cause them to be classified as ape-man for so long! It is quite plausible to suggest that they were dark-skinned and unfit for the enviroment which they had moved into. Because of the gene for skin color that they began with (not evolved). Conversely, fair-skinned people in very sunny regions could easily be effected by skin cancers, in which case dark-skinned people would more readily survive.

We can see that the pressure of the enviroment can (a) affect the balance of genes within a group, (b) even eliminate entire groups. This is why we see, to a large extent, fit characteristics to their enviroment (e.g. Nordic people with pale skin, equatorial people with dark skin). But, this is not always so! The Eskimo has darkish skin, yet lives where there is not much sun. The pygmy is in a hot area, but rarely experiances sunshine in the dense jungle where he lives. The pygmies may be a good example of another facter which has affected the racial history of man: discrimination.

If a variation from the normal occurs (e.g. a light skinned person in a dark race), then historically it has been usual for that person to be regarded as abnormal. Thus, the person would find it harder to get a marriage partner. This would help further eliminate light genes from a dark race, and visa versa. In this way, groups have "purified" themselves. In some instances, interbreeding in a small group can highlight any commonly occurring unual features which would previously have been swamped by continual intermarriage. There is a tribe in Africa whose memebers all have grossly deformed feet as a result of this type of inbreeding.

With the pygmies, if people possessing genes for such short stature were descriminated against because of their size, and a small group of them sought refuge in the deepest forest, their intermarrying only each other would ensure a pygmy race. The fact that pygmy tribes never have their own languages, but instead speak dialects of neighboring non-pygmy tribal languages, is good evidence in support of this.

Human groups that were equiped with certain characteristics may have made deliberate (or semi-deliberate) choices concerning the enviroments to which they migrated. For instance, people with genes for thicker, more insulating layer of fat under their skin would tend to leave areas that were uncomfortably hot for them.

The evidence for the Bible's account of human origins is more than biological & genetic. Since all races descended from Noah's family a relatively short time ago, we would be surprised if, in the stories & legends of many of the groups, there were not some memory, (albeit distorted by time & retelling), of such a catastrophic event. In fact, an overwelming number of cultures do have such accounts! Often these have startling parallels to the true, orignal account. Some of these are ; world wide flood, eight people saved in a boat, a rainbow, sending out of birds, and more. :o)

To sum up then, the dispersion at Babel, breaking a large interbreeding group into small, inbreeding groups, ensured that the resultant groups would have different mixes of genes for various physical features. By itself, this would ensure, in a short time, that there would be fixed differences in groups which we call races. In addition, the selection pressure of the enviroment would modify the existing combonations of genes, causing a tendancy for characteristics to suit their enviroment. There has been no simple-to-complex evoluntion of genes, for all the genes were present already. The features of the various races result from combinations of previously exsisting created genes, plus minor changes in the direction of degeneration, resulting from mutation (accidental changes that can be inherited). The orginally created genetic information has been either reshuffled or degenerated, not added to.

There is no reason to have the view that one race is "better, more advanced genetically, or more highly evolved". God's Word, genetics themselves, and simple logic can show how all the races came about in a short time. The biggest differences, even today in the groups of people, is language & culture. Geneticly we are all one race, one family, one creation. :o)