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Answers to many questions about the human race can be found in the Bible. The scriptures below are recommended for personal study and as discussion starters in your family or study group.
Is there really more than one human race?
Acts 17:26
All of earth’s peoples can intermarry and produce fertile offspring. This shows that the physical differences between “races” are really very small. It would be more accurate to call them “people groups. What does this verse say about the places where these people groups live?
How did these people groups get started?
Genesis 9:1. What did God tell the descendants of Noah to do (notice especially the last phrase)?
Genesis 11:1-4. Generations later, does it look as though Noah’s descendants were obeying this command of God? What were they doing instead?
Genesis 11:5-9. What did God do to cause these people to obey his command? Do you think God will ever allow the human race to become “one people” again, except on his terms?
Where did “stone age” people come from?
Genesis 6 shows that early human cultures were vigorous, intelligent and so advanced technologically that God could tell one of them to build a boat the size of an ocean liner, and he did it. What was this man’s name, and what was the boat called?
Romans 1:18-32 describes the degeneration of people who forget God. Could these technologically advanced early peoples have degenerated into a “stone age” culture for reasons given in these verses?
But didn’t Noah curse the black race, descendants of Ham? Genesis 9:20-27.
Actually, Noah’s curse was placed on one of Ham’s sons and his descendants. What was this son’s name? Who were his descendants (see Genesis 10:15-19)? Look for these names on a Bible map of the Holy Land.
What colour of skin did these people likely have? (Hint: probably the same colour as the peoples living there now.) Read Joshua 9 to find out how the curse on Ham’s son was fulfilled.
Some of the earth’s black peoples did descend from other sons of Ham (Genesis 10:6-7). Modern biology explains it this way. All skin colours are caused by different amounts of the same skin pigment, melanin, which is genetically determined. Scientists say that people groups with different skin colours can develop in only a few generations. While the Bible seldom speaks of skin colours, it does make a big issue of religious differences.
Is interracial marriage forbidden in the Bible?
Deuteronomy 7:3-4, 1 Corinthians 7:39
The only time the Bible forbids marriage of different people groups is when one partner is a believer and the other is not. However, interracial marriages often bring cultural differences that put added pressure on marital harmony.
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