Why did God create the different races?

[Saxum]

What is the biblical explanation for the different races of the world?

 

[Seagull]

Tower - of Babel.

 

[Annie]

Race is a social construct to divide human beings.

 

[Saxum]

Race is a social construct to divide human beings.

What do you mean by ‘social construct?’ Race is also biological.

I want to know why God made people with different genetic features and placed them in separate nations and lands. He created the Japanese and the Africans who look very different from each other and live thousands of miles apart. Why?

 

[Ignatius64869]

In my opinion, God did not necessarily create ethic groups. Instead, God created an intelligent human race with the capacity to adapt to many unique environments. The “races” or ethnicities that developed are really a consequence of our capacity to adapt to a wide range of environments.

 

[Ignatius64869]

One the other hand, the Biblical explanation is the Tower of Babel, as Seagull noted, but that is more mythic, in my opinion, than historical.

 

[ShowersofRoses]

I don’t think He created different races, per se. Adam and Eve had all the genetic diversity in their DNA. And after the Tower of Babel when people were dispersed and scattered across the Earth, groups of people became more isolated and certain genetic features became more prominent in the different groups.

 

[Annie]

Yes, there is a wide range of human beings, but the idea of three “races” is made up. A pygmy and a Maori are both considered black, a redhead and a southern Italian both white, a Philippine and a Chinese both Asian.

Dividing people by skin color is just nonsensical. It’s superficial and useless.

 

[Saxum]

I don’t think He created different races, per se.

But God surely planned that the different racial groups would develop. We also see in the Bible that God did not want the Jews to marry the Canaanite people. The ancient Hebrews deliberately kept themselves racially distinct and separate from the other peoples. This is very strange to me and I don’t understand the reasons why

 

[Saxum]

Yes, there is a wide range of human beings,

This is what I don’t understand. It seems to me that everything would be better if there was a single race with the same colour skin and the same genetic features etc. However, there is racial variety and I believe God must have had a reason for creating these differences. Perhaps evolution provides the true answer to this question. For example, maybe black skin developed in response to the hot climate in which the peoples lived.

 

[Ignatius64869]

See, in my opinion, God created the capacity to adapt so people could live in a variety of places without dying.

Eschatalogically, I think having a variety of ethnic groups helps us become stronger as the one body of Christ. We learn and grow from each other and learn more about the human experience. We know God more fully as a result of that diversity of human experience.

 

[Annie]

No, everything would be better if we didn’t make any sort of deal about how we look different. But Satan wants to divide us…

 

[Saxum]

See, in my opinion, God created the capacity to adapt so people could live in a variety of places without dying.

This seems to be the reason. Racial differences are the result of evolution and natural selection. We believe and know that every person on this earth is a child of Adam and Eve. We are all one family. However, the differences arose in response to different climactic conditions. Therefore, racial differences prove that evolution occurred.

 

[ShowersofRoses]

The Hebrews keeping themselves separate and distinct from the Canaanite and other pagan nations has more to do with religion than genetics. The pagan nations were idol worshipers who often sacrificed their children to their gods. The Hebrews were commanded to stay away from those corrupting influences (they were easily led astray!). They were God’s chosen people and needed to keep the faith pure.

However, people could forsake their pagan religion and choose to become a Hebrew and worship God. Look at Rahab the harlot…she joined the Hebrews after the battle of Jericho as one example. Also, when Moses married Zipporah, a Midianite woman, God was very angry that Moses did not immediately circumcise his two sons. They needed the outward sign of being part of God’s chosen people, the Hebrews.

We are all one “race”, the human race. Don’t focus so much on the outward appearance…categorizing people by skin color is a silly endeavor. God looks on the heart and so should we. We are ALL called to be part of God’s family.

 

[Ignatius64869]

I would agree on a micro-level, but since we are all still the same species, I wouldn’t call it evolution per-se.

However, I would say that our ethnic differences largely reflect natural selection.

 

[Saxum]

No, everything would be better if we didn’t make any sort of deal about how we look different. But Satan wants to divide us…

But God did divide us by allowing the different races to develop and by allotting the times and boundaries of different nations. Satan has nothing to do with this genetic variety. And we also know that God himself made a deal about it when he chose the Jewish race for himself.

 

[Saxum]

We are all one “race”, the human race. Don’t focus so much on the outward appearance…categorizing people by skin color is a silly endeavor. God looks on the heart and so should we. We are ALL called to be part of God’s family.

Yes I agree. We are all called to be part of God’s family - the Catholic Church. Race was important in Old Testament times and continues to be for Jews today, which is why the orthodox say that Jewish status depends on having a Jewish mother. In the new covenant, race is no longer important.

 

[Prodigal_Son]

If there was only one race, there would be all sorts of runners, swimmers, jockeys and racecar drivers who would be out of luck, since that single race had already been run. So that would suck.

 

[Saxum]

Eschatalogically, I think having a variety of ethnic groups helps us become stronger as the one body of Christ.

I don’t understand how a variety of ethnic groups makes us stronger. If anything, it makes us weaker because it divides us along superficial lines.

 

[PetraG]

There is a natural variability in small things like hair type, the shape of facial features, height and so on. Variations in DNA just arise naturally: for instance, it is thought that the variation that lead to hemophilia in the royal families of Europe may have arisen spontaneously in Queen Victoria (or her mother, I suppose).
https://blogs.scientificamerican.co...evidence-solves-medical-and-murder-mysteries/. That these variations do arise spontaneously in humans is well-documented in modern times: that is, some people with genetic differences are carrying DNA that is unlike that of either their father or their mother.

If you isolate a population long enough, the features that are advantageous in some way–that is, that lead to more of one family’s offspring going on to have offspring–will come to predominate. For instance, the same genetic mutation that causes sickle-cell anemia when an individual has two copies of the gene also gives resistance to malaria when someone has only one copy. Such a gene would be common where the climate and its insect vectors support a pool of that disease. For instance, tightly-curled hair such as is common in Africa gives a head covering that both protects from the sun and yet allows sweat to evaporate, an advantage for people who hunt in the heat of the day when the lions and other big predators aren’t inclined to move around much. A different kind of hair might make it easier for someone to withstand hunting or foraging in a very cold climate.