Hey all!
Someone from the Youth sent me a GREAT question, and I thought you all would like to be a part of the conversation. So feel free to add your comments to this one too!
Their question.....
hey,
the other day I was thinking about ethnic backrounds and stuff and I was just wondering, if Adam and Eve were PREDICTED to be white, then how did the ethnic and other backrounds come about? Just a thought.
My answer.....
I think it's sort of "natural"/"normal" for each nationality or ethnic group to think of Adam and Eve, or even Jesus, for that matter, as the color in which they are. (IE: White people think they were white, black people think they were black, and so on.)
We really don't know what color Adam and Eve were. It may be safe to assume that they were a brownish color since people from the mid-east are that color. But again, we really don't know for sure.
As far as when the colors of people originated (began), my first thought would be after the tower of Babel. In Gen.10, we see that Noah's three sons (Ham, Shem, Japheth) have their own families and grow in numbers. In verse 10, we see that the kingdom of Babel was largely populated by the descendants of Ham.
In Genesis 10, we see that it talks about each of Noah's sons and their descendants having their own languages and lands. I personally don't believe that this meant that there were different languages before the situation at Babel. Why? Because of a clue in vs.25....."in his days, the earth was divided." I believe this to be the time when God caused the division of the earth by languages, because in chapter 11, it begins with "Now the whole earth had one language and one speech."
To me, this is saying that the tower of Babel happened in the 3rd generation after the flood. That would be approximately 60-100 years after the flood. That is plenty of time to establish a sizable population.
Ok, so what am I getting at? Well, if we understand that there were about 3 descendant generations of each of Noah's sons, the earth was fairly populated in that region. The Bible then states that a "kingdom" of Babel existed. And in this place called Babel, people seemed to gather and live, and then decided to work together to build a tower. Because of the mindset and heart attitude of the people, God confused their languages and the divided and scattered over the earth. (Gen.11:9)
To me then, this would provide the best opportunity for skin color to change due to the specific region in which each people group would live. Again, this would take a few generations to accomplish this change, but none the less, it would change.
So there you have my two cents worth. I did check around some, and it does seem that others think this way too. If you are interested, you might want to visit this site from Answers in Genesis that talks about this in more detail. http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v3/i3/human_race.asp
Anybody else have any thoughts???
I wonder if the area the lived in had any effect.(for example, Mexico is farther towards the equator and they are naturally darker-skinned, as with Africa) do you think that would have anything to do with it?
ReplyDeleteNathan, I was wondering on that too. I might get this confused, but I think people have a chemical in them, depending on the amount of that chemical depends on how dark or light your skin is I think. I think It also has something to do with the sun that can make you get more of the chemical. But people with darker skin are born with more of it. I may of got that confused with something else, so do not quote me on that. LOL.
ReplyDeleteIf I got that right, my guess is that people in the bible would have darker skin. They were out in the sun and in countries that are very hot.
So I wonder (this may be an easy answer, but I don't know) if the pigment in a persons skin is defined by the sun's light, and that pigment gets passed on through the generations.
ReplyDeleteYou are both right. The pigment is called melanin.. Some ethnic groups produce more of it (& have darker skin) & some ethnic groups produce less (& have lighter skin)..
ReplyDeleteIt is produced by cells called melanocytes to protect our skin from sun damage. Some of us have melanocytes that produce more melanin in response to sun (& get a tan)while others of us (like me) have melanocytes that do not produce much melanin at all (& we burn!)..In this case, the person must be careful to protect themselves from sun damage...
Genes determine how well your melanocytes produce melanin. (therefore genes determine your skin color & your protection from the sun).
Ohh! That makes a lot of sense. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteThanks, mom!
ReplyDeleteThat answers a question I've wondered for a while.