I grew up in the south but yet I also grew up in a very good Christian home where I was taught that we are to accept and love all people no matter what the color of their skin. I was taught that we are to love all people even those who are ‘different’ than me. Growing up, we were all taught that little song: “Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world, red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in His sight, Jesus loves the little children of the world.” As lovely as this song may be, it is technically wrong. You see, there is no red and yellow, black and white, we are human. We are a part of the human ‘kind’. Instead of teaching our children that we should love those who are ‘different’, we should be teaching them that people are not ‘different’, we are all human and we should simply love people. We have been taught that there are different ‘races’ of people. In a very sincere way, our Christian parents have taught us that we are to love all ‘races.’ However, we need to understand that this is totally unbiblical. You see, the Bible does not teach that there are different ‘races’ of people. A clear understanding of the first eleven chapters of Genesis will reveal that we are all one blood, one people, and one kind.
The idea that there are different ‘races’ or ‘classifications’ of humans and the resulting ideas of racism comes from a secular world-view based on the religion of evolution. This is where we find the roots of racism. In the mid-19th century ‘racism’ became very popular. There was a growing idea that there are superior races of people. This seemed to coincide with some of the most blatant attacks on the Bible by men such as Thomas Huxley and Charles Darwin. During this time, the Old Testament was looked at as a myth and the attack against God’s Word began with an attack on the very beginning, creation. The views of these men inspired other men who made the first part of the 20th century the most bloodiest in all human history. Men such as Stalin and Hitler were responsible for the deaths of millions of people. Their racist agendas came from the influence of Darwinism. Charles Darwin wrote these words in his book, the descent of man, “I would rather be descended from a monkey than from a savage.” Darwin often used the word ‘savage’ to describe American Indians, pygmies, blacks, and almost every ethnic group that appeared different than his own. As Darwinism spread, people began to ask, ‘who is human and who is not?’ It was believed that blacks evolved from the stronger but less intelligent gorillas and the orientals evolved from the orangutan and the whites evolved from the most intelligent of all the primates, the chimpanzees. As these ideas were accepted, man began to justify racism. It must be understood here that once people abandon the authority of God’s Word, there is no foundation for morality and justice in the world. We are seeing this very thing continue in our day. Even in the church, we have seen an abandonment of the authority of God’s Word. Instead of looking to God’s Word as the final authority, we have looked to science and man’s philosophies. As a result, a tolerance for sin has crept into the doors of the church. The further away we get from the truth of God’s Word the more we drive people toward lawlessness and even racism. This is why we must have a high view of scripture and take God’s Word for what it says. When we begin to question what God says in His Word and when we begin to compromise on His Word, it opens the door for an influx of sin in the church and in society. When we look to human reason instead of God’s Word we begin to justify sins such as homosexuality, abortion, euthanasia, and racism. Without the absolute authority of God’s Word, we can find a way to justify anything. That is why I believe that the root cause of racism is the abandonment and the compromise of God’s Word.
As a result of evolutionary ideas being indoctrinated in society over the years, many people have come to believe the lies of racism. There have been several so-called ‘Christian’ organizations that have promoted these lies. In addition to various ‘Christian’ organizations we also have clubs and ‘secret societies’ such as the masons who also promote the lies of racism. There are several lies that lays the foundation for racism, these lies must be understood as lies from Satan himself in an effort to undermine the authority of God’s Word. The first lie of racism is that man evolved from a lower life form to a higher life form. This is one of the root causes for racism in our society. Evolutionist teach that man evolved from something lesser into something greater. Though most evolutionist today would not admit it, the philosophy of evolution clearly teaches that some ‘races’ of humans have not evolved as great as others. This way of thinking is what fueled men such as Hitler to believe that there was a superior race. Believing this lie resulted in the killing of thousands over the years in the name of ‘ethnic cleansing.’ Early evolutionist and racist ideas resulted in the horrific trade of the Aborigines people. It was believed that they were the ‘missing link’ and they were slaughtered like animals and used for so-called ‘scientific’ research. It must be understood that man was created in the image of God and we did not come from a lower form of life, we were formed by the very hands of God. Another lie of racism is that the Bible justifies the superiority of one ‘race’ over another. Racism crept into the doors of the church over the years because the church began to adopt the philosophies of men rather than standing true on the authority of God’s Word. As a result of questioning God’s Word and misinterpretation of God’s Word, it has been taught that the Bible teaches that certain races are superior. The unfortunate challenge before us is that many have used the Bible to justify the slavery of African Americans. At the time America was born this view was being established in the church based on the following false arguments: 1. Abraham the ‘father of faith’ and all the patriarchs had slaves without God’s disapproval. 2. Canaan, Ham’s son, was made a slave to his brothers. 3. The Ten Commandments mention slavery twice, showing God’s implicit acceptance of it. 4. Slavery was widespread throughout the Roman world, and yet Jesus never spoke against it. 5. The apostle Paul specifically commanded slaves to obey their masters. 6. Paul returned a runaway slave, Philemon, to his master. This type of thinking is the foundation for ‘white superiority’. What needs to be understood, however, is that the Bible did acknowledge the slavery of Biblical times and it regulated its practice. However, a clear understanding of scripture shows that slavery was not based on skin color. For example, the children of Israel became slaves in Egypt not because of their skin color but because they were growing in number. Yet, in the early days of America the debate over slavery split entire denominations. Unfortunately, many of the more evangelical/fundamental groups supported race-based slavery. The issue of slavery is what resulted in the formation of two groups of Baptist in 1845: the Southern Baptist, which supported race-based slavery and the American Baptist, who did not support slavery. These issues resulted in fractured relationships between blacks and whites in the church to the point that blacks were not permitted to pray in the presence of whites. As a result the historic African Methodist Episcopal Church was formed. I think it behooves us to look at our history before we make such an emphasis on what ‘group’ we are a part of or what we label ourselves as. Racist extremist groups also use the Bible to justify their racism, though their interpretation is faulty just like Darwin misinterpreted science in order to promote the religion of evolution. One example is the Ku Klux Klan. Did you know that the KKK is a U.S. Supreme court recognized and protected Christian organization that received a charter from congress because of their moral and good Christian behavior? Their doctrinal statement is very similar to many fundamental Bible-believing groups except in this one point where it states, “We believe the White, Anglo-Saxon, Germanic and kindred people to be God’s true, literal Children of Israel.” Not only is there the KKK but also the Christian Identity Movement which also misinterprets the Bible to justify racism. Their organization is called the Kingdom Identity Ministries and in their doctrinal statement they affirm the authority of scripture, the Trinity, salvation by grace, and many other major points. Yet, they also state that they believe that ‘Adam is the father of the White race only.’ Even in many fundamental Baptist churches across the south there are statements in their church constitution and by-laws that says that no blacks are allowed to be members of the church. Some churches may not have it in their constitution but yet it is an ‘unwritten’ law of the church. May I point out that this is not the case in all fundamental churches, but yet it is the case in more than you may want to believe. This kind of false ideas is what happens as result of compromising on God’s Word. When we begin to question God’s Word at the very beginning, it leads to a huge misinterpretation and misapplication of scripture. Remember, when you stray from the authority of God’s Word it opens the door for the justifying of any sin. This is why we must take God’s Word in its literal, historical, and grammatical sense. When we question Genesis one, the age of the earth, and the days of creation, it opens the door to question the creation of ‘kinds’ and thus pushes us toward the evolutionary idea that some ‘races’ has not evolved as great as others, thus justifying racism. Church, we must have a clear understand of Genesis and we must never compromise on God’s Word lest we too fall into Satan’s lies!
Not only do we see the roots of racism and the lies of racism but notice also the science of one race. You see, true science will always support what we find in the Bible. In Darwin’s day they did not have the technology we have today. Now we can study genetics and we can see how all human beings are much more similar than you have been lead to believe. All creationist and most all evolutionist agree that the various ‘races’ we have today did not have a separate origin. Those who believe that humans came from animals also believe that the various skins colors we see today came from humans themselves and not from different animals. It is interesting how the Bible has it right all along and science substantiates the Bible. In his book, One Race, One Blood, Ken Ham writes: “Every human being has the same basic pigment in the skin, it’s called: melanin. It is basically a brown color. Melanin protects the skin against damage by ultraviolet light from the sun. If you have too little melanin and you live in a very sunny environment, you will easily suffer sunburn and skin cancer. If you have a great deal of melanin and you live in a country where there is little sunlight, it is much harder for your body to get adequate amounts of vitamin D. Your body needs sunshine for its production of Vitamin D and melanin filters it out. If you don’t get enough vitamin D you could suffer a bone disorder.” When God created Adam and Eve, He made them with a perfect genetic makeup. Adam and Eve had all the information in them to produce a variety of skin colors. Over time as a result of sin and the climatic changes after the flood various genes were bred out of people. Ken Ham says, “In a sense, light skinned people have had the dark genes bred out of them. Darker-skinned people have had the light genes bred out of them. The only way to reintroduce diversity into their gene pool is to mate with others of different genetic varieties. When this happens, diversity is reintroduced into the gene pool and the offspring might be light, dark, or a combination in between.” The majority of the population of the world is what we would call middle-brown. Originally Middle-brown (which was Adam and Eve) had in them the genes of AaBb which would allow them to produce children with light, dark, and every shade in between all within one generation. But, how come middle-brown people do not produce many shades today? Ken Ham answers, “Groups of people who carry the aaBB or AAbb gene are able to produce middle-brown offspring. If these lines of people were interbreed again, the process would be reversed. In a short period of time their descendents would show a full range of shades, often in the same family.” Keep in mind, Adam and Eve were created perfect. They were able to produce all shades of skin which answers the question as to the variety of skin color we see today. But what about the scattering of people at the tower of Babel? How did we get the various people groups in different parts of the world today? When the people migrated from Babel they encountered different climates. Some people went to areas that had little sunlight. Those with dark skin would not be able to produce enough vitamin D and would not be healthy and would have less children and would not be able to survive. Over time, the light-skinned people in the less sunlight environment would prevail. The pressure of the environment can affect the balance of the genes within a group and could cause one group to be predominate over the other. This explains why we have darker-skinned people predominate in areas of the world that have more sunlight and lighter-skinned people in areas of lesser sunlight. There are some dark-skinned people who live in colder climates such as the Eskimos. However, it is believed that they have a genetic make-up that does not allow them to produce lighter offspring but they also have what they need for efficient Vitamin D so they are able to survive and adapt to a colder climate. The point is that in just a few generations after the tower of Babel we have a variety of skin colors and some skin colors being more prominent than others based on the environment in which they migrated to. Truly, science substantiates the Bible’s teaching that we all came from one man and one woman who had the perfect genetic make-up to produce all the various skin colors and because of sin the gene pool became more and more deficient and with the scattering of the peoples at the tower of Babel we have the various people groups living predominately in the climatic areas that you would expect. This all shows that God’s Word is true.
So, what does the Bible have to say? There are four basic facts that are clear to us in scripture.
1. We came from one man. First Corinthians 15:45 tells us that the first man was Adam. 2. We came from one woman. Genesis 3:20 tells us that Eve was the mother of all the living. Scientific research shows that Mitochondrial DNA is passed from mother to child and this DNA is similar in all people alive today. 3. We are fully human at conception. Psalm 139:14-16 shows how God knew us even when we were just a substance in our mother’s womb. It has been scientifically proven that all the genetic information needed to make a person is present at the very moment of conception! How in the world do people justify abortion? The only way is to ignore true science and to deny the truth of God’s Word. 4. There is only on human race. We have a common ancestor. There are not many ‘races.’ There is not red and yellow, black and white. We are one, the human ‘kind’, just as the Bible says.
When it comes to the issue of racism there is only one conclusion. Racism is sin. To place one people group above another is an abomination to God. As believer’s we will never see revival in America until God’s people rid themselves of this terrible sin. And it all goes back to Genesis. A clear understanding of the first eleven chapters of Genesis leads us to the understanding that we are all created in the image of God, we are all sinners, and we all need a Savior.