Race

[Guest Sophie]

Greetings everyone!

I have recently wondered why God would create so many races with different skin colours, all of which have some misgivings about others. I'm sure most of this world's problems can be traced back to issues of one race feeling inferior or superior to another. Even in the ideal case where all are in perfect harmony, there will always be that ununifying factor of 'differentness' or being made to feel different. I will appreciate your comments on this subject. Thanks!

[Work in Progress]

I have no idea about the races. My understanding is God did not 'create' the different races per se, but that they 'evolved' (for lack of a better word) and adapted to the environment that they originated in.

I'm sure most of this world's problems can be traced back to issues of one race feeling inferior or superior to another.

My opinion is that all of the world's problems can be traced back to the Garden of Eden.

[Leonard]

The Bible doesn't really speak about 'race' as we think of it today. God created "Adam's race." We are all sons and daughters of Adam.

Our concept of race is, I am convinced, a creation of the fallen mind of man, to give us yet another excuse to abuse our fellow men. It is an artificial means of declaring there is a 'division' between 'us' and 'them.'

[Guest RockyRoad]

I guess I have always gone back to the tower of Babel for this one..

God scattered everyone all over the face of the earth and I believe with it came the different races...The skin color just seems to go with the geography...

Sure did what He wanted it to do...folks haven't gotten along since..

Funny how someone who is blind from birth doesn't have any racial prejudice.

(Unless someone teaches it to them.)

Red- Yellow -Black- White- fat- thin -ugly- pretty -short -tall -and any other word you can come up with just doesn't matter when you don't "see" it....

Mankind is arrogant...

Anyhow, in Christ we are all one and all of that is rubbish.....

RockyRoad

[nebula]

My observation is that our "race" problem is really a "cultural" problem - or a "you are different than me" problem. Race is just a visible mark to a different person.

As the human race spread throughout the earth, their bodies began adapting to the climate - darker skin where the sun was more intense, lighter skin where the sun was less intense. Other aspects (i.e. facial features) had more to do with what genetic mix each isolated population had.

Culture changed and developed over time with each isolated population - each population changing differently - the same as our culture changed in the past century (i.e. compare the music fromt he 1940's to music of the 1990's!). The only difference is that before, there was not as interactions aroudn the world.

The point is, "race" is something that developed over time.

The misgivings, as I said, are all about our tendancy to not like that which is different from us. Sure, you can learn to appreciate other cultures and races, but our natural tendancy is like-to-like. You can have two people of the same race but in two different economic classes and have the same prejudices against each other as you'd see between races.

As was said before, it all goes back to sin.

[Guest yod]

Simon of Cyrene was most likely a black man. God didn't think it was important enough to mention.

But I'm a little alarmed at the underlying tone of your thread. What difference does race mean to you? Are you suggesting that God favors one race over another?

[ayin jade]

I posted this in the seeker's forum, where you had posted a question before.

A specific link from above page

Jesus told us to love our neighbor as ourselves, meaning to love all mankind as we would ourselves. The Lord doesnt want us to hate others based on skin color. Jesus came to earth to save all mankind, not just those of a selected race. I have an interracial marriage. Im often the only fair haired white skinned person in a crowd of darker people. I dont feel different being among them. We are all born again Christians united in our love of the Lord.

Most of our problems can be traced back to sin, I beleive. With sin in the world, mankind's hearts can be callous. Mankind can be capable of much evil. Satan of course eggs all of this on. He wants us all fighting each other, instead of focusing on the Lord. The solution to this is for everyone to turn to the Lord, to put Him first in our lives. To live as He wants us to. To love God with all our heart, mind and soul, and to love our neighbor as ourselves.

I rambled, but I hope it made sense.

[Guest Sophie]

No way!! It's just that I was born again a few months back and since then I've been seeing things very different but some things like race are still giving me trouble. I have searched the bible for answers but not a single time does it address this issue as a problem. Sure countries like Ethiopia are mentioned something like 40 times but rarely does the bible talk about the brown skinned Abyssinians. Right now I have been living in a foreign country (almost 2 years now) where everytime I leave the comfort of the familiar evironment of my home and people I have been used to, I am made to feel different. I am always consious of this issue and i'm tired of feeling and seeing things in black/white/yellow/brown. I was merely asking everyone here because after my google search of ''christian forums'' this was my first hit and I liked what I saw so I thought I'd ask for opinions and who knows maybe someone has gone through the same things I am going through and has found some kind of enlightenment. If you feel offended I'm sorry, but the problem is very real to me and I need an answer. Thanks to all who replied, I'm very familiar with the way science deals with it - i'm a Biochemical/ Genetic Engineering major at a Uni but somehow I just feel lost