Are There Really Different Races of People?

The Rise of Racism against Jews is Alarming

Antisemitism reared its ugly head in the wake of the vicious Hamas attack against Israeli citizens on October 7^th. Around the world, Palestinian supporters spewed hatred against not only Israel but against Jews.

In Sydney, Australia, Hamas supporters chanted, “Gas the Jews!” CBN reported that University of Wisconsin Madison students chanted, “Glory to the martyrs!” Cornell University professor Russell Rickford called the Hamas killings “exhilarating” and “energizing.” A Stanford professor ordered Jewish students to stand in a corner while calling them “colonizers.”   

In Berlin, Jewish residents found the Star of David graffitied on the doors of their homes. Just two days ago, The Times of Israel reported painted Star of David stencils on buildings in Paris and its suburbs. “In another nearby town of Saint-Ouen, they were accompanied by inscriptions such as “Palestine will overcome.”’

What Will We Do?

I have often wondered what I would have done if I was a Christian living in Nazi Germany. Would I speak up in protest of the injustices against Jews whose only crime was their birthright? Or would I cower in fear and silence?

As Christians in the midst of the world’s growing deceit, God has called us to speak the truth in love. Only the perfect love of God can cast out fear.

To hate Jews for no other reason than that they were born Jewish is racist. I recently wrote an article about racism, focusing on the triviality of a person’s skin color. This exposition of the racist lie, however, also encompasses antisemitism – hating Jews simply because they are Jews.

Here is my article, exposing the lies of racism and revealing the truth of God creating man in His image. May we boldly love what God loves and show our support for Israel and the Jewish people.

Are There Really Different Races of People?

Have you ever wondered how many races of people God created? We can find the answer in the Bible, the Word of God.

“Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’” (Genesis 1:26)

We can avoid the world’s confusion by reading the Scriptures. The first chapter of the Bible tells us that God created man in His image. No fish, birds, livestock or worms were made in this manner. Only people were created in the image of God and given dominion over all species of animals.

Noah Webster’s 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language defines “race” as “the lineage of a family, or continued series of descendants from a parent who is called the stock … all mankind are called the race of Adam.” Webster also defined “race” as “a particular breed; as a race of mules; a race of horses; a race of sheep.”

What Determines A Race?

We know from observation and biology that members of any race of animals can reproduce with each other. However, members of two different races of animals cannot reproduce. For example, we don’t see birds mating with fish and producing “fishy-bird” offspring.

On the other hand, no matter their skin color, people can marry and have children. As Noah Webster wrote, all humans are one race – that of Adam. He agreed with the creation account in Genesis. “And Adam called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.” (Genesis 3:20) The Bible tells us that all human beings have one mother.

What the Scriptures Say

The Apostle Paul told the men of Athens, “God, who made the world and everything in it … has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth …” (Acts 17:24, 26) The Bible reveals that God created all people from one blood, Adam’s. We are one blood and one race.

So why do people prejudge one another? In Numbers 12, Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because he married an Ethiopian woman. “So they said, ‘Has the LORD indeed spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us also?’ And the LORD heard it.” (Numbers 12:2) The Lord came down in a pillar of cloud and reproved Aaron and Miriam. After He departed, Miriam became a leper, as white as snow. Fortunately, Moses cried out to God to heal her.

As humans, we tend to look at outward appearance and judge accordingly. When Samuel the prophet came to anoint one of Jesse’s sons as king, he “saw Eliab and thought, ‘Surely the LORD’s anointed stands here before the LORD.’ But the LORD said to Samuel, ‘Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.’” (1 Samuel 16:6-7)

Modern Races and Racism

Unfortunately, man’s tendency to look at outward appearance can lead to sin, such as racism. Ken Ham, founder and CEO of Answers in Genesis, wrote:

“In the 1800s, before Darwinian evolution was popularized, most people, when talking about ‘races,’ would be referring to such groups as the ‘English race,’ ‘Irish race,’ and so on. However, this all changed in 1859 when Charles Darwin published his book On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life.

“Darwinian evolution was (and still is) inherently a racist philosophy, teaching that different groups or ‘races’ of people evolved at different times and rates, so some groups are more like their apelike ancestors than others. Leading evolutionist Stephen Jay Gould claimed, ‘Biological arguments for racism may have been common before 1859, but they increased by orders of magnitude following the acceptance of evolutionary theory.’”[i]

Scientists Prove God Right

On June 26, 2000, Dr. J. Craig Venter of the Celera Genomics Corporation and scientists at the National Institutes of Health announced that they had put together a draft of the entire human genome sequence. The researchers unanimously declared there is only one race – the human race.

Renowned surgeon Dr. Harold P. Freeman, who has studied the issue of biology and race, said, “If you ask what percentage of your genes is reflected in your external appearance, … the answer seems to be in the range of .01 percent.”[ii] Only one one-hundredth of one percent of our genes determines outward characteristics, such as skin color. In all other aspects, human DNA is 99.99 percent the same. Science has proven what God has been saying all along. We are all one race, one blood.

So, while confusion abounds regarding race, we can find assurance in the Scriptures. Racism is not a skin problem; it’s a sin problem. When we accept God’s truth that He created us all in His image through one blood, we can begin to look at one another as God does – at the heart. And when we are asked about race on medical forms, perhaps we can simply write “human.”

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[i] Ken Ham, https://answersingenesis.org/racism/are-there-really-different-races/

[ii] Natalie Angier, “Do Races Differ? Not Really, DNA Shows,” New York Times, August 22, 2000.