Tag Archives: Prejudice

BIBLE, BIBLE QUESTIONS, GENESIS, OLD TESTAMENT

WITH ONLY EIGHT ON THE ARK,  WHERE DID THE RACES COME FROM? — BOB PRICHARD

Genesis 7:13 gives us the census of people that were on the ark: “In the selfsame day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah’s wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark.” With these four men and four women, the earth was repopulated after the flood. Sin necessitated the flood. It was a time when “the earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth” (Genesis 6:11-12).

The Bible does not tell us when the races originated. It is possible that the races developed from the division of mankind at the tower of Babel, although Moses only says that God confounded their language and scattered them abroad (Genesis 11:1-9). As people scattered and separated, the races could have developed from the gene pool in each area. As people intermarried within a region, certain racial characteristics developed, as well as individual languages.

Modern science has tried to differentiate among the races, recognizing four basic races: Caucasoid, Mongoloid, Negroid and Australoid. The problem with these classifications, however, is that the dominant characteristics that are specific to a race, such as skin color or hair type, are found in the other racial groups. Skin color,  the most obvious racial characteristic, is determined primarily by the amount of melanin in the skin. Thus a “white” person may actually have darker skin than a “black” person. Although general racial characteristics may predominate among certain populations, all human beings are part of the same species, the human race.

We know that all human beings have come from the original man and woman, Adam and Eve, and also that all living human beings are descendants of Noah and his family. Paul declared that God “made of one every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed seasons, and the bounds of their habitation” (Acts 17:26 ASV). The words “of one,” literally mean “out of one male,” thus Adam. All mankind has descended from Adam.

Since all human beings have descended from the eight on the ark, then all racial characteristics must have been available in the genetic makeup of Noah and his family. Some suggest that Shem and his descendants were Asian, thus Mongoloid; Ham and his descendants were African, thus Negroid; and Japheth and his descendants were European, and thus Caucasoid. More likely, however, Noah and all of his family were a combination of all of our modern day races. The separation into current races was gradual over time.

Neither the biblical nor the non-biblical evidence supports the evolutionary theory, coming from racial prejudice, that the races descended from different primates or “prehuman” men. Since all races of humans can intermarry, all humans are interrelated, with the same ancestry in Adam and Eve.

BIBLE QUESTIONS, CHRISTIAN LIVING

WHAT IS RELIGIOUS PREJUDICE? — BOB PRICHARD

Prejudice is one of the great problems of mankind. War in Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Israel and Gaza, and many other places is primarily over religious prejudice. The root idea of prejudice is to “pre-judge” someone or something, without considering all the evidence. Prejudice results when someone decides “all” are “like this” because a “few” are. Prejudice comes because someone has the attitude, “my mind is made up, don’t confuse me with the facts.” Race, gender, size, religion, or just about any other distinguishing characteristic may be the basis for prejudice. The basic idea is that “we” are better, and “they” are not as good.

The Jews of Christ’s time had an attitude of racial and religious prejudice toward the Samaritans. It was almost beyond the belief of  Christ’s Jewish listeners that there could possibly be a “good Samaritan.” The Samaritan woman at the well acknowledged the division, “for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans” (John 4:9). Jesus offered her “living water” that would bring unity to the Jew, the Samaritan, and the Gentile as well. “The hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him” (John 4:23).  

Jesus came to unite all “true worshippers” who would “worship the Father in spirit and in truth.” By seeking true worshippers, He frequently challenged the religious authorities. “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation” (Matthew 23:13-14). He called the Pharisees “hypocrites” so often that “Pharisee” and “hypocrite” are almost synonymous to us. The Pharisees were the most religious of all the sects of the Jews, but they had lost sight of God’s will. Was Jesus “prejudiced” against the Pharisees because he criticized them? No! He had not “pre-judged” them, but He knew what they were teaching and doing, so he condemned them.

In our religious world, some think that any criticism of what any religious group teaches or practices is “religious prejudice.” It seems that we have reached the point that people can do anything in the name of religion, and because of cries of “religious prejudice,” we should never compare their religious practices to what the Bible says. Criticism that is “pre-judged,” not based on a right consideration of all the evidence is wrong, but too often the “standard” is what men like or dislike, rather than what God has said through His written Word. Jesus said, “He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day” (John 12:48). To say, “this religious group teaches or practices such and such a doctrine, but the Bible says this,” is not religious prejudice. We must be sure that our facts are right, and that we do not misapply or mishandle the Word, but we also must make sure that we abide by what it teaches. We risk our souls if we disregard God’s will.