The Roots of Mankind
The origin of mankind is one of the greatest mysteries of all time. Man's origins are described several times in the book of Genesis. Many different Hebrew verbs are used to define the creation of humankind. The first description uses the Hebrew word asah, which translated means "to make" or "to produce". The word implies the creation of something from pre-existing materials . (Genesis 1:26) The second description of the creation of man uses the word bara, which is often translated as "to create" and almost always refers to acts done by God and refers to the creation of something brand new. (Genesis 1:27) The third description of mankind's creation uses the Hebrew word yatsar, which means "to form" or "to fashion". Like the word asah, it usually refers to the formation of something from pre-existing materials. (Genesis 2:7) Hence the theory of Creation.
The descriptions from Genesis indicate that man is both a new creation and perhaps based upon a previous design. Such scientific conclusions indicate that man was formed from the "dust of the ground" and creation was based upon a pre-existing material. What was the nature of this "dust?" It could refer to creation based upon a previously-used body plan or genetic design. This would explain why human Deoxyribonucleic acid [the chemical inside the nucleus of a cell that carries the genetic instructions for making living organisms] shares similarity with the Deoxyribonucleic acid of chimpanzees and other apes. Hence the theory of Evolution.
Another scientific theory arrives at the conclusion of how many generations have lived under God's commandments based on at least three verses in the Old Testament which indicate that humans have been around for at least 1000 generations.(Psalm 105:8; Deuteronomy 7:9; 1 Chronicles 16:15) Since a biblical generation usually is 40 years, this would suggest that modern humans have existed for at least 40,000 years. Hence the theory of Pre-historic Man.
Origin of the Races
Origin of the Races
Neither the Bible nor science give us an absolute picture of how the human races arose. The Bible contains no explanation of when or how races came to be. Science tells us that the genetic differences among the races are very small. Such minor genetic differences can be easily explained through selective breeding using microevolutionary processes.
To most people's surprise, there are no specific functional and physical units of heredity passed from parent to offspring. Genes are pieces of DNA, and most genes contain the information for making a specific protein. In other words, all races share exactly the same functional and physical units of heredity passed from parent to offspring.
Although there is no direct biblical data regarding the origin of the races, people have speculated that certain judgments of God caused the races to begin. According to the Book of Mormon (not part of the Bible), the unbelief of the Lamanites (the supposed ancestors of Native Americans) led God to put a curse of dark skin on them, whereas the Nephites were still white, and exceedingly fair-skinned.
Others have speculated that the mark God put on Cain as a penalty for murdering his brother Abel was a change of skin color. However, the Bible does not give any hint about what the "mark" of Cain was. In addition, Cain is not in the line of descent to Noah, so any racial changes that might have been made would have disappeared at the Great Flood.
Some have speculated that Ham's penalty might have been a change of race. However, the text says only that Ham's descendants would be servants to his brothers. Another speculation is that God changed the races at the same time he scattered the people at the Tower of Babel (to prevent the kind of wickedness that had taken place during the human unity prior to the Great Flood) after they tried to build a tower that would reach into the Heavens. While this theory is possible, the Genesis account is entirely silent about this kind of action on the part of God.
Given the silence of the Bible on the subject of the origin of the races, one might conclude that the topic was thought to be unimportant in the overall scope of the Bible. Contrary to the claims of some, the Bible makes no direct claims about the origin of the races.
The first mention of race occurs many thousands of years after the flood, in the book of Numbers, describing the marriage of Moses to a Cushite woman (the Cushites were dark-skinned). King Solomon also married a dark-skinned woman, which is described in his book, the Song of Solomon. The book of Jeremiah describes the Ethiopians as dark-skinned people, but not how they got that way. Other than these few mentions in the Old Testament, the Bible is entirely silent about when and how the races originated.
In conclusion, while the creation model fits the available scientific data better than any of the evolutionary models for the origin of man, the debate over the subject of mankind's roots has continued to escalate into a worldwide controversy during our modern times.
"The world we live in is filled with 'Ongoing Information' if one but searches out its sources. Finding the answers, which are sometimes not forthcoming, is the key to continuing the journey into knowledge. As one is rewarded with answers they seek, they gain insight; even when answers are not forthcoming, they endeavor to put forth the effort of seeking out the knowledge toward a specific end." ~ Kelly Warman-Stallings
