What scripture(s) speak on why God made people with different skin color?
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Asked June 04 2013
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Lisa Hendricks
Supporter
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Colin Wong
Supporter
There is no specific scripture that explains why God created people with different skin color. No more than why He explained the creation of different heights, or facial features. No more than why He explained the creation of thousands of species of animals, birds, fish, insects, flowers etc. But there is an implied understanding of God's personality through His design of this world: diversity. God loves diversity. Imagine when God first created this universe. Why create one color when you can create many? Why create one animal when you can create many? There is uniqueness. Every single one of us, here on earth, from the past, the present, to the future, is unique. God is the greatest of all artists, sculptors, composers, and creators. He is the creator of all of creation. Notice how all the colors in this world combined in infinite forms, to create art and beauty. And sounds of infinite combinations in tone, create art and music. Our skin tone is just one of many building blocks He use to create beauty in diversity and uniqueness.
Asabe Tahir
Supporter
I've not seen any where in the scriptures where our SKIN COLOR is mentioned, talk more of where God speaks on why He made it so. God specifically chose the Israelites and made them His own people yet still, he chose us who are from other tribe/race and made us His as well. I believe we all, either black, white, yellow or red represent the different expression and multifaceted beauty of God. ANYONE called by God's Name is created FOR His glory & praise (Isaiah 43:7). Consider the flowers.....different colors, different shapes, different smell, different species...but each one is unique, delicate, precious, beautiful,...God's word in Isaiah 40:6-8 liken us to it. 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 people look at. PEOPLE LOOK AT the OUTWARD appearance, but THE LORD LOOKS AT THE HEART.” (1 Samuel 16:7 NIV) Both the ONE WHO makes people holy and those who are made holy are of THE SAME FAMILY. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters. (Hebrews 2:11 NIV) So IN CHRIST JESUS you ARE ALL children of God through faith, for ALL OF YOU WHO were baptized into Christ have CLOTHED yourselves WITH CHRIST. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for YOU ARE ALL ONE IN Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. (Galatians 3:26-29 NIV) HE predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, IN ACCORDANCE WITH HIS HIS PLEASURE and WILL — (Ephesians 1:5 NIV) Jesus' ultimate desire for the Church is for the members to be ONE, irrespective of color, geographical location and diversity. THEY ALL MAY BE ONE, [just] as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be one in Us, SO THAT the world may believe and be convinced that You have sent Me. (John 17:21 AMP) 1 Corinthians 12:12-27
Glen Jeffers
Supporter
I did not read the answers in detail but the question was on skin color and not race. I believe God did create skin color. We now know about DNA and skin color is part of that DNA. Therefore, DNA for skin color had to be there "in the beginning." Adam was made from dirt (dark) because Adam in the Hebrew means red i.e. dark. Eve came from Adams rib and we know ribs are white. I'm not a geneticist but I think offspring can not be darker than the darkest parent nor lighter than the lightest parent. Now, Why? Could it be that God would test our love for each other based on skin color? Martin Luther King Jr. said, "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. Many people did, do now and will in the future judge a persons character based on something as trivial and insignificant as skin color in regards to character. In regard to character; We judge a the basis of beauty (subjective). We judge on the basis of our job. We judge on the basis of the neighborhood we live in. We judge on the car we drive. We judge on the basis of the nation we live in. And the list goes on. The test from God in being saved by grace through faith to be sons of out Father in heaven is do I love my enemies, bless those who curse me, do good to those who hate me and pray for those who spitefully use and persecute me? This is the test to be perfect like our Father in heaven (Matthew 5:43-48) The other test of heaven is do I love the Lord Jesus Christ so much that I am willing to give up my life to follow Him every day (Luke 9:23-24, Romans 6:1-14, Gal 5:22-26) by obeying His VOICE (John 15:12-15). May you not be cut off from the Vine by the Father because you did not past the test of love (fruit of the Spirit) (Matthew 15:1-2) because you failed on something as trivial as skin color.
Fanny Essamuah
Supporter
Genesis 1:26 KJV (the first part) And God said, Let us make man in our own image, after our likeness Whatever you look like, you are the image of God. God created us all in his own image and likeness. Amen! The most important thing is no the color of your skin but the most important thing is Luke 10:27 KJV And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.
Kevin Carlson
Supporter
We're all descendants from Noah's sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Our genetic makeup comes from them. Humans tend to marry like so over many generations certain traits are expressed more and more. We all have melanocytes in the skin which is an epidermal cell that produces melanin and the more melanin you have the darker the skin.
Stephen M
Supporter
According to the Holy Scriptures there are no different races. Acts 17.26 says 'And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation'. So while there may be different variations in features, colour etc we all go back to our father Adam and our mother Eve. The only explanation I can offer for the differences in the human race is that our parents Adam and Eve contained a gene pool capable of all the variations in humanity. I have no idea if this is so or not, but God is capable of all things.
My Cup Overflows
Supporter
God's creative design when He made all living things is evident in its diversity. We all have variations within our DNA. So do animals. Even plants can be altered genetically which produces one that is stronger, taller, more colorful, etc. Darwin attributed this design to evolution (ie. The beaks of birds got shorter and stronger over several generations when their main food source changed). God made it that way and the various colors throughout creation are marvelous and beautiful.
Steve Wilson
Supporter
Does the Bible actually talk about races or nations? As far as I can tell,we are told about nations. Many of our ideas on race have been born out of books we have read or news we have seen/heard that dealt with racial discrimination. I think that it pleases God that people are His creation and His deepest desire is that they hear, follow and share the gospel with others. Skin tone is just the surface of who we are, and like the flowers of the field, will fade away. Acts17:26 identifies all nations of one blood, Adam, created by God. This verse goes a long way in bringing our ideas about race in line with the gospel.
Joann Schlachter
Supporter
Unfortunately, and maybe fortunately the Bible is not a biology or a history book as some would propose. It is a collection of books telling and retelling the story of our salvation history as seen through the eyes of God the Father, the Genealogy of Jesus family tree(yes He had some real humdingers in His family line) of which we are all grafted onto through trinitarian Baptism, in a spiritual way. It is also the story of the evolution and development of the establishment of Christ's church on earth: and yes He warn us ahead of time through many of His parables that there would be some not so good characters. But God uses all this for good. The Bible is also prophetic and consoling to those in distress. To use the Bible for other purposes or to use it for science is not what it was meant for and therefore is a misuse of the word of God. However, I would say that to use science in the service of God would be a good thing and some things in the Bible may be proven as historically accurate as we are beginning to learn about the worldwide flood and other occurrences mentioned in the Bible. Sodom and Gomorrah, etc.
Johnnatta Giles
Supporter
The Bible does not talk about it for a reason. We have different skin color because of where we come from. Like different atmospheres and continents. And like another answer says our genetic make up. God does not create you in heaven saying "Well I think this one should be purple and the other blue" He creates our inner most being the scripture says.He marks us with spiritual gifts. He creates our Spirit Man. Our flesh is created through our sinful heritage. When He looks at you He looks right to your Spirit. God hardly pays attention to your outer man.
Jack Gutknecht
Supporter
I don't know for sure but my best guess is Genesis 11:1-9, the true story of the Tower of Babel. There the Lord changed or confused the languages of the different people so they would form different people groups or nations. Along with this could have come a change in skin color. This would establish their national identity and help ensure that they would scatter upon the face of all the earth as God wanted in the first place.
Danny Hickman
Supporter
I think the premise of the question is a bit faulty. I don't believe God made people of different skin tones. Skin tones, not "colors." All people descended from one man and one woman. We have no idea what their skin tone was. People with dark skin tone present the argument that for there to be people as dark skinned as the people of Sudan, and people as light skinned as the people of Sweden, if we're all descended from only 2 people, at least one of the two would have to be as dark skinned as the people of Sudan. If dark skin is the natural tone of mankind's skin, what's the source of the light skin tone of the people of Sweden? If Science and Logic were gods, we'd have to find a logical way to explain it. With Jehovah as God, we don't. We're told that Adam lived 930 years; and he didn't live as long as did Methuselah, who lived 969 years (Genesis 5:27). With info like that to consider, that God created people who lived hundreds of years, why would we look to scientific reasoning for an answer for how there are so many different brands of people? The wonder is, 'How and when did people begin to branch off into different ethnic groups?' If people were living hundreds of years and all the while, producing children and building cities, WHEN DID AGING BEGIN, and what made it start? (Please don't tell me "Sin" caused it to kick in. If so, why the delay?) It's as if aging didn't exist before the earth was covered with water by the flood. Noah was 500 years old and built a boat that took 120 years to build. He was six hundred years old when the floodwaters were on the earth (Genesis 7:6). I'm only 69 and won't get on a ladder and go on top of my house for any reason. I did when I was 39. What happened? I aged; my equilibrium ain't what it once was. Noah's age doesn't seem to have affected him. I think you have to forget all the history of man before the flood, you have to forget that Abraham got his wife's housekeeper pregnant when he was almost 90 years old, then got his wife Sarah pregnant when he was one hundred years old. Then when she died he married a woman named Keturah, who bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shua. (six more children) Genesis 25:2. Never mind before the flood, aging clearly wasn't written in stone after it. Abraham was around 90 when his first son was born. Here is six more children by a new wife. It takes time for this to play out. He goes on to live to be 175. (Sarah died when she was 127 (Genesis 23:1). Abraham was 10 years older than she, so his second marriage began when he was around one hundred and forty years old). MAKING BABIES AT THAT AGE? And some of us want a logical explanation for how people can mutate FOR A SEASON. (don't miss that!) People didn't age FOR A SEASON. (Sarah was described as a woman so beautiful, that Abraham was afraid the men of Egypt would want to kill him so they could have her. She was around 65 years old. Something was a whole lot different going on with aging, back in the day!) Why do we think there's a logical, scientific, by-the-book explanation for stuff like various skin tones, eye colors and other major differences in people who all descended from only two people, when everything else that God is responsible for doing is so wondrous and astonishing? This kind of knowledge of how and why God does what he does is too wonderful for us. See Psalm 139:6 The idea that the change in ethnic structure in people began when the language was confused at the tower of Babel is weak, in my opinion. I don't think God wants us to know how we became so different in appearance from one another, while passing on our appearance to our offspring. One thing is for sure, as for the inner person, we are all identical. The heart is deceitful and desperately wicked; who can know it? (Jeremiah 17:9). In that respect, only God can tell us apart. Somewhere in the history of the mankind species, offspring from the two original humans began to mutate and produce.
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