"Our entire outlook on 'race' is so mis-placed that we either need to change it now or commit ourselves to a mental health institution." This is what my friend Thabiti Anyabwile said as he addressed the Together for the Gospel conference '08, talking about Race.
He continued; "Believing in 'races' is like believing in unicorns, because races, like unicorns don't exist" and I totally agree!
We Are One Race
God Created Man & Woman (Adam & Eve).
Genesis 1:26-28 - "Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
So God created man in his own image,in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”"
We are all descendants of Adam & Eve
Genesis 3:20 - "The man called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living."
Pre-fall (Before Sin) Mankind were made to be image-bearers of God
Genesis 1:27 - "God created man in his own image,in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them."
Post-fall (After Sin) Mankind are still image-bearers
Genesis 9:6 - "Whoever sheds the blood of man,by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image."
But why the separation?
Genesis 10 is often used to explain the races, but in fact it shows one race, the descendants of Noah (Vs 1), who himself was a descendant of Adam. The world is not populated by races, but by one race that is split into different ethnic groups.
The Apostle Paul re-affirms this in Acts 17:26 when he says "And He (God) made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth..."
We are one race whether we live in Belfast or Bucharest, Lisburn or Lagos. One race that has spread around the world, as God said we should. One race that has a bloodline right back to Noah, back again to Adam & ultimately back to the workmanship of the Living God.
Not a Difference of Kind But of Degree
The difference between the ethnic groups is not a difference of kind, but of degree. Our ethnicity's are shaped by our culture, the governments we're under & the gravitation we all have toward those who are 'like me'.
This difference of degree or gravitation toward those who're like us can also be seen within a culture. For example: If i were to enter a room in which there was a group of goths, a group of bikers, a group of rough looking men with loyalist tattoos. And finally a group in jeans & shirts, tidy hair cuts etc i would gravitate toward this group rather than the others.
Now blow that example up a bit, add differences in pigment, language (which God made in Gen 11) and so on, and we see how the ethnicity's gathered into much larger groups that we know as the nations.
Walking into the Room/Nations
There is an alternative view to have as we enter that room, or rather as we view the ethnic groups of the world. We can enter this whole thing with the following thoughts:
Summary
Holding on to the view that race is a matter of biology will continue to breed separation, superiority & oppression of those we view as being lesser races. But the acknowledgement that we share a common ancestor in Adam, that we are one race, frees us from racist views of separation or oppression.
We are therefore liberated to enjoy our cultures & ethnicity's without oppressing those outside of that, because it is a matter of preference not biology.
A Final Thought For Consideration
If there is another race apart from that which came through Adam, then they are more perfect than ours. The race we are a part of is fallen in Adam & inherent rebels against God, we do not read, however of any other race falling. So if they are not of our race, they are a better race.
