Question: Please explain THE ORIGIN OF RACES. A human "race" is most often defined as a group of people with certain features in common which distinguish them from other groups of people. Currently there are three or four major races of hujmans, as the word race is commonly defined: 1. Caucasoid (55% of the world's population). 2. Mongoloid (33%) 3. Negroid (8%) 4. Astraloid (4%; the Astraloid group is often known as the Australian Aboriginal Group. Usuallly considered as a subgroup of the Caucasoids). These races are distributed abound the globe throughout over 100 nations, and speak 3,000+ tribal languages and dialect. Evolutionary explanation: 1. Genetic Mutation a. Mutations are rare. But almost all are harmful. Most of the rest are neutral. For there to be a good mutation is extremely rare. But the numbers in the population would have to get so big that they outnumber those who do not have that trait. 2. Biblical alternative. Biologists: A species includes all individuals that are capable of interbreeding and produces fertile offspring. But this doesn't work very well. RE. man, one species, homo-sapiens. Can all intermarry, reproduce fertile offspring. SKIN COLORS Determined by the amount of melanin found in the skin. Provides the body with pigmentation. Allows the body to absorb UV radiation without damage. Three factors 1. The origin of man. God created man. Gen. 1. Very good. Man did not evolve over millions of years. Adam was the first man (1 Cor. 15:45) and Eve was the mother of all living (Gen.3:20). Acts 17:26. God endowed man with variability and adaptability. Whatever racial characterits we possess or those in time past have possessed, came from the original genetic pool of Adam and Eve. There were no others. All came from them. 2. The known historical/biblical facts. The line of human descent passed from Adam and Eve and their descendants to Noah and his family. Restricted, yet passed on through Noah. 3. Man's migratory pattern. After the flood, men had set themselves against God. Refused to inhabit the earth. Dug down and weren't budging. God confused their languages. This caused them to migrate. Skin coloration agent melenin is controlled by two pairs of genes. We can designate them Aa and Bb, the capital letters representing dominant genes and the small letters recessive genes. A and B produce melenan very well; being recessive, a and b produce melanin to a lesser degree. Heterozygous condition. By dispersing linguistically isolated groups all over the world, the Tower of Bable incident had a significant effect on the subsequent development and history of mankind. At least some of the differences which arose can be attributed to the various environments in which the people found themselves. What if lighter colored skined people went to the equator? Would not survive as those with darker skin. Likewise, people with fairer skins who moved into Scandinavian countries would be favored, since darker- skinned people could not as easily produce Vitamin D and would therefore suffer from such diseases as rickets. The races were produced in a very short time span, and the racial variations we see today are merely an expression of the original genetic endowment of Adam and Eve as carried through to us by Noah. Source: Bert Thompson (Essays in Apologetics, vol. 5).