The Green Bible

For those concerned with creation care, the Green Bible couldn’t be a more fantastic idea.

Christianity has often been berated for failing to live up to the ideas of stewardship and responsibility for creation that the Bible encourages, but the Bible has now gone green – and it calls us to our responsibilities.

What is the Green Bible?

The Green Bible is an English version of the Bible, with a concern for the environmental teaching in the Old and New Testaments. Similar to the Red Letter Bible, the Green Bible highlights verses in green, which focus on the environment.

In print since 2008, The Green Bible is a comprehensive study Bible that features essays by prominent theologians and environmentalists such as N.T. Wright, Wendell Berry and Pope John Paul II. The Green Bible has also been officially endorsed by many environmental groups including the Sierra Club, The Humane Society and the Eco-Justice Program.

The Green Bible aims to encourage readers to see God’s vision for his creative work, and to help engage humanity in matters of environmentalism.

How Did it Come About?

The inspiration for the Green Bible originally came from the desire to produce a specialty Bible that centres on issues of sustainability, stewardship and creation care.

Mark Tauber, Senior Vice President of HarperOne states:

“…the Bible has a profound message of sustainability—some might argue, the original message—is not all that surprising. What is surprising is that it is not one of the first things that comes to mind when most folks think about the Bible and its message… this Bible seeks to change that fact. We believe that the unique and specially added features by some of today’s most important thinkers, writers and leaders, across the ecumenical spectrum make it a must-have for those who already find motivation, comfort and inspiration in it and for the many more who might see it freshly as a critical resource in their journey to sustain our planet.”

What’s so Special About it?

Because the Green Bible is designed to be a study Bible, it features a ‘green trail study guide’ which directs readers to verses which are germane to issues of environmentalism and creation care, as well as a topical index to help readers find verses pertaining to specific subjects.

As well as being focused on ‘green’ issues, the Green Bible is printed on recycled paper using soy-based ink. The cover is also designed from renewable cotton linen.

‘Green’ can be traced throughout the entire Bible – from creation to new creation. We see green in the Garden of Eden, in Noah’s olive branch, in the parting of the Red Sea, in Gethsemane, on the wooden cross and in the new heaven and new earth. The Green Bible reminds us that as Christians, and as people, we are called to care for the earth because God cares for the earth, and because God cares deeply, for all things green.

To purchase a copy of the Green Bible, go here

If you would like to celebrate God’s creation, then sign our petition to establish Creation Day as an official holiday

Why Do We Not Live As Long As Methuselah?

Genesis 5 describes the oldest man to ever live:

“Thus all the days of Methuselah were 969 years, and he died.” (v27)

Though Methuselah did not have a starring role in the Old Testament, his life, and its length in particular, has been a subject of much interest for creationists and theologians. Nowadays, the name Methuselah has come to be associated with anything that is old.

Though Methuselah is only mentioned briefly in the Hebrew Bible, he came from a prominent line of Old Testament characters (Methuselah was the son of Enoch, the father of Lamech and the grandfather of Noah) and his final mention in Genesis 5 is of great significance, begging the question:

Why do we not live as long as Methuselah?

Some creationists argue that certain environmental and theological factors have affected our ability to age to this degree, including the introduction of sin into the original design, the elimination of the water vapor canopy over the earth. DNA and changes in lifestyle factors.

Without further ado, let’s take a look at each of these factors.

The Original Design

Anybody who has read the book of Genesis and taken notice of the genealogies it contains will have noticed a sharp shift that occurred after the flood, particularly in relation to lifespans. Creationists have long agonised over how to explain the discrepancies in lifespans in the pre- and post-flood ages but have failed to come up with any single argument to explain the difference.

Theologians, however, often argue that the solution lies back at the beginning, in the Garden of Eden.

According to Genesis, God created the first man and woman, perfect and without sin. The Garden of Eden where he placed them was abundant with everything they would need to live forever in their perfected state. Adam and Eve were commanded not to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil:

“Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat;but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (v16)

In Genesis 3, Adam and Eve eat from the forbidden tree and humanity is changed forever. Access to the tree which was once able to sustain their lives permanently was forbidden:

^“Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”— therefore the Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.”

From this point onward, the perfect creation had been radically altered. Sin and death had entered the world and changed the original design. Humanity was no longer able to live forever.

Genesis 5 tells us that Adam eventually went onto die, as God predicted:

“Thus all the days that Adam lived were 930 years, and he died.” (v5)

The Great Deluge

In the time between Adam and Eve’s fall in the Garden of Eden and the great flood, lifespans continued to be long, though not eternal as they had been originally intended. However, after the flood, there is a progressive decline in the lifespans of the Old Testament characters, which raises questions about how the flood and the conditions of the earth after it took place, affected humanity’s claim to long life.

The decline is depicted as rather rapid, describing Noah as one who lived to be 950 years old, with Abraham living only to 175. By the time of Moses, the expected lifespan is only 70-80 years old (similar to what we would expect today):

“Our days may come to seventy years, or eighty, if our strength endures” (Psalm 90:10)

Interestingly, extra-biblical evidence also supports the decline of long life spans after the flood in Genesis. The Sumerian King List is an ancient surviving manuscript which describes a flood similar to what is depicted in the Hebrew Bible, as well as a list of kings who reigned before the flood took place. What is most interesting is that the Sumerian King List also portrays a significant decrease in lifespan following the flood.

The rapid decline in life years which appears to take place after the flood indicates that something about the world radically changed at the flood. We can assume that such a cataclysmic event would have changed the environment and living conditions substantially and possibly changed larger systems such as weather patterns. Crop fields and pastures were wiped out, as were trees and all animal life. Where, before the flood, the world had been a perfect creation which was fractured, now it was completely destroyed.

Diet

In addition to the environmental changes that took place at the flood, something else about humanity changed radically – Noah and his family were granted permission to eat meat. At the creation of Adam and Eve, the pair are given abundant access to all plant life for food, but after the flood, in a world now filled with nothing but scarcity, humanity is now able to start incorporating meat into their diet.
In his Commentaries on Genesis, Martin Luther attributed the long, pre-flood lifespans to the diet that was adhered to in the opening chapters of Genesis, stating that:

“…the general vigor and strength of limb which men had in paradise before the advent of sin, had passed away…. With reference to food, who cannot easily believe that one apple, in that primeval age, was more excellent and afforded a greater degree of nourishment than a thousand in our time? The roots, also, on which they fed, contained infinitely more fragrance, virtue and savor, than they possess now. All these conditions, but notably holiness and righteousness, the exercise of moderation, then the excellence of the fruit and the salubrity of the atmosphere – all these tended to produce longevity till the time came for the establishment of a new order by God which resulted in a decided reduction of the length of man’s life.”

At creation, humanity was appointed a vegetarian diet which would sustain them, but after the flood, meat was allowed to become a part of the human diet. Modern medicine is quite clear about the effects of meat eating on human health, so it stands to reason that in allowing meat eating, God may have intended on shortening the human lifespan, as Luther suggests.

Since we now cannot live beyond the age of around 120, the effects of moderate meat eating are probably negligible, but in an age where humans lived for several hundred years, the introduction of meat eating may have changed everything.

DNA

Since we know that Noah continued to live for another 350 years after the flood, some suggest that it’s unlikely that the post-flood environment was so hostile that it alone was the cause of lifespan decrease. Rather, they argue, it is more likely that other internal factors, such as DNA were responsible.
Modern science has found that DNA in our systems is constantly mutating and evolving. If Adam and Eve were created with perfect DNA, then it’s likely that the DNA become less and less perfect as it was passed down through each generation. We develop genetic mutations of our own, as well as inheriting some of the mutations from our parents, which we then pass down to our children. This creates a kind of snowballing effect for substandard DNA.

Since we know that the first humans were created perfect, we must assume that genetics associated with aging and lifespan were radically affected at the fall – in fact, we know that they were, since death did not exist before the fall.

Water Vapor Canopy

Though a lot of creationists no longer subscribe to the vapor canopy idea, some still insist that this theory is the cause for the dramatic change in lifespan.

Genesis 2 tells us that before the flood, it did not even rain:

“Now no shrub had yet appeared on the earth and no plant had yet sprung up, for the Lord God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no one to work the ground, but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground.” (5-6).

However, we know from earlier in Genesis, that God placed large amounts of water above the sky:

“And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so.”(v 6-7)

Since we know that it did not rain, we can conclude that this body of water was not simply a collection of rain clouds. This body of water was what creationists call the ‘water vapor canopy’ – a large body of water suspended above the sky.

When we come to the great flood in Genesis 7, we see God using this canopy of water to cause the deluge.

“In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.” (11)

These ‘fountains of the great deep’ most likely refer to the water vapor canopy which is unleashed over the surface of the world for ‘forty days and forty nights’ (12). The fact that there is no mention of rain in the Bible until after the food reinforces this idea.

The argument put forward by creationists is that this body of water, while suspended in the air, would have been functioning as a filtration system for much of the harmful radiation that the earth is exposed to from space. Once this water had been released, our earth would have undergone many changes, including a decrease in the amount of oxygen we inhale, and an increase in the UVA and UVB rays that we are exposed to – two significant factors which scientists agree have an impact on health and lifespan.

So, Can We Live for 900 Years?

Put simply, no. The Bible is very clear that the sin of humanity, both through Adam and Eve and through the pre-flood generations caused an unrepairable fracture in God’s creation. We will never be able to attain the long lifespans granted to those early generations because they were a result of God’s perfection which was ruptured in Eden. We also know that the earth underwent significant changes during the great flood, and we cannot repair it back to its original pre-flood state.

We also know that regardless of how long we get to live, death is always going to be the end result. Even if it were possible for us to live until we are 900 years old, we would never be able to eliminate death. It also pays to remember these words by the Psalmist, which point out that our lifespan has already been predetermined by God before we are even born, whether it be set for 100 days or 100 years.

“…all the days ordained for me were written in your book, before one of them came to be.” (139: 16)

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Was Jesus Vegetarian?

“Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet.”

– Albert Einstein

These words from the patriarch of modern science himself, remind us that life was not ideally built for meat eating.

The Original Design

While a vegetarian diet is not a popular practice in the Western world and in modern Christian thought, the case for a vegetarian diet finds support in scripture. The first biblical writings are quite clear that meat was never part of the original design, with Genesis 1 depicting God’s creation of Adam and Eve, and then God providing them with plant life to sustain their diet:

^“Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you;and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to everything that moves on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food”; and it was so.”

The newly created order offered ample resources for man and woman to freely consume plant life as part of the original design. Though some argue that this does not prove that humanity was only allowed to eat meat, the text certainly implies it. This, together with the introduction of death in Genesis 3 suggests that a meat based diet would not have been possible when God laid down the vegetarian mandate, as death did not exist for either humans, or animals up until the time of the fall.

In Genesis 3, sin entered the world, as did death, as a result. Because God’s original design was so intrinsically ruptured, the death and carnivory that was absent from the paradisal existence of Eden was suddenly introduced into the world. Consequentially, animals began to eat each other, and in Genesis 9 God allows meat eating among humans, to take place:

^“Every moving thing that lives shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.”

(To read more about the original design for a vegetarian life, check out Were Adam and Eve Vegetarians? The Biblical Basis for a Vegetarian Life.)

PETA

The Prominent animal activist group ‘PETA’ (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) has recently made claims that the only acceptable diet is vegetarianism. Of course, this is not new, but what is new, is that they claim that the biblical depiction of Jesus demands vegetarianism, because Jesus was a vegetarian. The PETA website states the following:

“Many biblical scholars believe that Jesus was a vegetarian. Jesus’ message is one of love and compassion, and there is nothing loving or compassionate about factory farms and slaughterhouses, where billions of animals live miserable lives and die violent, bloody deaths. Jesus mandates kindness, mercy, compassion, and love for all God’s creation. He would be appalled by the suffering that we inflict on animals just to indulge our acquired taste for their flesh.

We all have a choice. When we sit down to eat, we can add to the level of violence, misery, and death in the world, or we can respect God’s creation with a vegetarian diet.”

PETA’s argument is that if we are to live out of the gospel of such a compassionate Christ, then we must question the morality of the animal slaughter markets that we are buying into, and sustaining by giving them our business.

Christianity

Throughout history, other religious traditions such as Hinduism have already adopted a meatless diet, yet Christianity has varied in its commitment throughout history, to compassion for God’s creation.

Prior to the Middle Ages, Christian vegetarianism was quite common, and was practised among several prominent monastic orders. Early church writings seem to indicate that meat eating was not a common practice up until around the 4^th century when the Emperor Constantine came into power and meat eating became the official mandate for the Roman Empire. Early church fathers such as St. Basil, Tertullian, Origen and Clement of Alexandria were all committed vegetarians who wrote about their convictions in great detail.

In modern times, major Christian leaders such as John Wesley also adopted a vegetarian diet and many Christian scholars of our time have come to conclude that a vegetarian diet appears to be more consistent with the content of creation scripture and of Christ’s teachings.

However, over time, Christianity has moved away from the vegetarian diet in favor of accepting a more Western way of living and eating in a way that conforms to popular culture. Recently however, there has been a shift amongst modern Christians, and a revival of sorts has begun to take place as more and more Christians perceive a vegetarian diet to be in keeping with the gospel message, and as relieving modern world problems such as hunger, obesity and poor health.

Jesus

The issue of whether or not Jesus was a vegetarian is ambiguous, but what is clear is that Jesus was at least ‘some sort’ of meat eater.

Luke records Jesus as eating fish,

“They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate it in their presence.” (24:42-43)

Jesus was also seen feeding the hungry crowds fish in Matthew (14) and is described twice, as having helped his disciples to catch such a large amount of fish that their nets almost broke.

Jesus can also be seen in the Gospel of Luke, eating a Passover meal which may have included lamb;

“Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover.” (22:8)

Since Jesus was born into a culture of Jewish law, he not only participated in the Passover meal, but specifically instructed his disciples to prepare one for them to share. We also know from Luke 2:41 that Jesus had engaged in a Passover meal each year as a child. Scripture is not clear on whether this meal included lamb but in light of the historical and religious context of Passover it is certainly likely, though it is curious that there is no mention of his partaking in any red meat.

It is, however, undeniable that Jesus ate fish. Arguing for the ovo-lacto vegetarianism of Jesus, from a scriptural point of view, is futile. However, this is not to say that Jesus did not practice pescatarianism (a vegetarian diet that includes fish), and the textual evidence for such an argument is quite convincing. Though there are multiple references to Jesus eating, catching and using fish to feed others, references to Jesus eating or condoning the eating of red meat are completely absent. If Jesus ate meat, the New Testament is completely silent about it.

Whether or not Jesus himself was a vegetarian, 4^th century theologian Hieronymous certainly understood Jesus as being a more than adequate basis for adopting a vegetarian diet:

“The consumption of animal flesh was unknown up until the great flood. But since the great flood, we have had animal flesh stuffed into our mouths. Jesus, the Christ, who appeared when the time was fulfilled, again joined the end to the beginning, so that we are now no longer allowed to eat animal flesh.”

Eating a vegetarian diet might not be something we should do in order to mimic Jesus’ actions, but it is certainly a lifestyle that is in keeping with the wider message that Jesus brought, and with the atonement work that He set down .

In order for Christians to live out of the gospel, and out of Jesus’ message of compassion, Christians must treat animals with kindness, and must remain committed to the Biblical stewardship that was mandated in Genesis. While we know that humans were permitted to eat animals after the flood, to cause suffering to an animal or to kill when there is no legitimate need is contrary to Jesus’ message of love and benevolence, and goes against God’s original design.

Meat-eating is not a sin, but it is reasonable to conclude that it should only be done so within the wider framework of Jesus and the gospel message. Meat eating needs to be undertaken with empathy and confronted with grace, and should not be undertaken as an act of violence, or out of greed or extravagance. Despite the general acceptance within the Western world toward a meat heavy diet, Christians must address the issue of animal welfare within the wider context of the Christian message.

People can eat meat without doing so irresponsibly. We must transform our diets to reflect the humility and compassion of Christ, and of the gospel.

Should We Be Vegetarian?

Whether or not a Christian is a vegetarian comes down to personal choice. While there is compelling evidence that meat eating was not a part of the original design, and while the gospel is silent on the issue of Jesus eating red meat, the Bible is not black and white on the issue.

While Genesis 1 states that humanity was not originally designed to eat meat, Genesis 9 states that it is permissible. Jewish law in Leviticus then lays down further mandates regarding the eating of meat before Jesus eventually declares all foods as ‘clean’ (Mark 7).

The bible does not command meat eating so there is certainly nothing wrong with abstaining from meat. What it does command is that we should not force our dietary convictions on each other:

^“ The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted them.”

-Romans 14:3

Whether or not you choose to eat meat should be a well thought out, and well prayed over, decision. Ultimately, it is between you and God. And remember…

“…whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”

-Corinthians 10:31

To make the first step toward caring for your God’s creation, be sure to sign our petition to establish Creation Day as an official holiday!

PETA Quotation Source: http://www.peta.org/about-peta/faq/was-jesus-really-a-vegetarian/

Bringing Order To The Chaos: How God Created

When God created the world, he did so using various modes of creation. God’s creative activity and the methods he used to bring about the earth and humanity reveals something about the nature of God’s character.

Ex Nihilo

Ex Nihilo is a Latin phrase which put simply, means “out of nothing”. This phrase is often used to describe God’s creation of the earth and to depict the creation as out of nothing.

Though it has been much debated among scholars, prominent theologians such as Augustine, Calvin and John Wesley all support the idea of a divine creation, ex nihilo.

The opening statement in Genesis implies, if not demands, that nothing existed before God created:

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”(1)

This indicates that before God created the universe, there was nothing. There were no building blocks in place for God to work with. This can be difficult for us to understand, since we cannot create without first having some materials. We are conditioned to know that ‘nothing comes from nothing’, and to understand the scientific law that ‘matter cannot be created or destroyed’. We cannot understand the idea of creation ex nihilo because it’s not natural to us. The point being, that it’s supernatural: only God can create, ex nihilo.

By Speech

Genesis 1 is very clear on one particular method of God’s creative activity: he spoke.

On each of the six days of creation, God spoke, and what he said, came into being:

“Let there be light,” and there was light (3)

“Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. (6)

“Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. (9)

“Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. (11)

“Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. (14-15)

“Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.” ²¹So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. (20-21)

“Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. (24)

Psalms 33:6 even states that:

“By the word of the LORD the heavens were made.”

God creates through his speech. He simply vocalises his creative desire, and it comes forth.

From Dust

Though God originally created the earth from nothing, when it came to creating humanity, God formed the first man and woman from something that already existed. Genesis 2 tells us that:

“…the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground…”

Adam was fashioned from the dust of the ground, which was formed from nothing. Scholars agree that humanity was formed from the dust in order to connect humankind to the earth in a fundamental way. This idea is reinforced by the declaration that God gives in Genesis 3, after the fall:

“By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground,
since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.” (19)

“So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken.” (23)

Because of the inherent fallenness of humanity after Adam and Eve eat the fruit, humankind will reduce down to dust in death, because it was from dust that Adam was created – death will bring the physical body back to its original composition.

We also know from Genesis 2:19 that the animals were also formed from the dust:

“Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky.”

And, that the trees were formed supernaturally from the ground, much like Adam:

“The LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground” (9)

By His Breath

God also created using his breath. After Adam was fashioned from dust, God gave him the breath of life in order to bring him to life. Genesis 2 tells us that:

“God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul” (7)

Though God created Adam from the dust, it was not until He breathed into him, that he truly came to life. By filling Adam’s body with His breath, God gave Adam a divine origin, rather than just an earthly one.

Job 33:4 declares that:

“The Spirit of God has made me, And the breath of the Almighty gives me life”

And, Psalms 33:6 tells us that God breathed his breath into the universe also:

“By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth”

God’s creative activity is unique. Firstly, we must understand that in the beginning, he created from nothing – ex nihilo. Once he created matter from nothing, he then used this matter to shape the first man, and from the first man, he shaped the first woman. He also brought forth elements of the universe by simply speaking, and by penetrating the entire cosmos with his breath, thus giving life to the earth and to humanity.

If you want to celebrate God’s amazing creative activity, then please sign our petition to establish Creation Day as an official holiday!

The Human Obsession with Skin Tone

“Racism is man’s gravest threat to man – the maximum of hatred for a minimum of reason.”

– Abraham Joshua Heschel

For centuries there have been people in societies all over the world that think they can justify their racist attitudes, often using the Bible as their weapon. In the midst of a new racist revival sweeping America, we must face up to what the Bible really says about different groups of people.

What Is Race?

Firstly, we must acknowledge that when dealing with race we are trying to separate people into different races, that really only belong to one: the human race. Jews, Asians, Indians, Caucasians etc. are all ethnicities within the human race. Other than slight variations or exceptions, every human being possesses the same physical traits. We all have two arms, two legs, eyes, nose mouth and more. We also know from Genesis that every man and woman was created in the image of God himself, making us not simply ‘One Nation’, but ‘One Race’…under God.

Several Biblical writers address the human condition and what it means to be one race under God. John 3:16 says that^“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son…” and Romans 10:12 tells us that “…there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him.” Both John and Romans is referring to the entire human race. This includes every country, every ethnic group and every person. Our Lord is the Lord of all.

People come in all shapes and sizes, varying according to their size, hair and eye colour, facial features and much more. Every human being looks different. However, historically, people have had the tendency to try and group people according to these physical traits, in order to fit them into a framework of racial characteristics.

This has resulted in people treating people differently and making assumptions about people based on those characteristics. Some have even gone so far as to presume that these differences should represent differences in the way that people are valued and can live.

The Biblical Basis for Racism

God’s word is final and conclusive when it comes to issues of race. The world is inhabited by only one race: the human race.

We know from Genesis that God created one man and one woman, through whom all humanity exists, and that every person on earth can be traced back to these two people since Eve was called the ‘Mother of all the living’. Interestingly enough, even the most recent scientific evidence suggests that all humans originated in one place, slowly populating the rest of the world.

Yet, one question remains: how did there come to be so much variation within the human race? Genesis 11 depicts ‘The Tower of Babel’ – an event where God confused the language of humanity in order to separate them and scatter them across the world. As a result, groups of people became socially, geographically and genetically isolated, marrying and breeding within each other. This means that generation after generation were living within their own micro-cultures, doing things differently and maintaining their physical traits through selective breeding. These ethnic similarities within groups have come to be known as racial differences but this is incorrect. There is still only one race: the human race.

A Horse of a Different Color

When it comes to skin color, there has also been a mass miss-understanding. Amongst the people that make up the one race, there is also just one colour of skin: brown.

Everyone’s skin color is made up of brown a pigment called melanin. Every person on earth has skin that contains two main forms of melanin: eumelanin and pheomelanin. It is the proportion of each that is possessed that determines the tone of one’s skin. This means there is no fundamental difference in people to determine skin color. Every person born is a person with some-determined amounts of brown. People then fall into a spectrum of brown, whether that is light or dark brown.

The proportions are determined by several factors: one is geographical location. People who live in areas closer to the equator tend to possess darker skin, as this offers a certain amount of protection from the intense sun in these regions. Melanin is also thought to protect the skin against radiation damage, thus acting as a cancer preventative. In high altitude areas where the sun is less intense, residents need to produce Vitamin D efficiently and so tend to have lighter skin. These characteristics would eventually be carried through the gene pool and would have resulted in isolated populations taking on these characteristics within their groups. The result is today that people with dark skin tend to have dark skinned children, and those with light skin tend to produce lighter skinned children.

Eyes carry the same geographical characteristics. Melanin is also present in the eyes, protecting them from ultraviolet light. It is widely known that grey, blue and green eyes are more sensitive to light and have a higher risk of incurring sun-related problems.

We All Bleed Red

Unfortunately, generations of ideas about race can become so ingrained that it’s difficult to completely purge them out of society and out of the individual mind. However, these misperceptions must be addressed.

Every human being is a human being. Each one was created in the image of God and descended from our created ancestors Adam and Eve. When cut, every human bleeds red blood. The term ‘race’ is meaningless. There is only one race: the human race.

“From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth”

Acts 17:26

We can correctly speak of differences in our ethnic traditions and cultural settings but we are still the same. We all bleed red.

What Would Jesus Do?

Jesus commanded us to “Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” His father loved us in the same way; ^“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son…”

We must practice the love that the Father and the Son have demonstrated by loving every human being. When we mistreat people we are committing a grave sin: we are mistreating a person whom God loves, whom he created in his own image and whom Jesus died on the cross to protect.

Those who have demonstrated racism, discrimination or who have failed to love others with the love that God has shown us, must repent and ask for forgiveness, so that we may one day live in the true realisation of Galatians 3:28;

“There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

To honour God’s creation, be sure to sign the petition to establish Creation Day as an official holiday!