“Black and White” Twins?

A story that’s catching headlines recently clearly illustrates a biblical principle—we’re all one race! This story is about a set of 18-year-old twin girls. One twin has red hair and light skin and the other has black hair and dark skin! Even the secular MSN website shares a report that uses these young ladies to illustrate an important point—the supposed “races” aren’t real! The report states, “what ‘black and white twins’ can teach us about race: it's not real” and “they're fascinating because they highlight just how flimsy and open to interpretation the racial categories we use in the US and around the world are.” There’s only one race, the human race.

Another interesting story that has resurfaced is about a young family that also had twin girls. One is dark and the other is light. Then the family had twin girls a second time, and again, one is dark and one is light!

There’s Only One Race!

These two stories aren’t unique either. As we’ve pointed out before, there are other examples of families having twins with different skin shades. These families illustrate that we really are only one race. Now, evolutionary ideas about the past predicted that there would be different races as different groups evolved at different times. Evolution is inherently a racist philosophy. See “Did Darwin Promote Racism?”

However, according to the Bible’s history, there’s no such thing as different races. Acts 17:26 says, “And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth.” When we go back to Genesis we see that everyone is a descendant of Adam and Eve. That’s why we can all be saved by the last Adam, Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:45). In a biblical worldview, there’s no room for racism or racist attitudes. All humans are equal before God—all are sinners—and all need the free gift of salvation.

Why Do We Look Different?

So why do we look so different? Well, according to the Bible’s history, after the global Flood of Noah’s day, God commanded Noah and his descendants, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth” (Genesis 9:1). But instead of filling the earth, mankind rebelled against God at the Tower of Babel. God judged their disobedience by confusing their languages. This forced mankind to spread out and fill the earth. As groups became genetically isolated from one another by language and geographic barriers, certain features, such as eye shape or skin shade, became prominent in different groups. Such differences just reflect the enormous genetic variability God built into the human kind. Babel explains why there are different people groups with distinct differences.

The evolutionary and biblical worldview both make very different predictions about the nature of mankind. Evolution predicted there would be many races; the Bible makes it clear there’s only one. And observational science confirms the history of the Bible—not evolutionary ideas about the past! Not only do we see examples like these twins that show that skin shade is only a result of inbuilt genetic variability, but when geneticists mapped the human genome in 2000 it was reported that “the researchers had unanimously declared there is only one race—the human race.” Science confirms God’s Word, not evolutionary ideas about the past, because God’s Word is true from the very beginning because it was written by the God (2 Timothy 3:16) who was there and who never lies (Titus 1:2).

Is It Really Black and White?

People usually refer to those with darker skin as “black” and those with lighter skin as “white,” but it’s really not black and white! You see, we all basically have the same color of skin—brown. A pigment called melanin is largely responsible for determining skin shade and this pigment is brown. A lot of melanin in your skin is called “black” and a little bit of melanin is called “white.” But we actually aren’t white or black—we’re all shades of brown!

We also all need to be reminded that what’s on the outside doesn’t matter: “For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7). What matters is your spiritual condition. You see, there are two spiritual races—those who are saved and those who aren’t. To be saved, all you have to do is repent from your sin and put your faith and trust in Christ and His sacrifice for our sin—and receive the free gift of salvation. You can read more about salvation and the gospel here.

You can learn more about the biblical answer to racism in a book I co-authored with Dr. Charles Ware called One Race One Blood or by watching my presentation by the same name on DVD. You can learn more about the Tower of Babel and its effects by reading The Tower of Babel, written by my son-in-law Bodie Hodge. I encourage you to equip yourself with these resources, available in our store.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,
Ken

This item was written with the assistance of AiG’s research team.