What “Black and White” Twins Teach Us About Supposed “Race”

The Biggs twins, Millie and Marcia, are in the news again because they are entering middle school in Birmingham, England. Their mother, who is light skinned (their father is dark skinned), had to explain to school staff that the girls are indeed twins. Reportedly, “some of their teachers were shocked, and strangers are often baffled when they find out the girls are related, much less twins.” Their mother comments,

I’d be picking them up after school, and the other parents would stop me and say: ‘Are they your daughters?’ . . . When I told that them that they were twins, they would always be stunned. I notice a lot of people doing double-takes.

Why are people so shocked by these twins? Because they’ve been indoctrinated with the idea of supposed “races,” an idea fueled today by evolutionary thinking. How could twins be of two different “races”? The Bible offers an entirely different perspective.

One Race—the Human Race

Because all humans are descended from Adam and Eve, we’re all one race, or “one blood” as the Apostle Paul puts it in Acts 17:26. This is confirmed by observational science—humans are one species, Homo sapiens sapiens, and the supposed “racial” differences only account for .012% of the differences between humans.

The reason for the slight differences, such as skin tone and eye shape, between people groups is primarily because of the event at the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11). This division of languages broke up the human gene pool and isolated groups from one another. Certain genetic variations became prominent in different groups.

And, actually, there’s no such thing as “black and white” people. We’re all brown, just different shades of brown due largely to a pigment called melanin. Some people have a little bit of melanin, which gives them light skin, while others have a lot of melanin, which gives them darker skin.

There’s just one race—the human race.

There’s just one race—the human race. We look different because of what happened at the Tower of Babel.

The Answer to Racism

The answer to racism, which I shared at a racial reconciliation conference in Kansas City, Missouri, last week, is first to understand that all people are one race, one family. Genetically and biblically all humans are one biological race. And all humans are people of color—as I like to say, if you don't have color you have a problem and should visit a doctor!

We’re all one race, and we’re all equal before God. And we all have the same problem of sin and need salvation in Christ. We also all need to judge our behavior against the absolute authority of God's Word. If all people were taught this truth about the origin of people groups, it would certainly help to curb racism and prejudice.

There’s only one solution to racism—a change of heart so people will build their thinking on God’s Word and believe the true history of the world. Racism, as well as other social issues such as gay “marriage,” transgenderism, and abortion, are all moral issues that are symptoms of a foundational issue—rejection of God’s Word. America’s racism issues will not be solved until hearts and minds are committed to the true history in God’s Word and the salvation message.

I recently wrote a guest column on this topic, published in our local paper the Cincinnati Enquirer and available online. I encourage you to read and share with others to help fight racism. You can view the article on the Cincinnati.com website.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,
Ken

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