All In The Family

This is the last week of the "Alpha" part of the "Alpha and Omega" series at The Mix! This week we looked at how all races of people came from one family. We know from the Bible that only 8 people survived the flood in Genesis...Noah and his wife, and the their 3 sons, Ham, Shem and Japheth...and their wives. This means that the diversity of people in the world today all came from these 8 people! At first glance, this sounds pretty amazing. But when you take a closer look at the human race and the genetic possibilities, it isn't that hard to believe. First, we look at what the Bible says...

In Genesis 10, the Bible gives us an extensive geneology of the descendents of Noah. One the amazing things about the Bible is that it does give us dates and ages and geneologies, and this adds to the credibility and reliability of the Bible. The Bible tells us that the descendents of Noah went different directions...

• Ham's descendents traveled south and east...to what would later become Africa and southeast Asia...and would later become the dark skinned races of these regions



• Shem's descendents basically stayed in the middle east area...and would become the olive-skinned races of that area



• Japheth's descendents traveled north and west to what would later become europe and northern asia...and would later become the lighter skinned people of these regions.

Through adaptation in their various environments and through the amazing diversity in human genetics, the different skin colors began to surface...maybe within a few years after the flood! Reseachers tell us that the potential for all skin colors resides in the genetics of all of us...some just never surface. For example, there have been documented cases of fraternal twins born to darker skinned couples where one twin was dark skinned and one twin was light skinned! (Check out this picture of these twins and their parents!)

Its amazing what God has built into our bodies and genetics! Obviously in our modern world of travel, immigration and technology, we realize that the races aren't as segmented as they were after the flood...and that has allowed even more diversity! But we all are descendents of the same family...the family of Noah that God decided to save.

Next week, we begin to look at the future...to the end of time. We will check out a lot of what the Bible has to say about it and try to make sense of it all. Our goal is to simply realize that God has had a plan and purpose for human-kind all along...and He will finish what He started! See you all next week...

--Bob