I’ve mentioned in a couple of blogs lately that I had an incredible opportunity to visit the Creation Museum and attend a conference put on my Answers in Genesis back in February. As a result, I’ve really been digging in to the book of Genesis to study creation even more than ever. At the conference, they gave us a code to download some great resources. One of the books I chose was One Race One Blood by Ken Ham and Charles Ware. This book is one of the best resources I have found regarding Creation, genetics, race relations, “grace relations”, and much, much, more. I highlighted a lot while reading this book as I feel quite confident I’ll be referring back to this material as I continue to study and find more about my role in loving others as Christ loves me.
I posted several things below that I highlighted to give you an idea of some of the great points found in this book…
- Ideas are like seeds, small and yet incalculably powerful. Darwin’s garden continues to grow, fertilizing the roots of racism. As believers in Jesus Christ, using the truth of His Word as our tools, we have the opportunity to root out the assumptions of Darwinism and plant new seeds of truth from God’s Word and scientific fact. A new garden can be planted and nurtured–but this time the fruit will not be racism; it will be love and unity in the name of Jesus Christ.
- Although racism did not begin with Darwinism, Darwin did more than any person to popularize it.
- Six thousand years ago, God created a perfect world and fashioned the first two humans in His image. Humans were created to rule under God and to care for all of God’s creation. After the Flood, God restated this plan to Noah and his three sons. According to God’s Word, all the people on dart today descended from Noah’s three sons, who descended from the first man, Adam. So we all share the same bloodline. We’re all brothers and sisters, siblings and cousins in the same family.
- We’re all created by God. God formed man of dust from the ground. (Genesis 2:7)
- We’re all in God’s image. God said, “Let Us make man in Our image.” (Genesis 1:26)
- We’re all one family. He (God) has made from one blood every nation. (Acts 17:26 NKJV)
- We’re all loved by God. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. (John 3:16)
- Different combinations of genes in different groups resulted in some people having predominantly light skin, some having predominantly dark skin, and others with every shade in between. With our current understanding of genetics, we now know that these biological differences are superficial and insignificant. Our physical differences are merely the result of different combinations of physical features that God put in the human gene pool at creation.
- “When we look at the ugliness of racism and the impact of evolution, we realize there is a solution to the problem of racism–and that is biblical principles and scientific fact.” Zig Ziglar
- At the central core of racism we find the sinful hearts of men living in a fallen world. This fundamental problem has no earthly cure. There is no speech that can be given, no law that can be passed, and no publicity campaign that can solve it. Only the truth of God’s Word combined with the strength of God’s Holy Spirit living within us can bring us victory over this sin.
- Racism in the American Church, whether it stems from Darwinish or elsewhere, grows when the misinterpretation of Scripture causes cultural division rather than biblical unity. To that end, much can be done. God’s Word is “living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword” (Hebrews 4:12). When that truth is interpreted properly and applied with passion, I see bright hope and optimism in the battle against the darkness of racist and evolutionary thinking.
- A brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city, and contentions are like the bars of a citadel. (Proverbs 18:19)
- True and lasting cultural change can occur when a proper theology is accepted by all.
- Contrary to the belief of evolutionists, there is actually only one race–Adam’s race. And Adam’s race includes “black” people, “white” people–all human beings everywhere.
- Rather than beginning with the truths and commands of Scripture (which are clear and pointed in regard to our relationships with our fellow human beings), the Church has been sucked into the depravity of worldly thinking when it comes to our relationships with those who look different than us. Until we are willing to embrace the Word of God as truth, beginning from Genesis chapter 1, we will be continually drawn into the philosophies and hatred of the world system.
- The challenge facing today’s Church is to inject the healing serum of truth into the body of Christ. This involves not only the proper interpretation of Scripture (many have already crossed that bridge) but living out the scriptural revelation of a diverse body united in Christ. The deep wounds of racial conflict that still persist can only be healed by the application of biblical principles regarding grace, love, peace, and forgiveness.
- For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing in His flesh the enmity…so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace. (Ephesians 2:14-16)
- Once you teach students the basic facts about genetics–that mutations do not create new information–they will never forget it…and the next time their teachers try to tell them they do, they know the right questions to ask…and the next time someone claims to be a higher evolved race, they will know that’s a lie and that all have been created equal.
- Natural selection can only operate on the information that exists in the gene pool.
- God truth has always been and always will be.
- When we look at humanity today, we see a rainbow of superficial variations to the original recipe.
- I would propose that we do away with using the term “race” when discussing the different groups of people in the world.
- When it comes to defining human beings that are culturally, geographically, and politically distinct from others, missionaries use the term “people groups.” A people group is roughly defined as a cluster of human beings that are set apart from others because of their language, culture, geography, or religion. The Bible uses the Greek word “ethos” to describe these relatively isolated groups of humanity. In the Great commission, when Christ commands us to “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations,” He used this word “ethnos,” must like Native Americans would use the term to describe the Cherokee Nation, or the Sioux Nation. Depending on how they are specifically defined, there are between 12,000 and 24,000 people groups on earth.
- For there is no difference between the Jew and Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon Him. (Romans 10:12)
- The Church needs to take the lead again. We need to let them Word speak for itself rather than filtering it through cultural and worldly thinking. This means that we need to do more than just say we believe the Bible. We need to be students of the Bible, “a workman who does not need to be ashamed, handling accurately the word of truth,” as Paul says in 2 Timothy 2:15.
- God is calling the Church to weed out discrimination, till the soil anew, and then plant and care for the seeds of a different kind of garden–the garden grown in the soil of “grace relations.”
- History is still being written by the hand of God through His people. The defining image of the Church of the 21st century is yet to be determined. Grace can loose the chains of dysfunctional relations and weave a beautiful tapestry of multicultural churches. Grace can make the 21st century the generation of reconciliation.
- Grace relations often call us to overcome the natural confusion of the circumstances that would naturally lead us to segregation.
- God expects each of us to advance grace relations. It is time to join the movement of workers that are preparing, planting, and harvesting in a garden of grace rather than in a garden of racism.