I read a funny story in the Bible today during devotion; found in Numbers 12. Moses, after leading the Israelites into the desert away from their Egyptian captors was getting heck because of his Cushite wife. Now if you kept reading without cultural knowledge, you may miss God's humor in this story. You see the Cushites were an African Tribe, and therefore, Moses had a black wife.
The ones picking on him regarding this were no other than his own brother and sister-Aaron and Miriam. And God, upon hearing this, gets up from his heavenly throne and comes down to earth to put things into a little perspective.
Not only does he reprimand them for countering Moses, his humbled and chosen prophet, but upon his leaving, Miriam is as white as snow due to leprosy. Did God laugh at this?
"You think she looks funny because she is dark skinned...okay, now I'll make you as non-dark as possible, so light in fact that people will consider you white, so light that you will look like a dead person with no color." -not in the Bible, just my silly interpretation.
Naturally, Miriam was horrified, and had to walk with this disgrace on her body for 7 days.
Does anyone else find the irony in this story?! God kicks racism in the butt here. Putting to end the stereotypical differences we place from race to race since the beginning of time.
Being a Science teacher, I naturally wanted to equate this with the idea of Darwin's origin of the species and the recent DNA evidence that all species root from one universal mother who they conveniently name EVE. Did anyone read in their science book the motivation behind Darwin's origin of species? Racism. Yes that is right, he was setting out to prove how some races developed earlier than others and therefore they are smarter and more advanced than their peers. When the fact of the matter is, race has nothing to due with intelligence.
The color of our skin is a result of the levels of melanin in our epidermis. All Melanin, by nature, is brown. Therefore, there is no such thing as a black person or a white person or a yellow person, or a person of any other color. We are all variations of brown.
IN the beginning of time when God created Adam and Eve, they had children, then those children had children and etc. During the period of the tower of Babel, these sons and daughters of Eve were scattered across the face of the earth and certain biblical scholars have presumed where certain descendants went. IN detail, the sons of Noah account for the Euro-Asian descendants.
Seventy nations sprang from the three sons of Noah: Ham, Shem and Japheth, known as the table of Nations. Ham's sons went to Egypt (upper and lower) who later also migrated to the Philistines and yes, even Cush (Ethiopia)-therefore Moses' beloved was a decedent from Ham. Further descendants spread into Libya, Canan, Sida, Gaza and Sodom and Gomorrah. There is further evidence that from Canan, came Khittae or "Cathay" which is a referenced used for early China. China is one of the few places on earth that can trace its lineage for more than 5,000 years!
Shem's sons settled in Persia (Iran)and Japheth settled throughout Greece, Medes(Khurds), Tarshish (The British Isles), and Tiras (Italy).
As all of these relatives dispersed, the tones of melanin in there bodies were effected. As the melanin in the skin is exposed to the radiation of the sun, it spreads to protect the body. Therefore, those who went to areas of high sun exposure, became darker in skin color in order to survive in their environments, much like one tans in the sun. Children that did not produce enough melanin would have died at early ages, not being able to reproduce. Therefore, only the generations with much melanin would have survived in such harsh conditions.
On the flip side, people that migrated to areas of low sun exposure would have adapted to their environment in reverse effects. Those with high concentrates of melanin in their bodies would have died because it would have blocked out crucial levels of sun exposure, those with little melanin would have thrived in these colder environments. And from these two extreme ties is everything in between.
You see, although Darwin was wrong when he described the origins of species through Macro-evolution (species-species shifts-from the goo, the the zoo to you) he was not wrong in the micro-evolutions that are still observable today (moderate changes in trait mutations within the same species.). These micro-evolutions only further prove, from my point of view, the incredibility of God the Father as the grand-designer of creation. Having purpose in every aspect.
IN the end of all this science mumbo jumbo, the story lays intact. God knew what he was doing. He created us all very equally, and it has taken this long, more than 6,000 years, for science to catch up to what the bible has been explaining since God wrote it. The only two things God wrote are the Bible and our Genetic codes. God loves you the way he created you, the way you look today. You were no accident, you were no mistake, and when someone puts you down to the vanity of them self, it insults God-your creator!
Next time you venture out, take a look around at the Art Gallery of God's unique creation, and think carefully before condemning another for the way they appear.
** This compilation was inspired by preachings of Rev. Kevin White of Crosstown Coummunity Stockton Ca, and Dr. Chuck Missler's Learn the Bible in 24 hours.
No comments:
Post a Comment