If Adam and Eve were the first two how did we get so many races?

Answer 1

Humans are all part of the one gene pool. The differences genetically are very minimal between the different ethnic groups...an excellent antidote to those with racist views.

Answer

In the book of Genesis chapter 11 verses one through 9 you can read about the Tower of Babel. In this reading you can see where the people all had one language. The Lord God came down and confused their language and from there scattered them abroad over the face of the earth.

Answer 2

Since Adam and Eve are Biblical characters we first need to refer to other aspects of Biblical data for a complete answer. Modern science, together with sociology also has some good answers to this very good question.

Firstly, and very simply, modern genetics has clearly demonstrated how all the genetic diversity which we see in terms of differences in skin color and appearance are literally quite minor and are trivial in terms of the overall genome of humans. This is why a white person can sometimes be a better donor for blood and tissues to a black person than another black person and vice versa. So, first of all, it needs to be understood that genetically humans are basically all the same, despite obvious differences between individuals within the same socio-ethnic grouping, and despite superficial differences such as color, eye fat content (a factor in the different Asian eye) etc.

Fourthly, relating to both genetics and Biblical history, two mid brown individuals, with no population isolation, and so continuous interbreeding between people of slightly different coloration, would tend to retain the potential genetic diversity for such characteristics. After the flood from the eight individuals on the ark came all the current individuals on the earth. The differences are quite simply explained by genetic isolation brought about by the Babel dispersion where the major barrier of language led to much smaller people groups being isolated and so each with a less complete available genetic pool.

Further to the above, environmental factors led to selection of various colors in different areas. One example of this is the known protective effect of melanin, which produces darker skin color, against UV radiation, which would tend to produce cancers and premature aging in persons of lighter ski color in hot and sunny climates. Similarly, in low sun environments such as Norway, people of darker skin color would have trouble producing enough vitamin D through their skin and so tend to suffer from the degenerative bone disorder richets. Some have even suggested that this led to the demise of the Neanderthal people, since they evidently had this disorder, as evidenced in their bones.

The 'punnet squares' used by geneticists to explain the various genetic possibilities demonstrate amply in simple terms how inheritance is passed on. These are not currently able to be posted so links are attached which illustrate this. Of course, genetics is exceedingly more complex than just the code for skin color. This is just one of the most obvious examples relevant to the question.

Answer 3

Irrespective of who the first two were, or when they existed, the different so-called 'races' are just a facet of heredity - groups which are genetically related can - through geographcial and other isolation - become physically different - which is all that the 'races' are ... a series of physical differences caused by genetic isolation.

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I disagree. This is the concensus among most scientists, but the majority are not always correct and can be politically motivated. There are some scientists who suggest that all races did not all come from one original race which we call the "Out Of Africa" theory.

Be that as it may, on a different point nowhere in The Bible does it say Adam and Eve were the first two humans, although it seems to imply this if you dont read it carefully. Seth married existing humans. There were also existing black humans. However Adam and Eve were white and so were the Israelites.

Here is proof :

Look up the word "Adam" in any Heberew/English dictionary, like for example Strong's concordance and you will see it means "red, rosy, ruddy, to blush, to show red in the face, made from the rosy/red earth".

The Israelites were white people, and this is not racist but a scientific and historical FACT which has no negative implications for any other races whatsoever ! Why do we always have to be so "politically correct" ?

Note the following Bible verses:

My beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand.

(Song of Solomon 5:10)

And he brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle's daughter: for she had neither father nor mother, and the maid was fair and beautiful; whom Mordecai, when her father and mother were dead, took for his own daughter. (Esther 2:7)

Thy lips are like a thread of scarlet, and thy speech is comely: thy temples are like a piece of a pomegranate within thy locks.(Song of Solomon 4:3)

Thy two breasts are like two young roes that are twins, which feed among the lilies.

(Song of Solomon 4:5)

And when the Philistine looked about, and saw David, he disdained him: for he was but a youth, and ruddy, and of a fair countenance. (1 Samuel 17:42)

And he sent, and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and withal of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to. And the LORD

said, Arise, anoint him: for this is he. (1 Samuel 16:12)

Her Nazarites were purer than snow, they were whiter than milk, they were more ruddy in body than rubies, their polishing was of sapphire (Lamentations 4:7)

And the first came out red, all over like an hairy garment; and they called his name Esau. (Genesis 25:25)

Esau was Jacob's ( Israel's) brother !

And it came to pass, when he was come near to enter into Egypt, that he said unto Sarai his wife, Behold now, I know that thou art a fair woman to look upon: And it came to pass, that, when Abram was come into Egypt, the Egyptians beheld the woman that she was very fair. (Genesis 12:11-14)

And it came to pass after this, that Absalom the son of David had a fair sister, whose name was Tamar; and Amnon the son of David loved her. (2 Samuel 13:1)

And in all the land were no women found so fair as the daughters of Job: and their father gave them inheritance among their brethren. (Job 42:15)

The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. . . (Matthew 1: 1)

This eventually changed, as it did it all the Middle East, Aryan India, and other Indo-European countries. The people eventually became mixed as Europe is doing now. Whether this is a good or bad thing is not the point and distracts from following the bottom line, which is to remain historically and scientifically factual.

In 1000 years when Europeans look like today's Middle Eastern people will we then say King George and his fellow countrymen were all Arabs as they are "today" ?

Answer 4

Recent studies of mitochondrial DNA have indicated that DNA variations in modern humans originated in Africa about 200,000 years ago. More recently, researchers have been able to study male-only genes (genes with no equivalent in the X chromosome) in the Y chromosome and have arrived at much the same conclusion.
They also believe that the superficial indicators of ethnicity, such as nose shape, and skin, hair and eye colour, evolved somewhat more recently in each population in response to climate and ultraviolet radiation. Long, thin nostrils help people in cool, arid areas (eg the Middle East) retain moisture from exhaled air, and return the moisture to the dry air breathed in. People from northern Europe also benefit from having long, thin nostrils to retain warmth. People from northern Europe benefit from having white skin, because they can absorb more UV, creating the vitamin D that they need. People from the tropics benefit from having dark skin, because it protects them from overexposure. However, these changes occur slowly and take tens of thousands of years, so that people from far northern Asia, while certainly paler than those from southern Asia, are still darker than northern Europeans.

Answer 5

This question starts with an assumption, that Adam and Eve were the first people on earth. If there is no way to explain the ethnic diversity that exists, then that assumption must be revised. One of the usual parameters of that assumption are that Adam and Eve were created approximately 4,004 BCE, although some extend this timeframe to around 10,000 BCE. So, the evolution of separate ethnic groups must have evolved between 4,004 (or 10,000) BCE and the time when we can first identify ethnic diversity. But another usual parameter is that the great Flood killed all humans except Naoh and his family. The Bible tells us that the Flood occurred around 2350 BCE. Now, the evolution of separate ethnic groups must have evolved between 2350 BCE and the time when we can first identify ethnic diversity - regardless of when Adam and Eve are believed to have lived.
There is no doubt that ethnic diversity has existed on earth long before 2350 BCE, and even before 4004 BCE or 10,000 BCE. We know that Australian aborigines have occupied Australia, isolated from all other human societies, for up to 50,000 years - long before the Flood. Their ethnic diversity predates the biblical stories. Even in the Middle East, archaeologists can identify quite separate ethnic groups who lived long before these dates.

In the two thousand years since the beginning of the Roman Empire, much has been written about different societies and peoples. Yet, in that time, no one has observed any evolution in the appearance of any separate ethnic group. Asians have remained Asiatic in appearance, Africans have remained African, northern Europeans have remained fair-skinned and northern European in appearance. So, we can say that ethnic differences in appearance must take longer than two or three thousand years to occur.

It is simply not possible to explain the ethnic diversity that exists, if we were all descended from one couple who lived only a few thousand years ago. Even more so, it is not possible to explain the ethnic diversity that exists, and already existed in ancient times, if we were all descended from one family who survived a flood 4350 years ago.