As I travel to different places of the world, I noticed not only the difference in skin color of people from the four continents of the earth that I have reached, but also in the shape of the nose, in the eyes, in height, and in the hair.
I am a man of many questions in my mind because I am a keen observer of almost everything that I have been privileged to see. I believe my curiosity is one of the factors that led me to a deeper search for truth that I satisfactorily found in the Bible.
If the entire human race came from one family, why is it possible that there are races that stand taller than others, having eyes, noses, and hair very much different from others?
The answer to these questions is very well elucidated both in the Bible and in Science. Biblically, the ordinary human can produce ‘giants’.
(Genesis 6:2-4) That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be a hundred and twenty years. There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bore children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.
Scientifically, giants or men of extraordinary height and size can be caused by what is called pituitary growth hormone excess, also known as “pituitary gigantism”.
The human body is an adaptable organism. It can adapt even to extremes in the environment. This ability to adapt itself to a given environment helps in the ‘shaping’ of his physical body. It can be noted that there are places where natives have noticeably long protruding noses, while the opposite is very much apparent in other places of the globe.
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Quick Facts:
Climate clearly has put its imprint on the tint of our skin, the size of our noses, and other physical traits…
…Amid such discussions, however, a consensus exists that climate has influenced the evolution of the human physique.
Skin color, for example, is determined largely by the amount of melanin, a dark pigment, in the outer layer of the skin. (Carotene imparts a yellow tint.) In sunny climates close to the Equator, natural selection has favored dark, melanin-rich skin, which protects its owner by absorbing harmful ultraviolet rays before they penetrate to lower layers. But some ultraviolet light must penetrate the skin so that the body can produce Vitamin D. Thus, at higher latitudes, where sunlight is less intense, pale skin with little melanin is the norm.
Among dark-skinned people, moreover, there are great variations in skin color. The drawback of dark skin is that, like dark cloth, it absorbs more heat from the sun than does lighter skin. In prehistory, anthropologists explain, those who roamed the savannah “traded off” some protection from ultraviolet rays for the reduced heat retention of lighter skin. For forest-dwellers, living in less extreme heat, a darker complexion was an evolutionary advantage.
Melanin also determines eye color. The human eye appears blue when there is no melanin in the outer iris, and turns darker as melanin increases. In the iris, as in the skin, melanin absorbs light, protecting the eye from glare. Thus, dark eyes are generally favored by nature. In Europe, however, almost 50 percent of the population has blue, green, or gray irises, Such people may see further in dim light, but scientists still do not fathom the evolutionary logic of blue eyes – or blond hair, for that matter. The eyes of the Chinese, Japanese, Eskimos, and other people of Mongoloid descent – one third of the world’s population – are protected by epicanthic folds. These folds, composed of fatty tissue, probably evolved among their forebears inhabiting the Arctic in order to insulate the eye against freezing, and to provide an additional shield against glare from snow and ice. Even the human nose adapts to climate.
Inside the nose, a series of wet, mucus-lined air chambers “conditions” inhaled air before it reaches the throat and the delicate air sacs of the lungs, warming it to about 95 degrees Fahrenheit and raising its relative humidity to 95 percent. Humans in cold climates – or in hot, dry ones – thus have the greatest need to condition the air they breathe. Natural selection in such climes generally favors larger noses with more mucus lining: flattened, to protect against frostbite, in frigid environments; long and narrow in arid regions. In a like manner, the size and shape of the human form help the body regulate internal temperature. Over thousands of years, cooler climates tend to produce larger people. The reason: Their extra mass helps them retain heat. Although large people also have more skin surface from which heat can escape, the tradeoff still works to their advantage. As the body grows larger, mass becomes greater relative to skin area. The Alakaluf Indians on the frigid southern tip of South America, for example, are 25 percent taller than the Ituri Pygmies of Central Africa. Yet, the Alakalufs are more than two times heavier – and thus store much more body heat. Variations in body shape complicate the picture. A tall, skinny man has more surface area – and heat loss – than does a shorter, huskier man of the same weight. Thus, cold territories closest to the North and South Poles tend to be populated by stocky folk. In southern Africa, Pygmies, the world’s shortest people, dwell very near the Nilotic tribes (e.g., the Dinka), the tallest. But the Nilotic tribes live in the dry, open savannahs, the Pygmies, in the shaded forests. The Nilotics’ environment puts a premium on having more skin surface to release heat, thus their extremely tall, slender build. And, occasionally, there appear uniquely adapted humans, A notable example: the Khoikhoi women of the open African savannah, who have thin torsos suited to the hot climate, but also protruding buttocks (steatopygia) containing storehouses of fat to draw upon in times of famine. Just as it is difficult to prove a correlation between past climatic change, and, say, the demise of an ancient civilization, so today’s anthropologists are not certain that all their inferences about climate and human evolution are well founded. Very few of the world’s peoples in all their variety now inhabit the same territories where, long ago, their ancestors presumably developed certain characteristics in response to climate. Often, notes Grover Krantz, anthropologists resort to “pulling people out of areas where their… traits don’t fit the environment and putting them back where they do fit”.
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The information that was written in the Bible that the human race came from only one family is very much scientifically true. The scattering abroad of the family of Noah in different places of the habitable earth eventually and gradually produced different physical features among them depending on the kind of environment they settled in to live.
(Acts 17:26) And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation…
Many theories including the infamous Darwinian Theory of Evolution were taught and believed even by reputed scientists; but a fact remains — that we were created by a great God, from the first man and woman. We came from one family (not from apes), with only one language and tongue that was later confounded by God for His will to be fulfilled in populating the earth with humans.
(Genesis 3:20) And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.
God is not the author of confusion, but is a God of order and truth.
(1 Corinthians 14:40) Let all things be done decently and in order.
To believe in the theory of evolution is to believe in accidents, for the theory of evolution can only be explained by accidents that allegedly happened in nature, and perhaps in the brains and minds of evolutionists!
To God be the glory!
Sincerely in Christ,
EFS