I would love to respond the questions raised by Bob. …

Comment on ‘Yes, Creation!’ at the General Conference Session by cathy.

I would love to respond the questions raised by Bob. If you look at Ellen White’s statement on amalgamation, she never said that the Africans came into existence as the result of amalgamation of humans with animals. She simply stated that amalgamation post-flood was responsible for the presence of “certain races of men.” Why is it that people automatically assume that she was referring to Africans and people of African descent in that statement? She was not a racist but, in my opinion, those who leap to this assumption (that she was referring specifically to Blacks) may have their own issues in accepting racial equality.

To question the full humanity of people of African descent was useful back in the days when White Christians were looking for ways to excuse themselves for participating in the business of the slave trade. But fortunately we are now living in an age were “knowledge has increased” so to speak. For instance, I would refer anyone interested to check out www.digitaljournal.com/article/291798 where on May 10, 2010 a study is reported that reviews how an international team of scientists have successfully sequenced the neanderthal genome and the evidence shows that humans in Europe and Asia carry Neanderthal genes while African people are “100 percent human.” And I think it safe to say that genetic scientists agree that Africans are the most ethnically pure group and other races are more genetically diverse than the Africans from whom they seem to have come.

I believe that Ellen White’s statements about amalgamation POST-FLOOD were meant to teach us how different racial or ethnic groups came into existence. My take on what she says is that people who tended to look more like each other married and produced offspring and so genetic material was strengthened in different ways in these different parent groups, thus giving rise to the hugely varied skin colors, eye colors, hair textures and body morphologies that we see today (after all there were only 8 people on the ark, right?). Really, DNA has proven that there really are no true, distinct racial variations between populations. Ethnic distinctions, of course, are more superficial and variable (please refer to the race section of Wikipedia for more info if you like).

It is very true that scientists can now create organisms that are a mixture of different species (they are called chimera) and the techniques used to create them are largely high tech. If we interpret Mrs. White’s statement of amalgamation PRE-FLOOD to mean the intermingling of human genes with animal genes then yes, I can see how that would be possible as she describes the antedeluvians as being very advanced scientifically. And perhaps this intermingling explains some of the fossils that have been found that seem to somewhat but not fully human. But remember she also states that only those species created by God entered into the ark. Only now has mankind regained enough scientific knowledge to create chimeras- it simply was not doable in the laboratory until the most recent decades.

So please, can we put to rest this amazingly incorrect, unfounded idea that Ellen White thought Africans were the descendants of some type of animal/human combination??

Even Uriah Smith’s comments do not include any statement that Africans or “negros” were the result of amalgamation. Now, Smith is in no way a prophet, so we can ignore his erroneous suggestions about how certain ethnic groups came into existence.

Speaking as a physician-scientist and as an Ellen G. White-believing, six-day-creation-accepting African American Seventh-day Adventist, let’s move on!

cathy Also Commented

‘Yes, Creation!’ at the General Conference Session
I just wanted to add to my message above that while I did provide science journal references, I view that material from a Creationist point of view and so in no way meant to endorse any unproven, evolution-based theories that might be referred to in the references. thanks.