People believing the first race was not white?

[Uhura]

I have a non-member teacher who I take two clases with. Between them the other day he was saying that because of historical art architecture, the first people were darker colored skin. He knows I don't agree but I had no idea what to say.

I private messages to another non-member friend and told her what he said. She apparently believes him and sent me a link which I haven't read yet.

So how to I reply to these people?

Thank for your help.

[skippy740]

Why does it matter? Should it matter?

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[prisonchaplain]

Is it LDS doctrine that Adam and Eve were white? I always figured they were more olive-skinned, like Jesus likely was.

[Jenamarie]

I'd never really thought about what "race" Adam and Eve were. Doesn't really make a difference one way or the other, does it?

[Uhura]

Not that it matters to me, but having something to say to others would help. Yet if I say it doesn't matter, then won't they think I am agreeing? Even if I say I disagree, sometimes it seems people think I am agreeing or something like that when I end the topic.

[Vort]

I have a non-member teacher who I take two clases with. Between them the other day he was saying that because of historical art architecture, the first people were darker colored skin. He knows I don't agree but I had no idea what to say.

I don't see how "historical art architecture" would determine what color the skin of the ancients was, so I don't understand what your teacher was trying to say. I also am not sure why you disagree. As far as I know, we have no doctrine about what color Adam's skin was.

[ztodd]

The pictures we show in church usually show them with white skin, but that's just a guess. Maybe the artists didn't know how to draw people of other races as well as people who are white.

[NeuroTypical]

because of historical art architecture, the first people were darker colored skin. He knows I don't agree but I had no idea what to say.

I private messages to another non-member friend and told her what he said. She apparently believes him and sent me a link which I haven't read yet.

So how to I reply to these people?

1. Figure out what you believe. (You've already done this - you believe Adam & Eve were white.)

2. Figure out why you believe it. (I don't think any of us can help you there, because there really isn't any authoritative source to back you up.)

3. Ditch the stuff that doesn't have good reasoning or solid authoritative sources behind it. (I would suggest that "Adam & Eve were white" is a belief that should be ditched.)

4. If you chose to ditch this belief, you should thank your friends for helping you learn and grow.

Just my two cents.

LM

[Uhura]

I guess we don't know. It is more the way they were saying it, as in believing that the first people weren't white (with no reference to Adam and Eve) instead of Adam and Eve being the first people. Still seems strange because all the pictures are of them with white skin. All the ones I've ever seen anyway.

[skippy740]

That's because most artists make pictures in the images they are most familiar with.

They're not photographs.

[Guest tbaird22]

Tell them you think they were purple. No one really knows so i think there skin was see through.

[Backroads]

...I've never actually thought about it...

No, I have.

I imagined some vague idea of a genetically perfect race before diseases crept in.

... with no consciousness notice of skin color.

[FunkyTown]

I don't know what colour Adam and Eve were.

I do know that the odds are that two people who walked around in the sun all day with nothing but fig leafs for covering probably weren't didn't have milky-white skin.

[FanOf31]

We know they definitely weren't black. So I would say they could have been just about any other race. I always lean towards a tanned-skinned race as people most likely were in the sun a lot back then.

[prisonchaplain]

I hate to be thick, but why couldn't they have been black? With Funky Town's insight, it seems quite possible they were.

[honestabe]

I really hope someone replies to this question. All I can say is "you better be sitting down for this one".

[Guest Godless]

It is more the way they were saying it, as in believing that the first people weren't white (with no reference to Adam and Eve) instead of Adam and Eve being the first people.

Non-belief in the existence of Adam and Eve is more common in academia (and non-LDS theism) than you think. History tells us that the oldest civilizations existed in Africa and the Middle East. So it makes sense that academics would assume that early humans weren't white.

[FunkyTown]

Non-belief in the existence of Adam and Eve is more common in academia (and non-LDS theism) than you think. History tells us that the oldest civilizations existed in Africa and the Middle East. So it makes sense that academics would assume that early humans weren't white.

I'm LDS and I've never heard, nor read 'Adam and Eve were white'. Ever. And since the OP says they're unable to find support for the theory, I have a theory of my own on it: Holding to the belief that Adam and Eve were white is silly. We have absolutely no information on their racial identity in any concrete sense. What do I believe? I believe the odds are that they were at least very tan.

In fact: I'm calling it now. They were Inuits with really great tans. I could make an argument about isolation of breeding cells maintaining a coherent and unbroken genetic line, but I'd be disingenuous.

The truth is I just like the way Eskimo Adam and Eskimo Eve sound.

[Guest saintish]

The truth is I just like the way Eskimo Adam and Eskimo Eve sound.

They would have been pretty cold naked and then with just fig leaves.

On a serious note, Your best response would be to say you don't know what color adam and eve were. Just because your friends have some evidence that they were black, yellow or purple doesn't make it true. Evidence is misinterpreted all the time.

On a not so serious note, you could always give them the Archie Bunker (from all in the family) argument. "God made me in his image, I am white therefore God is white"

[Captain_Curmudgeon]

Once you've swallowed the camel of Adam and Eve, the gnat of color should be a snap.

[Backroads]

In fact: I'm calling it now. They were Inuits with really great tans. I could make an argument about isolation of breeding cells maintaining a coherent and unbroken genetic line, but I'd be disingenuous.

The truth is I just like the way Eskimo Adam and Eskimo Eve sound.

Good enough for me!

[rameumptom]

We know they definitely weren't black. So I would say they could have been just about any other race. I always lean towards a tanned-skinned race as people most likely were in the sun a lot back then.

No, we definitely do NOT know they weren't black. We guess. A lot of art depicts Jesus and Mary as being very white-skinned like Europeans. In reality, they were not. Nephi calls them very white and fair-skinned, but he's saying it from a perspective that Middle Eastern complexions are white and fair skinned, not from a German blond pale white model.

As it is, your art teacher probably was not thinking about Adam and Eve, but about Cro-Magnon Man, who was definitely darker skinned. Earlier humanoids included some that were definitely black skinned. This is proven via archaeology and science.

[RescueMom]

Adam was a humaniod from this planet

Eve was a half cylon baby from Caprica.

[Vort]

We know they definitely weren't black.

How do we know this?

[prisonchaplain]

It dawns on me that if Eden is in Missouri it's plausible to say Adam and Eve were fairer skinned, and not likely black. With my belief that Eden is probably in the Middle East, near Egypt/Israel, it's much easier for me to think they was olive-skinned or darker.