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Slide 98 of 109
Although there is no direct
biblical data regarding the origin of the races, people have speculated
that certain judgments of God caused the races to begin. According to the
Book of Mormon (not part of the Bible), the unbelief of
the Lamanites (the supposed ancestors of
Native Americans) led God to put a curse of black skin on them, whereas the
Nephites were still “white, and exceedingly fair and
delightsome.”1 Others have speculated
that the mark God put on Cain as a penalty for murdering his brother Abel
was a change of skin color. However, the Bible does not give any
hint about what the "mark" of Cain was.2
In addition, Cain is not in the line of descent to Noah, so any racial
changes that might have been made would have disappeared at the flood.
Some have speculated that Ham's penalty might have been a change of race.
However, the text says only that Ham's descendants would be servants to
his brothers.3 Another speculation is
that God changed the races at the same time he scattered the people at the
Tower of Babel. Although this is possible, the Genesis account is entirely
silent about this kind of action on the part of God.4
Given the silence of the Bible on the subject of the origin of the races,
one might conclude that the topic was thought to be unimportant in the
overall scope of the Bible. Another page on this site discusses whether
the Bible is racist.
References 
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And he had caused the acursing to come upon them, yea, even a sore
cursing, because of their iniquity. For behold, they had hardened their
hearts against him, that they had become like unto a flint; wherefore, as
they were white, and exceedingly fair and delightsome, that they might not
be enticing unto my people the Lord God did cause a skin of blackness to
come upon them. (2 Nephi 5:21)
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"And
Cain said to the LORD, "My punishment is too great to bear!
"Behold, Thou hast driven me this day from the face of the
ground; and from Thy face I shall be hidden, and I shall be a vagrant
and a wanderer on the earth, and it will come about that whoever finds
me will kill me." So the LORD said to him, "Therefore
whoever kills Cain, vengeance will be taken on him sevenfold."
And the LORD appointed a sign for Cain, lest anyone finding him should
slay him. (Genesis 4:13-15)
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"And
Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told
his two brothers outside.... When Noah awoke from his wine, he knew
what his youngest son had done to him. So he said, "Cursed be
Canaan; A servant of servants He shall be to his brothers." He
also said, "Blessed be the LORD, The God of Shem; And let Canaan
be his servant. "May God enlarge Japheth, And let him dwell in
the tents of Shem; And let Canaan be his servant." (Genesis
9:22-27)
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Now the whole earth used the same language and the
same words. And it came about as they journeyed east, that they found
a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. And they said to one
another, "Come, let us make bricks and burn them
thoroughly." And they used brick for stone, and they used tar for
mortar. And they said, "Come, let us build for ourselves a city,
and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for
ourselves a name; lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the
whole earth." And the LORD came down to see the city and the
tower which the sons of men had built. And the LORD said,
"Behold, they are one people, and they all have the same
language. And this is what they began to do, and now nothing which
they purpose to do will be impossible for them. "Come, let Us go
down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand
one another's speech." So the LORD scattered them abroad from
there over the face of the whole earth; and they stopped building the
city. Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the LORD
confused the language of the whole earth; and from there the LORD
scattered them abroad over the face of the whole earth. These are the
records of the generations of Shem. Shem was one hundred years old,
and became the father of Arpachshad two years after the flood; (Genesis
11:1-10)
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