Post #66 Meaning behind the Cain and Abel Story

Posted and E-mailed April 23-24, 2007

This message is one that hits really close to home. I guess I SHOULDN’T be surprised because that’s how GOD works. Experience is the BEST TEACHER, so how else would you expect the BEST TEACHER to teach. HE puts us in similar situations so we can learn what HE wants us to learn without experiencing all the pain and suffering of those that really have BEEN THERE AND DONE THAT. Kind of like PROTOTYPING or doing a TRIAL RUN to work out the bugs or develop the PERFECT PLAN before you make the commitment.

That being said, it’s time to put GOD’S message to paper/magnetic media. In Genesis Chapter 4, Eve gives birth to her first two (2) sons with the HELP of GOD (giving GOD the CREDIT is the FIRST STEP toward moving closer to HIM). Later in that same chapter both her sons give an offering to GOD (verses 2-5).

The usual meaning behind this passage has been the importance of giving your FIRST and BEST to GOD. After all HE gave it to you and HE can give you a lot more, so why not do whatever you can to make HIM happy. Christ later told us we had to be SERVANTS which goes along with that teaching. Wouldn’t you EXPECT the SERVANTS to give the FIRST and BEST to the MASTER and keep only what the MASTER allows them to keep? How long do you think a SERVANT is going to be around if he/she keeps the FIRST and BEST of everything he or she harvests from the MASTER’S land?

Unfortunately, there’s another message in that story. Raising GOOD (Abel) and BAD (Cain) kids. The story is telling parents NOT to have a FAVORITE child or at least you CAN’T let ANYONE know you have a FAVORITE child. This story was meant to teach us the consequences of FAVORING one of your children. This problem is even worse for the OLDEST child. That child had all the parents attention for some time then a second child comes along and the oldest begins to think the parents DON’T love them anymore and/or they CAN’T do anything right. Even GOD CAN’T turn them around after a while.

The writers of the bible apparently DIDN’T get that message so they DIDN’T record the events that lead up to the point where Cain lost control and killed Abel. Genesis Chapter 4 goes from Cain and Abel being born to Cain killing Abel in less than eight (8) verses. I always asked GOD WHY Christ’s childhood wasn’t in the bible. Mary and Joseph raised the PERFECT CHILD but we DON’T get to know what they did or what Christ went through as a child. Maybe the Cain and Abel story has a few hints as to why Christ’s childhood ISN’T in the bible. See what you think.

Anyway the events that lead up to Abel’s murder are the ones we need to know to understand why Cain killed Abel.

• -----How did Adam and Eve treat Cain before Abel was born?
• -----How did they treat Cain after Abel was born?
• -----How did they treat Abel?

It’s not in the bible because the very next passage after the one referenced above is about GOD (not Adam and/or Eve) trying to talk to Cain about his ANGER (verses 6-7).

You got to BELIEVE GOD had been talking to Cain all along but like kids today, once they get past a certain age, they know it all and you CAN’T get through to them. The point is the messages we needed to learn from in this story WEREN’T recorded in the bible. I got to BELIEVE it’s because humans DON’T like to talk about their failures. We HIDE our mistakes and PRETEND they never happened. So over the years, Adam and Eve were able to FORGET the events that lead up to the murder of Abel. They DIDN’T want to tell anyone what they did wrong or didn’t do at all that made Cain the person he became.

Fortunately or unfortunately, history will repeat itself, if you DON’T learn from the experience. The VT TREGEDY is a very similar event. We ALL see the SYMPTONS and blame someone (Cain for killing Abel and Cho Seugn-Hui for killing 33 people at Virginia Tech) cased closed. GOD’S warning us. We GOT to find the cause or we’re going to experience it again and again. Each case will most likely be worse than the last because there will be better weapons, stronger poisons, bigger bombs, new tazers, new biotech germs, and only GOD knows what else. We need to STOP looking for a QUICK FIX SOLUTION that puts the BLAME on someone else, so we can BELIEVE:

• -----it WON’T happen to us
• -----it ISN’T our PROBLEM
• -----we did all we could
• -----we followed the STANDARD PROCEEDURES/POLICIES
• -----It’s his/her fault
• -----our kids WOULDN’T do that (Cho’s parents didn’t think so either)
• -----etc

If ONLY someone would have DID or SAID something to make them proud of themselves long before they got to the point of feeling like they CAN’T DO ANYTHING RIGHT. It’s HARD to admit we are ALL to blame for these kinds of problems (just like Adam and Eve). If we DON’T admit and LOOK for the REAL problem, we can fight SYMPTONS till the cows come home and NEVER really fix the problem. It’ll just keep popping up again and again each time a little worse than the time before. Then eventually, it’ll involve you or someone you know. Then you’ll wish you had done something but it’ll be too late. Worse yet, everyone else will be telling you about the SYMPTOM and you’ll never be able to convince them that SOCIETY is the problem till it happens to them.

We need to ensure that OUR YOUNG CHILDREN have friends and you get them INVOLVED in

• ----SPORT
• ----CUB SCOUTS
• ----BROWNIES
• ----DANCING CLASSES
• ----KIDS BOWLING LEAGUE
• ----SOCCOR LEAGUE
• ----etc

You have to invite THEIR FREINDS over for

• ----POOL PARTIES
• ----TEAM PARTIES
• ----BIRTHDAY PARTIES
• ----etc.

And you've got to TAKE THEIR FRIENDS with you when you:

• ----VISIT THE ZOO
• ----GO TO THE PARK
• ----GO TO A MOVIE
• ----GO TO A BALL GAME
• ----etc.

We have to HELP THEM FIT IN with their peers while they’re YOUNG. It’ll help them enjoy school more and they might NOT grow up to have the problems Cho Seugn-Hui had. I say MIGHT NOT because that’s NOT the only things parents and society have to do. Our society has encouraged bad behavior in our children by LIMITING parents RIGHTS to punish their child. The old saying SPARE THE ROD (within reason) SPOIL THE CHILD is a lot truer than you think. Ask any of our senior teacher if students AREN’T tougher to handle these days. Worse yet the SAME laws that make it hard to be a GOOD parent are tying teachers hands too. Are you beginning to see the REAL PROBLEM and NOT the SYMPTONS?

Being a parent ISN’T an easy job. You have to want to be your son/daughter’s older brother or sister NOT their mother or father. Children want to grow up and be just like their parents till they think they know more than their parents. Unfortunately, they don’t know what their parents did as kids that made them who they are today. So they’re going to try and skip the steps that made their parents who they are. If you take the time to spend some time with them and their friends, they’ll think it’s the stuff big people do and they’ll be happier doing it. The benefit to you is that it’ll be easy to be the BEST PLAYER on a baseball team or a soccer team if no one else is older than 10 years old. You get to be a SUPER STAR but you have to hold back a little. I was always the OFFICIAL PITCHER in baseball, the GOALIE in soccer or the QUARTERBACK for both teams in football. A side benefit to getting involved in your children’s life is your own health. Think of the exercise you’re going to get.

Just remember, to have fun and make sure everyone enjoys themselves. Soon your friends’ parents will be taking your kid places and keeping your kid busy too. Then you might have to compete for their time but you’ll have the right to FREE TIME at home knowing your child is with people you know and trust.

One last thing, while you’re spending time with your children DON’T criticize them. Try to find something that they did really well and compliment them on that. Then tell them how to get even better at it (what they didn’t do right that NEEDS improvement). Pretend not to be good at it yourself and complain about how much better they are at it than you are. For instance, if your child can’t hit the ball very well tell them how good they are at swinging the bat. Then say did you know that so and so is in a slump he can’t it the ball either but we all know he’s going to start hitting any day. Maybe his mind is on something else or he’s putting to much pressure on himself. I think he just has to relax and be patient. Maybe he isn’t watching the ball all they way to the bat. Everyone wants to hit a HOMERUN but sometimes all it takes is a single to drive in the winning run and/or keep the rally going. He or she might think about so and so's problems and try to see if he or she’s doing the same thing. Plus he or she WON’T care about NOT hitting every pitch if so and so CAN’T hit every pitch it must be ALRIGHT to mess up once and awhile. HINT: You better mess it up too once and awhile.

You get the idea. DON’T frustrate them by trying to make them think they have to hit as well as you do. Tell them how proud you are of the little accomplishments they make each time. They’ll be happier and work harder to impress you even more. Oops there goes your FREE TIME. They’ll want more time to impress you even more but they WON’T grow up to be a CAIN or CHO SEUGN-HUI. They’ll grow up to be JUST LIKE YOU.

I talked a lot about sports but these same concepts would work for cooking, cleaning house, homework, etc.