Last year one of my classes was studying different religions. The first religion we studied was Christianity. We were discussing different stories in the Old Testament and one of them was the story of the two brothers Cain and Abel.
This is how the story goes:
Cain grew crops and Abel kept flocks. Cain sacrificed crops to the Lord and Abel sacrificed big portions of the first born of his flock. God didn't care much for Cain's sacrifice but He was pleased with Abel's offering. Cain became jealous of Abel and killed him.
My teacher reflected on the story and announced jokingly, "I guess God was a little bloodthirsty at that time". I could see the bewildered looks on some of my friends. I could almost hear them thinking, "This is the God I believe in? what have I gotten myself in to?!"
I didn't understand it either, I didn't accept we serve a bloodthirsty God. If we did serve a bloodthirsty God, wouldn't we still be sacrificing things? I couldn't recall a time when my mom last sacrificed some raw hamburger patties on an alter.
Lets look at the story of Cain and Abel in more detail.
. . .Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked in the soil. In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. (Genesis 4:2-4, NIV)
This is a very important part of the story and we must look at the words carefully or we will miss the point. There is a big difference between their offerings and it has nothing to do with blood. It says Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering. Then in the next verse it says Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock as an offering. There is a pretty big difference between the offerings both brothers made. Let me also say that these offerings are love offerings to God. The Lord blessed Cain, Abel, and blesses us with everything we have, He just wants to see if we love Him enough to give some of it back. This reminds me of the countless times I have been eating a meal and my dad asks for a chip, so I break off a little crumb of the chip and give it to him. Then my dad raises an eyebrow and says, "Who bought these for you?". Then I am silent because I know he bought the chips for me so he technically owns the chip he wanted and even the entire bag they came in.
In the same sense, God owns everything in our lives and He is only asking for "a couple chips out of the bag" just to see if we will give it to Him. He deserves the whole bag but He doesn't ask for it. He asked Cain and Abel for just a chip. Abel gave God a chip but Cain gave God a crumb. My dad was rightfully mad when he asked for a chip and just got a crumb. This also brings up the question why Cain didn't give the whole chip worth of crops to God.
When I gave my dad a crumb instead of the chip, I didn't want him to have the whole chip for a reason: I wanted the chip. I took for granted that my dad bought me the chip that I was hungry for and (in my selfishness) I didn't want to give it up. I didn't really care about giving my dad the entire chip because my selfish mindset told me is was okay as long as he got a little bit of the chip, and that he should have been grateful that he even got the crumb I gave him.
I believe my ancestor Cain shared in this ignorant mindset, he didn't believe the God of the universe deserved to receive a chip worth of an offering, and that God should have been grateful to get the crumb he offered. This shows the attitude Cain had towards God. He took God for granted and didn't care to set up an actual sacrifice instead of just some scraps that he could easily do without. He gave God the "crumb" that he wouldn't be hungry for. Another indicator that Cain had a bad attitude towards God can be found later in the story after he killed Abel:
Then the Lord said to Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?"
"I don't know," he replied. "Am I my brothers keeper?" (Genesis 4:9, NIV)
I have serious reason to believe that Cain and Abel were teenagers, and that Abel was just the better behaved one. This combination of lying and sarcasm usually comes from teenagers. We have all lied or been sarcastic with our parents at one time, but it's only when we are really mad that we use them both together. Lying is disrespectful whether you mean to be disrespectful or not but sarcasm is always used to be purposefully disrespectful. So clearly, Cain didn't respect God enough to even be nice. He showed that he truly had no respect for his Divine Creator. He also showed his ignorance because he should have known God was all-knowing and that there is no point in lying to God's face. He must have forgotten what happened to his mom and dad (Adam and Eve). God asked him what happened to his brother to give him a chance to tell the truth and he blew it with God again.
So now we have uncovered two major reasons that God didn't like Cain's offering. The first reason is he didn't give God what God asked for (and God didn't want much) which showed God that Cain didn't trust his Creator. The second reason is that Cain didn't have a good attitude while he gave the offering. God was mad at him because He knew that Cain didn't love his Heavenly Father or even respect Him. Our All-knowing God knew what was in Cain's heart even before Cain decided to be all smart alec with Him. God gave him two chances to do what was right and in return Cain spat in God's face.
God had a right to be mad at Cain. We don't serve a bloodthirsty God that wags His Divine finger at us whenever we don't do what He wants. He is a loving God that has blessed us with a bag of chips. Everything we have is a blessing from God and we have no right to claim any of it as ours. It should all be God's, but God isn't asking us for all of it. He is just asking for a chip for the sake of seeing if we trust and respect Him enough to give it to Him. We still give Him offerings today, just with different currency. We don't offer our tastiest hamburger patty or our finest salad, for the reason that man eventually made green pieces of paper with the faces of past presidents on them that are considered to be just as valuable. Our Celestial Dad just wants a little love from us, He just wants to know if we are willing to give it to Him.
This is how the story goes:
Cain grew crops and Abel kept flocks. Cain sacrificed crops to the Lord and Abel sacrificed big portions of the first born of his flock. God didn't care much for Cain's sacrifice but He was pleased with Abel's offering. Cain became jealous of Abel and killed him.
My teacher reflected on the story and announced jokingly, "I guess God was a little bloodthirsty at that time". I could see the bewildered looks on some of my friends. I could almost hear them thinking, "This is the God I believe in? what have I gotten myself in to?!"
I didn't understand it either, I didn't accept we serve a bloodthirsty God. If we did serve a bloodthirsty God, wouldn't we still be sacrificing things? I couldn't recall a time when my mom last sacrificed some raw hamburger patties on an alter.
Lets look at the story of Cain and Abel in more detail.
. . .Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked in the soil. In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. (Genesis 4:2-4, NIV)
This is a very important part of the story and we must look at the words carefully or we will miss the point. There is a big difference between their offerings and it has nothing to do with blood. It says Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering. Then in the next verse it says Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock as an offering. There is a pretty big difference between the offerings both brothers made. Let me also say that these offerings are love offerings to God. The Lord blessed Cain, Abel, and blesses us with everything we have, He just wants to see if we love Him enough to give some of it back. This reminds me of the countless times I have been eating a meal and my dad asks for a chip, so I break off a little crumb of the chip and give it to him. Then my dad raises an eyebrow and says, "Who bought these for you?". Then I am silent because I know he bought the chips for me so he technically owns the chip he wanted and even the entire bag they came in.
In the same sense, God owns everything in our lives and He is only asking for "a couple chips out of the bag" just to see if we will give it to Him. He deserves the whole bag but He doesn't ask for it. He asked Cain and Abel for just a chip. Abel gave God a chip but Cain gave God a crumb. My dad was rightfully mad when he asked for a chip and just got a crumb. This also brings up the question why Cain didn't give the whole chip worth of crops to God.
When I gave my dad a crumb instead of the chip, I didn't want him to have the whole chip for a reason: I wanted the chip. I took for granted that my dad bought me the chip that I was hungry for and (in my selfishness) I didn't want to give it up. I didn't really care about giving my dad the entire chip because my selfish mindset told me is was okay as long as he got a little bit of the chip, and that he should have been grateful that he even got the crumb I gave him.
I believe my ancestor Cain shared in this ignorant mindset, he didn't believe the God of the universe deserved to receive a chip worth of an offering, and that God should have been grateful to get the crumb he offered. This shows the attitude Cain had towards God. He took God for granted and didn't care to set up an actual sacrifice instead of just some scraps that he could easily do without. He gave God the "crumb" that he wouldn't be hungry for. Another indicator that Cain had a bad attitude towards God can be found later in the story after he killed Abel:
Then the Lord said to Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?"
"I don't know," he replied. "Am I my brothers keeper?" (Genesis 4:9, NIV)
I have serious reason to believe that Cain and Abel were teenagers, and that Abel was just the better behaved one. This combination of lying and sarcasm usually comes from teenagers. We have all lied or been sarcastic with our parents at one time, but it's only when we are really mad that we use them both together. Lying is disrespectful whether you mean to be disrespectful or not but sarcasm is always used to be purposefully disrespectful. So clearly, Cain didn't respect God enough to even be nice. He showed that he truly had no respect for his Divine Creator. He also showed his ignorance because he should have known God was all-knowing and that there is no point in lying to God's face. He must have forgotten what happened to his mom and dad (Adam and Eve). God asked him what happened to his brother to give him a chance to tell the truth and he blew it with God again.
So now we have uncovered two major reasons that God didn't like Cain's offering. The first reason is he didn't give God what God asked for (and God didn't want much) which showed God that Cain didn't trust his Creator. The second reason is that Cain didn't have a good attitude while he gave the offering. God was mad at him because He knew that Cain didn't love his Heavenly Father or even respect Him. Our All-knowing God knew what was in Cain's heart even before Cain decided to be all smart alec with Him. God gave him two chances to do what was right and in return Cain spat in God's face.
God had a right to be mad at Cain. We don't serve a bloodthirsty God that wags His Divine finger at us whenever we don't do what He wants. He is a loving God that has blessed us with a bag of chips. Everything we have is a blessing from God and we have no right to claim any of it as ours. It should all be God's, but God isn't asking us for all of it. He is just asking for a chip for the sake of seeing if we trust and respect Him enough to give it to Him. We still give Him offerings today, just with different currency. We don't offer our tastiest hamburger patty or our finest salad, for the reason that man eventually made green pieces of paper with the faces of past presidents on them that are considered to be just as valuable. Our Celestial Dad just wants a little love from us, He just wants to know if we are willing to give it to Him.
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