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Tag Archives: Cain

“I am not Paul!”

04 Friday Mar 2016

Posted by Ron Thomas in Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

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Cain, Paul, urges

Sin is that non-entity that always seeks out its prey and then lunges at us at just the “right” time wherein we are brought as low as a person can feel, full of guilt. The word “entity” is a word that means “being,” “existence.” Sin is that non-person, non-physical existing power that is very real in the life of man; its destructive power spiritually kills all those who live within its grasp. This paradox (a seemingly contradictory idea) of a non-living existent power destroying life is not something we can adequately handle. The apostle Paul rightly called out when he said (wrote), “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:24, ESV).

Going back to the lead sentence of the previous paragraph, have your ever felt this way? Do you continually struggle feeling this way? If you are normal you do. But being normal in this regard is not that which is best for us.

Compare two men.

As sin rests right before us, preparing to leap up and devour us, Cain was told by the Lord he must subdue it (Gn. 4:7, NET). This means he must resolve to “get a handle on it,” subduing it and overcoming it. Sin, however, is a spiritual problem and not something physical a person can handle. The Lord said to Cain that he can subdue it, but the weapons of choice can’t be one of his own making. But how does man subdue what he can’t physically struggle with and what seems to control him? In the case of Cain and Abel it was not long before Cain gave in to his urging (jealousy, bitterness, anger) and acted against his brother. Thus, Cain did not subdue his urge; instead, sin leaped on him and devoured him (1 Peter 5:8).

It is not known what Paul’s sin in the flesh was (2 Corinthians 12), but whatever it was, it was a powerful reminder of his inability to address it. Paul appealed to the Lord three times to remove the thorn, but the Lord said to Paul that His grace was sufficient for him to overcome. Was it ever the case when Paul felt his struggle with this thorn that the Lord’s response to him was not helpful? Did he ever feel so overwhelmingly compelled to address it, or succumb to it? If the response to this problem was as Paul wrote, then no (2 Corinthians 12:9-10). If Paul ever felt that way, he soon changed his approach.

“But, I am not Paul!” Perhaps we need to be like Paul (1 Corinthians 11:1).

Let us not find reasons for why it is acceptable to fail. Even if you reject the notion that “it is acceptable to fail,” let not your life’s actions and thoughts that come out in words you speak betray your rejection of “it’s not acceptable to fail.” Yes, it is true that we all fail; it is also true that we will fail again, perhaps seriously so. The Lord cares and whether it is a nagging sin or some physical infirmity, the Lord’s strength is the solution to man’s ailment. RT

Cain Married?

07 Thursday Nov 2013

Posted by Ron Thomas in Uncategorized

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beginning, Biblical Archeology Review (BAR), biblical credibility, Cain, figurative, historicity, liberalism, married

At the time of creation, on the sixth day, the Lord created both the male and female (Adam and Eve). As a result of the sin introduced to both, the Lord expelled them from the garden; to them were born two male children (Cain and Able). In time, Cain’s jealousy aroused itself and the older brother killed his younger brother (Genesis 4:1-8). After this event, the Lord placed a curse on Cain and he dwelt in the land of Nod, married, and bore children.

Where did Cain get his wife? “Since the Enlightenment this question has repeatedly come up in rhetoric against biblical inerrancy” (Mary Joan Winn Leith, “Who Did Cain Marry,” Biblical Archaeology Review, November/December 2013, pages 22, 82, 84).

Taking the Bible at “face value,” the author of the article said that there is no other adequate solution than  Cain married his sister; she, however, offers “a different explanation.” This question is, indeed, a difficult question for some to field. In fact, Ms. Leith’s difficulty with the question, but her to a solution; but her answer is foreign to the biblical text. No matter, having done so, she is “better able to rest at night.”

From a liberal perspective (this is clearly the case within her article), she offers that the biblical writer (of Genesis) had an “us” and “them” attitude. In other words, “‘we’ are fully and ‘normally’ human and anyone who is ‘not us’ is at best less human and, at worst, not human at all.” What this boils down to is this: the biblical writers focused exclusively on their own people, history, genealogy, and on nothing outside of them (Israel’s history) at all. Thus, any others that existed were “out there” and non-existent. Consequently, when Cain married, he did not marry his sister, but some “other people ‘out there’ when God created Adam and Eve, but they didn’t count, as far as the Israelite storyteller was concerned.”

The effect of this is that the biblical record is wrong, and so is Jesus.

The biblical record is clear, however; at creation there were no other existent people in other parts of the world.  Consider the following: the Lord took six days to create heaven and earth, and on day six He created the first human couple; there were no others on that day. Jesus, in speaking with the religious leaders of His day spoke about marriage, said that man was at the beginning (Matthew 19:4), exactly like Genesis records it. Moreover, when Paul wrote to the Corinthians, he mentioned Adam as the first man (1 Corinthians 15:45).

Just like it was mentioned last week, this is no insignificant matter. The biblical record is true, or it is not. Whatever cultural factors played a role in the writing of it, those who wrote by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit knew well whether they were telling the truth or not. Merely because some have a presupposition (an initial bias) against the historical reliability of the Bible in no way minimizes its historical credibility.

In Genesis 1, and then again in chapter 2, we have the Lord creating heaven and earth, told to us in summary fashion (chapter 1), then in a more detailed fashion (chapter 2). Who did Cain marry? The Scripture does not answer, but with man being a perfect specimen of health at that time, the laws prohibiting today did not apply to back then. RT

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