questions about the story of cain and abel

Pepe Silvia

sorry for another bible thread but i saw something on national geographic last night that asked some pretty good questions about the story of cain and abel

-why did god accept abel's blood sacrifice of the first born of his flock and not cain's sacrifice of grain and stuff he grew?

Genesis 4:3And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD.

4And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering:

5But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.

-so, god made adam and eve and they had cain and abel...so who is cain afraid of killing him when god told him his punishment was to roam the desert?

Genesis 4: 14Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth; and from thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to pass, that every one that findeth me shall slay me.

15And the LORD said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the LORD set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him.

did god create more people after adam and eve??

also, the murder of abel was supposed to be the 1st murder ever, how to kill someone was supposed to be some unknown thing....so if murder was unknown why would others try to kill cain?

and why did god seem accepting that his great-great-great-great grandson took 2 wives?

mysticweed

Poetic liscense. The Bible is FULL of spin and contradiction. The Bible was not written by God, but by old Hebrew men.

michelleelise

It's just a creation myth, it's not literal. Each of the ancient civilizations had their own story of creation. You can try to interpret the symbolism of the story, and I'm sure there are bible scholars who'd be able to help you with that. But to really know the answer you'd probably need to know the author and in the case of the Bible the authors are many and scattered over many hundreds of years.

Heatherj43

I hate discussing religion. People have their beliefs and refuse to open their minds.
Most, if not all, christian sects find ways to make this all sound all right. I have stopped even trying to explain the truths about the bible. It is a series of letters, that many call books, that various people wrote over the course of many years. Then, it was revised by many kings, who wanted some things left out, and other things put in, as to validate their own reign, and control their people. Most parts removed are forever lost, so all we are reading is what man wants, not what any god wants. So, the first thing I had to do was to discount the bible in its entirety.
From there, its hard to be "religious". I can be spiritual, but "religion" kind of goes out the window, especially when you take into consider other parts of the world and their religions, or religions older than christianity.
Howvever, amny people NEED their religion, so I hate talking about it. I would never want anyone to lose something they need so badly in their lives. I do think it serves a purpose on an individual level that is good, but is very bad when it come to wars and accepting peoples of other lands or beliefs.
For me, it came down to whether there is a higher power. Well, even that has too many old beliefs that enter and are hard to not think about when deciding.
So, I am agnostic. Thats it, period. I cannot believe any of the books I read from the past because of them being tainted. We, as people, are tainted.
So, I just plain don't know and neither does anyone else.