AN IMAGINARY CONVERSATION WITH GOD - PART 11

This is a continuation of Taku2u's imaginary conversation with God. In having this conversation, Taku2u is working on the premis that, like a father or mother to their children, God would not object to his children - based on the proposition of the creationists - having an frank and honest conversation with him/her/deity. 



T.: So, G, could we now move on to discuss your relationship with Abel and Cain? According to Genesis, you refused Cain’s offering to you, but accepted  Abel’s, apparently on the basis that Cain’s offering was not up to standard, although the scribe who wrote of this event, did not say what was wrong with Cain’s offering. It is therefore not clear whether you had a preference for meat, seeing Abel was a herdman, while his brother, Cain, was a tiller of the soil. So, would you say you had disrespected Cain?

G.: You know what, T, I can see where you are heading with this line of reasoning. It seems to me that you could be implying that I value a herdsman more than a tiller of the soil; that I consider the herdsman to be nobler, more of an elite, than the person who toils on the land to get it to produce, is some how a lesser person.

T.: Well, yes, G, I am rather baffled by the fact that you refused to accept Cain’s offering, especially as the scribe gave no detailed explanation for why you refused it, and just cited your judgement on him, as him not having done ‘well.’

G.: So, T, have you not wondered whether this purported event is no more than a parable which I, according to the responsible scribe, has used to explain something more profound? That it, the story of Cain slaying his brother, Abel, might not be meant to be taken literally?

T.: Well, G, is it, as you seem to be suggesting, a parable, and, if so, what is the higher meaning or lesson which it is meant to symbolise?

G.: Bearing in mind, T, that I, like you, is only speculating, since I did not authored Genesis. You will notice that, in  Genesis, ch.4, verse 7, I am reported as having told Cain that, if he does not do ‘well’ in his endeavour, he is likely to find ‘sin’ awaiting and searching for him.  That when it finds him, he will, in effect, use it for his own ends.

T.: I am not sure I follow you, G, as I was of the view that it is ‘sin’ which has control over humans’ and not them over it. But, ok, I think I can appreciate what your are saying. Since it is only right that humans should take responsibility for their actions, even if they are sometime able to claim mitigation or provocation. We could see this as part of the consequences of Adam and Eve eating of the tree of knowledge and good and evil.
Be it so, however, G, would you not still accept that you, according to the scribe’s account, had contributed to tragic events which led Cain to slay his brother, Abel?


To be continued