The Lord was sorry that he had made humans.
—Genesis 6.6
* * *
Eve conceived and bore a son. And then another. Cain and Abel were earth’s first children.
(We’re in the world of myth, where truth is shrouded in fiction.)
At a certain appointed time, Abel offered God a lamb from his flock. Cain offered fruit from his field.
God accepted Abel’s offering and rejected Cain’s. No reason is given. There’s no mention of any divine decree: Bring me meat and nothing else!
Cain felt mistreated. An injustice.
(Many people and peoples know that feeling.)
Cain was angry.
And that’s good. Anger is a healthy reaction to injustice. It’s no sin. If you’re not angry over injustice against yourself or others, something’s wrong.
What would Cain do?
(Reactions can’t be helped. Responses can.)
God warned Cain: Sin is crouching at your door. Its desire is for you, but you must master it.
Cain brooded and then rose up and killed his brother. The first human act of violence. Revenge.
(Well, that didn’t take long.)
If context matters, it was God’s fault. God treated Cain unjustly.
And then God cursed Cain: You shall be a fugitive, a wanderer on the earth.
To hell with that, Cain said. He turned around, built the first city, and recruited musicians, artisans, and blacksmiths, including Tubal-Cain, a maker of swords. Violence was industrialized. Civilization had arrived.
People couldn’t stop killing each other.
I regret creating humankind. The earth is filled with violence because of them.
God was angry. Sin was crouching at God’s door.
What would God do?
I will destroy all of them with a flood.
(Well, there’s a novel idea: Violence to eliminate violence. Kill all the bad guys!)
And that’s what God did. Collective punishment. The first genocide.
And then God was sorry.
Never again!
A rainbow appeared.
Oh, I almost forgot. God did spare one family: Noah’s—because he was the only righteous man on earth at the time. “Noah walked with God,” it was said.
Noah’s family and a boatload of animals survived the flood. In gratitude Noah sacrificed several animals. Then he planted a vineyard, got blind drunk, woke up, and cursed his grandson Canaan. (“You will be a slave to your brothers.”) And thus Noah, God’s chosen, planted the seeds of perpetual violence.
That’s not the end of the story. It’s still being written.
The end is in our hands.
“Eve conceived and bore a son. And then another.”
At that time the population of the earth was 4.
“Cain brooded and then rose up and killed his brother.”
The homicide rate was 25%. It has never been that high since. According to these statistics, the rate of violence has decreased since the beginning of time.
(Figures don’t lie, but liars can figure.)
The 20th century was the most violent century in history (by number of people killed). There was WW I and WW II, Korea and Vietnam. There were also other genocides. Humans should have learned by their mistakes and avoid repeating them. But, by looking at the picture you provided, we have learned nothing. The 21st century has already produced Iran, Iraq, plus other regional conflicts. Gun violence in America is an all-time high. We are only 25% of the way into the 21st century. What will the next 75% bring?
Whereas Genesis speaks of God’s sorrow for creating humanity, it also speaks of the spark of Divinity within all of us. The so-called “chosen people” concept is not about privilege but responsibility. Therefore, the words “never again” are indeed ironic these days.
It is fitting to remember the words of Shimon Peres, the former Prime Minister and President of Israel and winner of the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize for the Oslo Accords peace talks. In his last interview, when asked about the chance for peace between the Israelis and Palestinians, he said the following: “I don’t think there is another alternative, neither for Palestinians nor for us. The only alternative is an ongoing war. But contrary to what people think in war, there are no victories, only victims. No war is ever finished unless it is being replaced by peace.” Seeing the universal spark within us, let us continue to work to replace war with peace.
And we sing about ‘the lion laying down with the lamb’ and the ‘wolf being buddies with the sheep’, never about humans giving up retribution and violence. Never do we discuss that carnivores were created by God and they kill to eat, not for vengeance. Never do we discuss the factory farms we support for our meat wherein animals live caged, boxed, deprived and tortured without any of the earths blessings they were created to receive. We always make references to animals being the violent ones.
Original sin.
Continual sin. Someone got so angry over honoring John Brown for using violence. Slavery was institutional violence for 300 years. White folks like us cleared the land, plowed the ground, sold the wood, dug the coal and killed almost an entire race of people. Be a light of love. I pray to be an instrument of justice.
If God would have opted for a plant-based diet the world might be a different mythological place to live and die.
There are enough walk-on parts in this saga. It is a fluid and changing script, reflecting our expanding sensibilities and our hatreds du jour. In our thoughts and actions, we are Abel and sometimes we are Cain.
I still hold that a decent God wouldn’t let children die. Perhaps the point is that bloodied children will move us to compassion or retribution. The latter being a green light to murder our enemies with God’s blessing. The former a hillside Coca-Cola ad from November 1971 focused on buying the world a coke to wet their whistle as they learn to sing in “perfect harmony.”
One block over in Asia, the mandate of heaven laughs across the ages at such folly.
Blame it on Cain
Oh, oh, oh, please don’t blame it on me
It’s nobody’s fault
But it just seems to be his turn
Elvis Costello
Seeing and hearing of the violence, directed at innocents, in anger and retribution, is the tale of old…ongoing.
Being in an interconnected world, it comes to our eyes and ears and hearts. Most recoil – the vast majority of human beings have a deep sense of the injustice…many seek to understand what could possibly cause such hatred and violence – and there are answers…more seeds of injustice and suffering.
The old ways of might makes right, survival of the fittest, an eye for an eye continue on as teachings of a new way of being and reacting seem hard to adjust to.
We have had guides and teachers all along the way. They all teach the golden rule, and to love your neighbor as yourself. How, then to truly love yourself – and have the capacity to love others? Perhaps by listening, by learning, by sharing sorrows and grief, and healing the suffering in ourselves and others. Oppenheimer said “Create Great Peace” – it is so much more than the absence of war.
Most humans – not set on greed, want peace, and to meet the needs of themselves and others. “There is enuf for all need, but not for all greed!” It’s the only thing that makes sense. We will learn – the hard way, (or the easy way…) that we were created “to know and love creation and our creator, and to carry forward an ever advancing civilization”. All teachings tell of the time when we will have peace on earth…but the great “shakings” of the earth are wake up calls to find the way forward – not backward…it’s no too late, (tho it sure appears that there’s no end in sight…)…I do believe…
we choose, each moment…and seek divine guidance from Spirit in us, in one another, and all around us. Thank you, and others here, for your guidance…