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BIBLICAL CRITIQUE: [CAIN]
1
Biblical Critique: [CAIN]
Author
School of Education, Liberty University
Author Note
<Insert Your Name Here> I have no known conflict of interest to disclose. "<Disclose conflicts, if any>" Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to <Insert Your Name Here>
Email: <Insert Your LU Email>
BIBLICAL CRITIQUE: [CAIN]
Biblical Critique: [Jonah]
Part I
Briefly summarize your dispute as you perceive it, placing events in chronological order. Include what you have done to resolve the dispute. In this section, the type of personal conflict is based on a home setup whereby I disagreed
with my brother. In most homes, conflict is likely to happen in most scenarios, either between
siblings and siblings, parents versus siblings, or parents versus. The conflict started when my
younger brother wore my clothes without my permission. After I came out of school on a Friday
evening, my younger brother wore my best outfit with his friends, which angered me since I
didn’t particularly appreciate sharing clothes. Out of anger, I followed him to the birthday party
he had attended in the neighboring town, whereby I couldn’t control my attitude towards him,
resulting in a fight. Since I was physically fit than him, he was no match for me, and thus he
went home crying that I had embarrassed him in front of his friends. Since we shared a room at
home, my brother couldn’t even look at me each time we were together. This Is a sibling conflict
I intend to resolve using a face-to-face conversation with him to resolve the indifferences we
have and work on the growing hatred between us.
Have you been striving earnestly to resolve this dispute or making only partial efforts to reconcile?
Prior to the reconciliation, the first course of action will involve controlling my anger
issues and also coming up with a way to console my brother. Moreover, I will avoid engaging in
another argument at home or anywhere else to prevent catalyzing the original conflict. On the
BIBLICAL CRITIQUE: [CAIN]
3
other hand, I will try to keep my parents out of this issue and thus let it be between him and him.
In this case, both parents don’t know about the existing conflict between my brother and me and
thus prefer keeping it at that level whereby since my parents will start taking sides. Similarly, I
have been working on my angle issues with addressing people, especially among my friends,
before resolving the central conflict at home. In this case, I’m very determined to resolve the
issue in order to avoid the conflict from existing even in the future.
What questions, doubts, or fears do you have because of this dispute?
This dispute was not expected, and I acted with anger which caused a rise of
disagreement at home. First, after the conflict arose, we were not talking with my brother, and
thus the once comfortable room felt out of place due to the existing silence. Moreover, I’m
worried that my brother might not want anything to do with me and thus avoid a sort of
reconciliation. Similarly, I fear it might reach a point he may never talk to me again, which is not
the desired relationship between two brothers who once lived in peace. In this case, I doubt
whether my brother will ever forget that shameful scenario ever occurred and whether it would
be used as a reference point in case we cross roads again.
Have you been looking at this dispute as something that happened by chance, as something done to you by someone else, or as something that God allowed in your life for a specific purpose? This conflict is perceived to have occurred due to God’s plan. In most cases, siblings get
into conflicts without knowing the importance of living in a peaceful environment. Over the past
few days, I have been reflecting on the incident that occurred, and I wish I could have controlled
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BIBLICAL CRITIQUE: [CAIN]
my anger issues. Moreover, I have been trying to assess how my brother felt embarrassed Infront
of his friends, and I couldn’t wish that to happen to anyone. In this case, therefore, I view this
conflict as a God’s planned action to see my younger brother's value; I had not noted his impact
on my life before the conflict started.
Using what you currently know about conflict resolution, which response to the conflict have you been using to resolve the dispute?
In order to deal with this conflict, I intend to use his close friend Tony, our immediate
neighbor, to intervene in the existing conflict. First, communication is critical in solving conflict.
In this case, I will accept my mistake and thus address Tony, who already knew about the issue
since he had attended the party. In solving the conflict, I will identify the issue at hand, putting
emotions. Pride and anger aside. Therefore, I intend to dialogue to solve the conflict by selecting
a venue outside our home compound to settle our indifferences.
Part II
In order to complete the biblical critique, the conflict that arose between God and Cain
will be used in the entire context to show the instances in which Cain defiled the authority of
God. This story is a perfect representation of instances in the bible whereby people lacked to
follow God’s instructions leading to conflict. Cain and his brother Abel were the first
descendants of Adam and Eve, as outlined in the book of Genesis. Cain was the older brother to
Abel, a farmer, while Abel was a shepherd. Although Cain was the older brother to Abel, he did
not excel in farming like his brother excelled as a shepherd; in this case, both brothers made a
sacrifice to God, each one of them presenting the products from their farms in order to apiece
God. However, God did not like Cain’s offering as he was greedy and spared his best farm
BIBLICAL CRITIQUE: [CAIN]
5
product to himself rather presenting it before God. Therefore, God favored Abel's sacrifice
before him since he had faith in him and presented the best animals compared to Cain, who
lacked faith in God. Following this action, Cain was jealous of his brother and did not understand
why his sacrifice was rejected while Abel’s sacrifice was accepted. God asked him why he was
not happy and the reason for his downcast face. Out of anger and Jealousy, Cain murdered his
brother Abel and lied to God about it, resulting in the rise of conflict. The resulting conflict
between God and Cain led to his banishment from the earth's surface and thus made him a
vagabond
(Domoney-Lyttle, 2019)
. Although he was banished from the surface of the earth, God
marked Cain out of mercy to spare him from the wrath of men.
Fact
Verses
1. Cain and Abel were the first descendants of Adam and Eve
“Adam and eve made love and bared their first Child Cain and eve later gave birth to
Able, their second child.” Genesis 4:1-2
2. Cain was a farmer, while Abel was a Shepherd
“Now Cain worked the soil, and Abel kept
flock.” Genesis 4:3
3. Cain was the older brother of Abel
“Adam and eve made love and bared their
first Child Cain and eve later gave birth to
Able, their second child.” Genesis 4:1-2
4. God favored Abel’s sacrifice and rejected Cain’s “The Lord favored Abel’s sacrifice and
BIBLICAL CRITIQUE: [CAIN]
sacrifice
did not look to favor Cain’s” Genesis 4:4-
5
5. Cain was angered by God and jealous of his brother “So, Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast” Genesis 4:5
6. Cain killed his own brother Abel
“Now Cain said to his brother Abel, let’s go to the field, and while in the field Cain attacked Able, killing him” Genesis 4:8
7 Can was banished from the earth’s surface and made a Vagabond
“Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence and be a restless wanderer” Genesis 4:14
8. God marked Cain to save him from the wrath of men
“Then the Lord put a mark on Cain so that
no one who found him could kill him” Genesis 4:15
9. Abel had presented his best flock for sacrifice “And Abel also brought an offering -fat portions from some firstborn of his flock.”
Genesis 4:4
10. God asked him why Cain was not happy
“Then the Lord said to Cain, why are you angry?”. Genesis 4:6
Reflect
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BIBLICAL CRITIQUE: [CAIN]
7
Respond
What do you see in the passage that relates
to God’s character, man’s character, or
Jesus's?
Verses
God’s character
When God called asked Cain why he was angry “Then the Lord said to Cain, why are you angry?”. Genesis 4:6
Man’s character
Cain is portrayed as a farmer, while his brother Abel is a shepherd.
“Now Cain worked the soil, and Abel kept flock.” Genesis 4:3
Jesus
Respond The story of Cain and Abel shows how people results to conflict in the modern world due
to failure to honor the intended duty. For example, this case can be associated with misconduct in
which a student can engage in the university, which results in the school board calling the
student for evaluation before determining whether to be retained or discontinued. In this case,
Cain is portrayed by the student as defiling the school's rules, while God, in this case, is the
school board with the final judgment.
Additionally, in my personal conflict with my brother, I play the role played by Cain,
while my brother can be used to represent the character of Abel. However, the conflict does not
reach this far as outlined in the bible. In the modern world, there are many cases of conflict
between siblings whereby anger and Jealousy lead to bad actions, which in some cases lead to
death compared to Cain and Abel (
Robertson, 2020)
. For example, brothers fight for an
BIBLICAL CRITIQUE: [CAIN]
inheritance, whereby they kill each other so as to satisfy their greed, as outlined in the biblical
story in the discussion. On the other hand, in the issue of conflict resolution, Cain was shown mercy by God,
whereby he marked the face of Cain so that he could be saved from the wrath of God. In this
case, God is portrayed to be merciful to Cain even after angering him by killing his young
brother and thus giving him a chance for redemption. In contrast to my case of conflict
resolution, given a second chance by my brother, I will take a different path from the past and
express my gratitude towards him. Moreover, I will play the role of big brother by asking about
his whereabouts whenever we are together.
Conclusion
The purpose of this paper was to analyze conflict and conflict resolution in the real world
and compare the issue with a story in the bible where God and man are involved in the conflict.
Although there are many scenarios where mankind disobeys God, the story of Cain and Abel is
interesting, and thus I chose to show my personal conflict. Although Cain had committed a great
sin, God expressed mercy towards him, and thus for my personal conflict, I believe I have a
chance for redemption.
References
BIBLICAL CRITIQUE: [CAIN]
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Domoney-Lyttle, Z. (2019). Bloody Murder in the Bible: Graphic Representations of the ‘First Murder’in Biblical Comics. In
Representing Acts of Violence in Comics
(pp. 35-52). Routledge. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781351051781-3/
bloody-murder-bible-zanne-domoney-lyttle
New American Standard Bible. (1995). New American Standard Bible Online. https://www.bible.com/versions/100-nasb-new-american-standard-bible/ (Original work published 1960)
Robertson, B. M. (2020). Sibling jealousy. In
Jealousy
(pp. 45-60). Routledge. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003071693-6/sibling-jealousy-
brian-robertson
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