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=> Bible-Index (German language) |
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Link to share: https://hanglberger-manfred.de/en-cain-abel-prayers.htm
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The narrativ
of Cain and Abel (Genesis 4,1-15) First: The text in the Bible: The man had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and bore
Cain, saying, "I have produced a man with the help of the LORD." Next she bore his
brother Abel. Abel became a keeper of flocks, and Cain a tiller of the soil. In the course of time Cain brought an offering to the LORD from the
fruit of the soil, while Abel, for his part, brought one of the best firstlings of his
flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and
his offering he did not. Cain greatly resented this and was crestfallen. So the LORD said
to Cain: "Why are you so resentful and crestfallen? If you do well, you can hold up your head; but if not, sin is a demon
lurking at the door: his urge is toward you, yet you can be his master." Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let us go out in the field."
When they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him. Then the LORD asked Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?" He
answered, "I do not know. Am I my brother's keeper?" The LORD then said: "What have you done! Listen: your brother's
blood cries out to me from the soil! Therefore you shall be banned from the soil that opened its mouth to receive
your brother's blood from your hand. If you till the soil, it shall no longer give you
its produce. You shall become a restless wanderer on the earth." Cain said to the LORD: "My punishment is too great to bear. Since you have now banished me from the soil, and I must avoid your
presence and become a restless wanderer on the earth, anyone may kill me at
sight." Not so!" the LORD said to him. "If anyone kills Cain, Cain
shall be avenged sevenfold." So the LORD put a
mark on Cain, lest anyone should kill him at sight. |
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Outdated ideas of the story of Cain
and Abel still characterize many prayers This story depicts God as someone who loves one person less than the
other, who overlooks one, does not accept his sacrifice, who arbitrarily turns to one and not to the other. You have to be afraid that this God will
quickly withdraw his benevolence. The unloved Cain becomes aggressive(of
course?). As a human being, you cannot live peacefully on this earth if your own
creator (origin, father) does not love you, but rejects and overlooks you. However, the aggression is not directed against God, because he is
unreachable, but against the favorite of this God, against the preferred
brother Abel. It is not only envy and jealousy against the brother,
but also anger against the unjust God and an expression of the despair
of an unloved person. (Psychodynamics of the development of aggression) A spezial stage of
development At this stage in the development of human consciousness people believe
that God expects them to make sacrifices. This story reflects the hopelessness of theological
thinking against the background of the image of God at that time: - God must be just; it shouldn't be possible to accuse him of
injustice. - At the same time, people believed that God was the almighty ruler of
the world: everything that happens is caused and wanted by God. The forces of
nature are directly controlled by God and are his tools to reward or punish
people. - It was also believed that man could influence God's behavior towards
them through sacrifice and obedience to religious rules. - In concrete life experience, man often experienced the influence of
the forces of nature as unjust and arbitrary: so God
appeared unjust and arbitrary! - People who were victims of adverse strokes of fate were presumed to
have hidden sinfulness, otherwise God would not punish
them. (Cf.: The story of the "Tower of Babel") The problem situation: One person offered his sacrifice - and it went well for him: so God had obviously accepted his sacrifice. The other person offered the sacrifice from the fruits of his labor -
and misfortune befell him or he was unsuccessful:
God had therefore not accepted his sacrifice. The problem lies in man's attempt to interpret the concrete
experiences as conscious acts of God. The progress of theological thinking for that time: 1) God warns and asks Cain not to become angry anyway, to accept the
"behavior of God". 2) Cain's anger is described as a demon, as the devil who wants to
seduce him, so the problem is shifted to an external power that can possess person. But as a result feelings are demonized, i.e.
mental powers such as anger and rage (against injustice) are demonized. 3) God punishes and curses Cain for his crime, but does not destroy
him through the punishment, but takes the side of Cain, who suffers from his guilt and confesses
it, and protects him against the avengers among men: He gives him a new
chance to live. The church's handling of this story: 1) Unfortunately, the Church did not see this story
as a developmental step in the history of revelation and thus in the further
development of the image of God, but regarded it as
a timelessly valid truth about God and about the wickedness and sinfulness of
man. 2) As no reason for God's rejection of Cain's
sacrifice is given in the story itself, assumptions were introduced: - Cain was an unjust man from the outset, - he had unfair motives in his sacrifice, - he had sacrificed in the wrong spirit, - he was dominated by the aforementioned
"demon" even before his sacrifice and had allowed himself to
be seduced by it. **************************************************************************************************** Problematic effects of the Cain-Abel
story The church teaches and prays in a way - as if God expected sacrificial offerings from us, - as if we must continue to fear that God do not accept
our offerings: E.g. in the 1st High Prayer: - "… our Lord: that you accept and bless
+ these gifts, these offerings, these holy and unblemished sacrifices, which
we offer you firstly for your holy catholic Church." - "Be pleased to look upon these offerings with
a serene and kindly countenance, and to accept them, as you were pleased to accept
the gifts of your servant Abel the just, …” In the priest's silent prayer at the offertory: - "Lord, we come to you with repentant hearts
and humble minds. Accept us and grant that our sacrifice may please
you." In the Offertory Prayer: "Pray, brothers and sisters, that my sacrifice and yours may be
acceptable to God, the almighty Father". "May the Lord accept the sacrifice at your hands for the praise
and glory of his name, for our good and the good of all his holy
Church." *********************************************************************************************************** It therefore seems sensible and appropriate in the faith and prayers
of the Church to ask God in advance to accept our sacrifice so that we do not
suffer the fate of Cain, whose sacrifice was supposedly not accepted by God. These prayers are characterized by the fear of a God whose
punishment through withdrawal of love we fear just as much as his
arbitrariness. These prayers are characterized by a completely outdated image of
God, which corresponds to a pre-scientific interpretation of the Bible
and an outdated understanding of God's work in the world. Many believers perceive these prayers as nothing more than “pious
blah-blah” that has nothing to do with contemporary spirituality. But this story of Cain and Abel has shaped the image of God and the
understanding of faith of Christians and their prayers for many centuries. It is astonishing that the modern biblical work of the Church since
the Second Vatican Council and the findings of modern psychology have no
effect on a contemporary language of prayer in the worship of the Catholic
Church! => Prayers and liturgy of the Church finally need
a contemporary biblical foundation! (There is a need for better cooperation
between biblical scholars and those responsible for liturgy!) => A contemporary doctrine of faith in dialog
with natural sciences and psychology is needed, to offer a contemporary
understanding of God's work in the world and in the human psyche! => The prayers and liturgy of the Church need a
contemporary understanding of God's work in the world! Reasons why there are also "favorite children" and
"shadow children" in some families in our time - and what to do
then >>> Manfred Hanglberger (www.hanglberger-manfred.de) How the story of „Cain and Abel“ (Gen 4) might have come about >>> How the story of „The testing
of Abraham“ (Gen 22) might have come about: >>> |
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=> Index of the texts
about Cain and Abel => Bible-Index
(German language) => A Contemporary Understanding of the Bible >>> |
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Link to share: https://hanglberger-manfred.de/en-cain-abel-prayers.htm
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