CAIN’S WIFE?

Blogging Genesis 

Then Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and dwelt in the land of Nod on the east of Eden.

 And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. And he built a city, and called the name of the city after the name of his son—Enoch.

To Enoch was born Irad; and Irad begot Mehujael, and Mehujael begot Methushael, and Methushael begot Lamech. (Genesis 4:16-18)

I guess I was about 6^th grade. 

Mr. Griffith, our Sunday School superintendent, was teaching us about Cain and Abel and being our brothers’ keeper.  I think it was a good lesson; I don’t remember the details of the lecture, but I do remember that at the end of his presentation, Mr. Griffith asked, “Does anyone have a question?”

Most of you didn’t know me in the 6^th grade, but “Does anyone have a question?” was a dangerous opening to give to 6^th grade me.  Still is, I suppose.

I raised my hand.  Mr. Griffith sighed and acknowledged me.

“Yes, Little Graves?” 

You couldn’t fault him for the reluctance in his voice.  The man had already endured my father as a student, and he’d been certain he’d paid full penance for whatever sin had afflicted him with that particular combination of pointed intellect, sarcasm, arrogance, and gleefully nonchalant disregard for theological taboos.  But then came me, “Little” Graves.

“Yes, Little Graves?” he sighed.

“Who did Cain marry?”

“What?” Mr. Griffith choked.

“There was just Adam, and Eve, and Cain, and Abel; and Cain killed Abel.  So that’s 3 people.  God made Cain leave Adam and Eve.  If there was nobody else in the whole world, where did Cain’s wife come from?”

It was, Mr. Griffith explained, an inappropriate inquiry. One shouldn’t question God like that.  And, if I was so smart, perhaps I could find out and tell them.  And anyway, time was up.

Most of you didn’t know me in the 6^th grade, but that was when I started doubting Christianity.

I had questions, lots of questions which I was genetically incapable of not asking.  I asked them of church elders who held themselves to be authorities on the things of God.  I expected them to know the answers because grown-ups in authority are supposed to know.  They told me to stop asking “questions like that,” but those were the question I had.  Da’ crap kind of questions was I supposed to ask?  They told me to believe, and stop questioning God.  I did believe, and I wasn’t questioning God.  I was questioning them.

After a while, my adolescent mind decided that either  (a) These church folk didn’t know what the **** they’re talking about; (b) They knew, but they were hiding the answers from me; or (c) They were lying --- about everything: the Bible, God, heaven, hell.  They were just making this stuff up.

When I moved away for college, I became an evangelical agnostic.  An evangelical agnostic is--- you know that guy on campus who stands at the back of Bible study and hollers out questions about contradictions in the Bible?  I was that guy.

A few years into school, I started hanging out with a couple of genuine Christians who respected my questions.  They read Bible and other books. We explored the logic of what I’d considered contradictions and cross-referenced to passages that opened up the unity and logical reliability of Scripture.  I saw that God LIKED my questions, and even when I didn’t immediately see answers, it was O.K. to ask the questions.

The Lord used other means to work on my heart, but the greatest spiritual victory in my life was the moment I was able to give my mind to Jesus.

So, who where did Cain’s wife come from?

Bro, I don’t know.

The Bible doesn’t answer that question the way I want; but it does offer clues to close the gaps in logic.  In the first century, there were already millions of humans made in God’s image, but God formed a body for a specific man named Jesus.  Jesus, like the first Adam, was the representative of all mankind.

So, one possibility is that God created more than one man and one woman on the 6^th day (Genesis 1:26+), and then after the first Sabbath (Genesis 2:1-7), God formed two specific humans named Adam and Eve.  Cain’s met his wife among the other people God had already placed outside of Eden.

Maybe Cain married a sister who wasn't named in the Bible.  That leaves the question of who was out in the wild for him to worry about being attacked (Genesis 4:14).

Then again, maybe not . 

Maybe you’re smart enough to figure it out.  If you do, tell me.  Seriously, tell me.  Post a comment or send an email.

I still don’t know where Cain’s wife came from.  She came from somewhere though, so there’s a question.  Keep asking.

Asking may upset a lot of people, but believe me: God likes your questions.

---Anderson T. Graves II   is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Miles Chapel CME Church in Fairfield, Alabama;  executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO);  and director of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).

Subscribe to my personal blog  www.andersontgraves.blogspot.com .

Email atgravestwo2@aol.com

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Follow me on twitter @AndersonTGraves  #Awordtothewise 

You can help support this ministry with a donation to Miles Chapel CME Church.

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Support by check or money order may be mailed to 

Miles Chapel CME Church

P O Box 132

Fairfield, Al 35064

BLESSED ARE THE DOUBTERS

Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen the Lord.”

So he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.”

 And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them.

Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, “Peace to you!” Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.”

And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20: 24-28)

http://andersontgraves.blogspot.com/2014/04/blessed-are-doubters.html 

On Resurrection Sunday evening, Thomas was off doing his own thing while all the other disciples where holed up in a locked room afraid that the either the Temple guards or the Romans were going to come get them, too.

When the other disciples finally found Thomas and told him about Jesus appearing to them, Thomas said, “Yeah, right.”

And Peter was probably like, “Nah, Thomas.  For real.  I saw Him with my own eyes.  I touched His hands where the nail prints where.  Andrew put his hand in the spear wound in His side.  At first we thought it was a ghost or something. But He ate food right in front of us.

 You gotta believe us. 

It was Jesus, alive and in the flesh.”

And Thomas said, “I ain’t gotta believe YOU.  I’m not just gonna take your word for something like this. “

Thomas had questions.  Thomas had doubts.   Thomas wanted answers and assurances that didn’t depend on his grief-crazed friends who had collectively betrayed, denied, and abandoned Jesus, AND called the female disciples crazy when they came Sunday morning with the first story about a resurrection.

It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them, who told these things to the apostles. And their words seemed to them like idle tales, and they did not believe them. (Luke 24: 10, 11)

We fault Thomas for his doubts.

I think we need to cut Thomas some slack.

Because John 20: 26 says that 8 days later Thomas was with the other apostles in Galilee when Jesus showed up again.

A week later, why was Thomas with a bunch of guys he didn’t believe.

Thomas wasn’t with the disciples despite his doubts. 

Thomas was with the other disciples BECAUSE OF his doubts.

Thomas spent the next week with the other apostles because Thomas was seeking answers to his questions about the resurrection.  

Thomas walked from Jerusalem to a rallying point in Galilee because Thomas had doubts was seeking certainty.  Thomas

Thomas was a skeptic who was willing to be convinced IF his believing friends could lead him to a place where he would encounter Jesus for himself.

I appreciate Thomas.

I like Thomas.

I was Thomas.

I didn’t come to Jesus in a church.  I wasn’t led to salvation by a preacher. 

I repented of my sins and received Jesus as my Lord and Savior because two of my peers listened to my skeptical questions and acknowledged my agnostic doubts.  They didn’t just shove clichés down my throat and order me to “have faith.”  They opened the scripture to me and led me to where I could find the answers for myself.  They walked with me and let me walk with them as they walked in the way of Christ.

And all of the spiritually empty years I’d spent in church, that was all I’d wanted----- I’d been asking but no one had answered.  I’d been seeking but no one had been willing to help me find.  I’d been knocking and every one had told me to stop making so much noise.

They said, “You don’t question God.”

I replied, “I’m not.  I’m questioning you.”

“ I need to touch Him for myself.  Until then, there’s no way I’m just going to take YOUR word for it.”

Thomas went a whole week and many miles out of his way.  He went everywhere his believing friends went---- because the skeptic in church is in church to lose his skepticism. 

But he/ she isn’t just going to take your word for it.

Take time to listen, hear, and answer the doubters who keep coming to you with questions.

Walk holy before the doubters and invite them to walk with you to church, to Bible study, and to a coffee shop where you can just talk about whatever.

Study.  Prepare.  Pray.  And LISTEN.

You might just lead a Thomas (or an Anderson) to the place where he can encounter Jesus for himself.

Truth is---- that’s what they really want.

---Anderson T. Graves II   is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church in Montgomery, Alabama, executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO) and director of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).

Email atgravestwo2@aol.com

Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

To listen to sermons and learn more about the ministry at Hall Memorial CME Church, visit www.hallmemorialcme.blogspot.com .

You can help support this ministry by clicking the DONATE button on the right-hand sidebar.

Support by check or money order may be mailed to

Hall Memorial CME Church

541 Seibles Road

Montgomery, AL 36116