After Cain killed his brother Abel, God put a mark on him, but it seems from the passage in Genesis that the mark was for his protection from others. Other's either being his siblings or other creations God made outside of the garden. But it is widely debated on what exactly the mark was. Some believe it was the darkening of skin, other's do not. Just wanted to know some other believers opinions.

Ever seen michelangelo's Moses with horns. A bad translation? Maybe

I don't think Moses was of Cains seed, correct me if im wrong.

Hmmmm. How about Thor then?

Why would a great Norse god have anything to do with a middle eastern mythology?

Who dares to dream my friend.
Something tells me I better leave Slayer alone before he has a nervous breakdown

Take care

the darkening of his skin?! LMAO! yeah... ok... whatever... I've also heard some really ignorant backwoods preachers say that the "mark" was homosexuality as well and how you can "just tell" when a person is homosexual and they must be decendents of Cain. No lie people! Some people actually believed that preacher too. So it doesn't surprise me that some would believe that the "darkening" of Cain's skin would be the "mark" of his sin. Yes, let's see everyone who has darkened skin as a decendent of Cain therefore eternally cursed. LOL

THE GARDEN



The name of the garden where our heroes dwell is Eden. The word Eden means delight. In Genesis 2:8,we are shown the location of this garden The scripture says that the garden is Eastward in Eden. Whenever you look North, East is always on the right side. Therefore the garden of delight is to the right.



When we shut down the thoughts of the mind we are sacrificing the natural part so we can be given that which is spiritual. So we see why Abel's sacrifice was acceptable and Cain's was not.

Look at Genesis 4:4,"the Lord had respect to Abel. In other words this is the way that we please God. Sacrificing the natural part in meditation by taking no thought.



Genesis 4:5 Unto Cain he had no respect. Ideas , techniques. Those things that come out of our minds and the minds of others are not acceptable. They are the first born and the only way to get to God is to sacrifice them. The only way to do that is by taking no thought in meditation.



Genesis 4:8 Now we get to the part where Cain plots the death of Abel. Remember this is allegory. It really is referring to the carnal part of your mind that works diligently to overcome any leanings to the spiritual.

That part that is in harmony with God, (Abel), can be destroyed by the part that is not, (Cain). Yet both parts, carnal and spiritual are important for us to function as individuals.

There are countries that are very spiritual but have little material wealth, consider India. This is Abel. There are countries that have much material wealth but little spirit, consider America. This is Cain. There must be a balance. One should not kill out the other.

Genesis 4:14 points out what we are referring to. The suggestion is that Cain will be slain again and again. Notice the wording. "everyone that finds me shall slay me".

This means that there will be a feeling of total revulsion against the lower mind . Where do you see that. You see it in religion.. There is an attitude of totally eliminating any involvement with the lower carnal mind, with the flesh. But.

Genesis 4:15 says that a mark is placed on Cain to protect him. It is important that all life function with positive and negative. It is inherent in nature.

So the scripture tells us that God will not allow the destruction of the negative or lower animal part of human kind. But, it is equally important to understand that the lower part must not be allowed to hold sway over the higher. Cain must take second place to Abel. The physical must take second place to the spiritual, or it will self destruct.

bh

I don't think anyone can know what the mark really was. As for "the darkening of the skin", that was probably a tactic to justify slavery. If you are told that black people are cursed by God as the descendants of Cain, then it is easier for you to justify owning them as slaves - a despicable way of thinking.

I amd offended by that, not saying you believe in that but still. I know other idiots believe that bs about dark skinned people being descendants of Cain. That the sh** KKK members use to preach to theie children to justify the stuff they were doing to blacks, FACT. That bs isnt true.

Look at it like this what God would damn a whole bloodline for one persons decision. That sound cruel and thats not a God i wanna serve.

That was very interesting reading. Its like yin and yang, order and chaos, which boils down to good and evil. You need that balance, you need both, but good must overcome evil, but we would not no "good" without the introduction of evil. But good is deemed appropriate by God to rule over evil, keep it in check, and use it only as a means of improving the creation as a whole, but must not let it get out of control and rule oneself, then that is destruction of spirit.

Doesn't it say that because of this curse he (Cain) and his descendants would have to live under the conditions with the beasts, survive being hunted by beasts of the wild and the environment? That's what I remember anyway.. could be wrong.

The mark was put on cain so that when he was wandering the land of nod anyone that found him would know not to kill him! For if they did they would suffer a vengeance seven times over.

I don,t think the bible actually specifies what the "mark" was but i,m pretty sure it has nothing to do with the colour of his skin, nor do i believe it has anything to do with being homosexual! When God "marked" Cane he also sent him away from the land that had been his home and told him he would wander the rest of his days, never finding a place to settle down in and call home. And i,m not sure but i can,t recall reading anywhere in the bible that the "mark"was passed on to his descendents,I,m pretty sure that the saying "That so n so has the mark of cane on him" was just a saying made up by people to describe someone they believed to be evil or posessed. Mabey, and it,s just a thought, the very restlessness of spirit that would cause him to wander and never feel at peace enough to settle anywhere was the "mark" God put on him? And he was not sent away and cursed because his sacrifice wasn,t acceptable to God,he was "marked" and sent away because his jelousy of his brother caused him to murder his brother! And mabey the curse of Cane is something all mankind has on them, in the sense that we all from Cane on down to this day struggle with greed, envy, jelousy and we live daily with murder and crimes and restlessness of spirit? Just a thought!

Very good, you are a person of understanding, most people read the bible Literally, and this is wrong. The entire bible is allegorical describing what you have said.

Most people are left brained (cain) in their thinking, that's why they can't see the spiritual truths. Its the nature of the beast.


bh

One should consider that the mark was on Cain only and not on his descendants. It was for Cain's protection; and would be a curse against all who sought to harm him. however, we know that death was in the world and thus Cain died. So, that mark has no importance but to display God's mercy on even murderers. It shows that God understands our sufferings and sometimes even suffers with us.

Also I have heard it be debated the parallels between the mark of cain and the curse Moses placed on Ham's descendent's

actually that curse was inacted by Noah, but I know what you mean. No, I believe that the mark of Cain was for Cain to have alone.

Hmm, had anyone else died before Abel was killed by Cain?

Thanks for correcting me blue, I meant Noah not Moses lol, for some reason I get just those two names mixed up all the time. Anyways Abel was the first murder victim on earth according to the bible, and Cain was the first murderer. It is said Cain only felt remorse when confronted by God about it, and not because he actually killed his brother.

I watched a show on the history channel today that was about Cain and Abel, it was pretty good you should watch it . Talks about all the different views concerning the story and other stories related to it.

I seem to recall reading in a midrash years ago that the mark was a horn on the forehead, and that cain was eventually killed by Lamech.

At the time many X-tians were told by the Church that G-d put the mark of the beast on Jews for not accepting Jesus as a messiah. It's where we get the custom of removing our hats inside a building or on meeting someone new. It's to show that one doesn't have horns and is therefore a trustable Christian and not one of those Jews.

Same here. Supposed to have been killed by an arrow if I remember right. I also remember hearing somewhere that the mark was actually a large dog that would protect him.

I like the yin yang concept with Cain and Able.. thats kinda how I've always looked at it. So I named my son Adam David Cain for that reason.. I gave him two middle names.. But I liked the way David Cain went together more than Able Cain.
Somewhat pointless post but anyway.

Nephilim slayer, correct me if I am wrong since you are an ex Mormon, is that not the excuse that Mormons used to exclude blacks from membership in their faith?

Irish

Ouch. I LOVE Mormons...NOT. The more I learn about them, and the more Mormons I speak too (including recovering Mormons) the less I think they embody anything even remotely Christian.

Actually with mormons it goes deeper. Mormons believe that blacks were "marked" because they were the 1/3 of the angels that rebelled against God in the first rebellion in heaven. So basically with that view they believe that every black person in the "pre-life" (also a mormonism concept) was one of the 1/3 that rallied with satan. Therefor God darkened their skin as a judgement. Today obviously blacks are allowed in the mormon church, but make a pretty small membership of the church, wonder why...

[quote name='Lord Umbarger' post='1765527' date='Jul 9 2007, 07:41 PM']At the time many X-tians were told by the Church that G-d put the mark of the beast on Jews for not accepting Jesus as a messiah. It's where we get the custom of removing our hats inside a building or on meeting someone new. It's to show that one doesn't have horns and is therefore a trustable Christian and not one of those Jews.

Why did everyone automatically go with his skin darkening? If they were in the middle east would his skin lightening been a more obvious mark?

If the mark of Cain is going to be used as a point of early racial division by fundamentalists, someone really should point out to them that Africa is west and Asia is east of Iraq. Cain went east.

So, the "mark" must be slanty eyes...

Click to view attachment

If the fundamentalists want to go there, yes, I suppose it would be.

That was totally tongue-in-cheek. I think it's bologna.

I had thought the "mark of Cain" to represent the un-ending conflict between the Hebrew pastoralist nomads (Abel) and the neighboring communities of farmers (Cain).

Lots of good theories i've read. But its one of those things in the bible God leaves up to us to try and uncover. The bible is the only book that has never, ever been conquered by man.

I'd heard the same thing about "the mark"...which reduced me to gales of laughter. White folk are the minority on this planet. If any mark was to stand out it would be a white one...because darker skinned people are the majority.
One would have to be a mark to accept such an absurdity... ; )

Not really, only the northern European ethnic groups are. The peoples of the Middle East, India, and Asia are also mostly "white" for example, as well as many of African descent if we pull out the old timey paper bag test.

I'm pretty sure that when god marks sombody, u'll know it when u see it!

i think it's somewhat like a tatoo only Cain have though O.o hence why some religions forbid the act of tattooing.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curse_and_mark_of_Cain <-- has a good exlaination

I'd have to do a search before accepting this as fact. Eastern Indians and Asians are classified as dark skinned (darker than white, that is) - China and India take up 1/3 of the global population. Some E.I. are as black as indigenous Africans.
I'm fairly certain of my memory - and I do recall reading a few sites which stated whites take up 10% of the global population...
It wouldn't really factor in if a person is mixed race - a child from a mixed heritage of black/brown/white will be considered black or brown.

Okay - there are more pages but my time is limited:
Earth Has Nearly 6.5 Billion Inhabitants. Earth has nearly 6.5 billion inhabitants, more than half in six countries. Of every 100 people, 61 live in Asia, 14 in Africa, 11 in Europe, nine in Latin America, five in North America and less than one in Oceania. Out of every 100 babies 57 are born in Asia, 26 in Africa, nine in Latin America, five in Europe, three in North America and less than one in Oceania. The six most populous countries -- China, India, the US, Indonesia, Brazil and Pakistan -- contain 3.3 billion inhabitants. Life expectancy is longest in Japan at 82 years, followed by Iceland and Switzerland at 80. People can expect to live just 36 years in Zimbabwe, 38 in Zambia and 40 in Malawi as a result of the AIDS epidemic. Population growth has slowed since the 1960s but the number of humans will increase to between nine and 10 billion by 2050. The increase will be biggest in some Asian countries and Africa. Agronomists say the earth has the potential to support many more inhabitants -- up to 15 billion. The question is how to share out the resources rather than whether we can produce enough," she said.
http://www.overpopulation.org/faq.html

Wow, you are way off. No where is that taught in the LDS Theology. Its taught that the 1/3 of the hosts of heaven were cast out and did not receive physical bodies.

I think that the preacher you are mentioning has the mark. The mark of hatred for misinterperting the Bible or any other holy book by other religious group out there.
As since God is who made people the way they are then God didn't make any mistakes. I am talking only about people sexual orientation. Murder is the devils work.

The Mark was an implant, telling the alien brothers to leave this one alone, He belongs to Me!

Love Omnaka

Maybe !!!

Same memories .

that's because it contradicts its self.

How does one Conquer a book? By reading it?, or does this mean understanding what is read, if this is the case , There are many books which have not been conquered.
I suppose The bible was conqured by those men who wrote it, and those who decited what goes in and what stayed out?

Love Omnaka