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Closing the Case on Cain and Abel
Before we can leave the story of Cain and Abel behind, there are still a few matters that we need to attend to; for, we have yet to identify… The Life Lessons to be learned from their story; The Contributions their story makes to the One Big Story being played out on the Heavenly Stage above us; and, Any Revelations of God that their story holds for us. The Life Lessons are ones involving… 1. Choice One of the first lessons to be learned from the story of Cain and Abel is that each person, at some point in his or her life, will have to choose whether to continue…
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Fruit Doesn’t Fall Far from the Tree
Now that we have learned a little something about the principles of Sowing, Reaping, and the Nature of the Two Trees that were planted in the center of the Garden of Eden, it is time for us to take a look at the part these elements played in the story of Cain and Abel so recently acted out for us in Vignette #4. Keeping in mind the fruit producing principles that we have learned since then—that for any seed sown… More would be reaped than was initially planted; The harvest for that seed, though delayed, would always come once the fruit had fully matured; and, The fruit produced as a…
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Sowing, Reaping, and the Nature of the Trees
Previously, in Vignette #3, we watched sadly and helplessly as Adam and Eve deliberately chose to disobey God by eating from the forbidden Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. This one errant action on their part was all that it took to introduce Evil, with its accompanying fear, shame, deceit, alienation, and death, into what was then an ideal world. Later, in Vignette #4, we saw how, after the passage of time and with the addition of their sons, Cain and Abel, the sowing of that initial seed of Evil by our first parents had taken root and blossomed into the kind of bitterness, resentment, misunderstanding, self-righteousness, and anger…
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The Fruit of the Fall
When we last saw Adam and Eve—at the end of Vignette #3 of God’s One Big Story—they were being evicted from their Garden home for violating God’s one and only condition in their lease agreement, which was to not eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. This tree was one of two special ones located in the middle of the Garden and by partaking of its fruit, they became guilty of disobeying God, sinners with a firsthand knowledge of Evil. This meant that they could no longer stay in the Garden where they would have continued access to the other tree at the Garden’s center, the…
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Fundamentals of the Fall
Although you may not have noticed it yet, we have begun to fall into something of a pattern during our time here at Stage #1 of God’s One Big Story. First, we have watched and enjoyed each new segment of the Story as it has been presented to us; then, we have paused to analyze each new segment to see what we could take away from it. In effect, what we have been doing is donning two different hats for each of our theatrical outings—the first hat made expressly for the devoted, theatre-going patron who is just out for an evening’s entertainment, while the other is perfectly suited for the questioning,…
