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14
9
jealous probably a mixture of reasons
Debate Score:23
Arguments:21
Total Votes:25
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 jealous (14)
 
 probably a mixture of reasons (7)

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Why did Cane kill Abel?

The bible says that Cane killed Abel because he was jealous of Abel.  But I think that there was something else that lead to Abel's demise.

There probably was a lot of stuff brewing during that time.  I mean, they didn't have TV or Ipods or the Internet or game consoles to entertain themselves and I'm sure they had some of the same issues that we have today like Global Warming, Gay Marriage, Abortion, Separation of Church and State, Evolution,  God, Human Rights, Illegal Immigration, Iraq, Islam, Marijuana, Oil, Terrorism, etc. and Abel was for (or against) one (or more) of those issues and he probably was always debating Cane and pushing his views on Cane (talking his ears off) and Cane finally snapped.

Wink

BTW, were Cane and Abel.... the first gay men; insestuos with their mom or did they practice beastiality?  Maybe a combination of all three ;)

jealous

Side Score: 14
VS.

probably a mixture of reasons

Side Score: 9
2 points

It was a matter of great super dickery and assholishness.

Side: jealous
1 point

.............. somebody had to be the first murderer....

Side: first time for everything
1 point

Well yeah, it was just jealousy. But I like your other reasons. lol

On a side note, I don't believe Adam, Eve, Cain, or Abel ever existed. I think they're just stories, so technically, Abel never actually died then! :D

Side: jealous
1 point

CAIN killed Abel because he was jealous that Abel was blessed by God for his offering to him yet he was spited for what he offered. Abel offered God several of his best lambs, while Cain only offered something that was obviously not the best of his crops.

btw, what in the world are you talking about with Cain and Abel being gay? Where did you come up with that idea? Genesis 4:17: "Then Cain's wife became pregnant.." Who is wife was I have no clue, my guesses are that either Adam and Eve's offspring may have married each other (incest) or God made more women.

Side: jealous

Or maybe his wife was some primate that hadn't fully evolved; which would explain some of the people walking around today. ;)

Side: probably a mixture of reasons
Zech(7) Disputed
1 point

I agree with most of the first part but Abel only presented the best of his livestock, meaning one not several. Cane and Abel probably married their later sisters, nowhere in Genesis does it say that God created more women for Cane and Abel. This kind of marriage was forbidden by Moses' time because of genetic fallacies. Leviticus 18:7-17 talks about incest and more or less outlaws it.

Side: probably a mixture of reasons
-1 points

The previous argument that Cain was jealous of his brother Abel is recorded in ancient Biblical texts. Abel (ability) worshipped God with all his heart, mind, and soul. His brother Cain (Evil connotation) was materialistic and did not put his faith in a Supreme Being, and because of envy, he hit his brother ontop the head until he bled to death.

The issue of their sexual preference is irrevelant to the issue at hand, and futhermore it is undocumented and unsubstantiated. There is no clear evidence to support that claim.

Side: jealous

For the age old reasons of greed and jealousy! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Side: jealous
1 point

Cane was jealous of Abel because Abel was doing what God commanded them to do at the time, there had to be a blood shed sacrifice to cleanse their sins. Abel brought one of his best livestock and Cane brought his crops. Cane was mad that God was pleased with Abel and not him.

Side: jealous

So the moral of the story is, don't upstage your sibling cause you might end up dead ;)

You know, I piss so many people off on this site that one day I'm gonna wake up dead and I'm gonna be like, "What happened?" ;)

Side: jealous

Adam and Eve both lived 900 some years, so they certainly had many, MANY children. Adam and Eve were created perfect and thus had perfect genes. When sin entered in, however, imperfections began and the perfect genes became less perfect with each generation. Cane and Seth probably married one of their sisters (There's no record of Abel having a wife). This is possible simply because the gene pool was so pure at the time.

Side: jealous
1 point

It was just horseplay. They were in the fields, just playing a game of... one kills the other?

Side: Horseplay
2 points

Barely relevant Randy Newman plug

Cain slew Abel Seth knew not why

For if the children of Israel were to multiply

Why must any of the children die?

So he asked the Lord

And the Lord said:

"Man means nothing he means less to me

than the lowiliest cactus flower

or the humblest yucca tree

he chases round this desert

cause he thinks that's where i'll be

that's why i love mankind

I recoil in horror from the foulness of thee

from the squalor and the filth and the misery

How we laugh up here in heaven at the prayers you offer me

That's why i love mankind"

The Christians and the Jews were having a jamboree

The Buddhists and the Hindus joined on satellite TV

They picked their four greatest priests

And they began to speak

They said "Lord the plague is on the world

Lord no man is free

The temples that we built to you

Have tumbled into the sea

Lord, if you won't take care of us

Won't you please please let us be?"

And the Lord said

And the Lord said

"I burn down your cities--how blind you must be

I take from you your children and you say how blessed are we

You must all be crazy to put your faith in me

That's why i love mankind

You really need me

That's why i love mankind"

Side: probably a mixture of reasons
2 points

I like Thomas Friedman's explanation from The Lexus and the Olive Tree, It turns out that in the earliest 9th century Hebrew copies of the Torah, the book of Genesis says "Cain said to his brother Abel; and when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. Then the Lord said to Cain, 'Where is your brother Abel?' And he said, 'I do not know. Am I my brother's keeper?' And the Lord said, 'What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground.'" The Torah never says why. Friedman says that Rabbi Tzvi Marx suggests that in Genesis Rabbah, one of the fundamental rabbinic commentaries on the Tanakh (the Jewish bible) three explanations are given for what Cain said to Abel before they went out into the field and he killed his brother.

1) They were arguing over which of the two of them would have reproductive rights over Eve, their mother and the world's only woman after Adam died. They were arguing over sex.

2) They had divided the world up between themselves in such a manner as Cain had all of the real estate and Abel had all of the goods and livestock (or as the Bible says, "Cain became a tiller of the soil" & "Abel became a keeper of sheep.") They were arguing over economic rights and trade issues between the two of them. After all, they both needed access to each others possessions in order to survive.

3) They had already divided everything up neatly between them except where the temple would be located and which one would be in charge of their religious and cultural identity.

These explanations generally sum up a wide range of the roots of human conflict throughout history and provide a more meaningful explanation of why Cain might have killed Abel than suggesting that it was a matter of simple jealousy.

Side: probably a mixture of reasons

So Abel had it coming to him, right? The little Shiite! ;)

Side: probably a mixture of reasons
cybersomatix(20) Disputed
1 point

It's a fable... meant to serve as a guide for how we are to live our lives... what do you think?

Side: probably a mixture of reasons

Probably a mixture of reasons but the interesting thing is that they didn't have forensics at that time and yet, they nailed Cane. He should have made it look like an accident or gotten a good lawyer like OJ ;)

Either way, I bet Abel had it coming to him. I mean, he really had to have pissed Cane off ;)

In the end Cane got a really cool lightning bolt symbol on his forehead like Harry Potter. ;)

As far as the last the question, I think that's sacrilegious. I better keep an eye out for lightning storms. I'm not gonna make it to heaven, am I ;)

Side: probably a mixture of reasons
1 point

Just wondering...

why ;) do ;) you ;) keep ;) putting ;) these ;) stupid ;) smileys ;) after ;) every ;) phrase ;) you ;) make ;) ?

Abel didn't have anything coming to him. It wasn't his fault that he did what God asked of him and Cain didn't.

Side: probably a mixture of reasons

Yeah..., that's true..., the story says Abel was a good boy but it's also kind of a boring story. You couldn't make a "made for TV movie" out of that plot. Now consider my alternate scenarios. You can have a field day with those ;)

The smileys just mean that i shouldn't be taken seriously.

Side: probably a mixture of reasons
orlando(23) Disputed
1 point

To assume that there was no forensics during Cain and Abel's time is unfortunate. One of the drawbacks of modern society that spells conceit and egocentrism, is that we are the only society to have the latest technology that has every existed in human history.

For heaven sake what will civilization think of this one 500 hence?

Side: jealous

We wont have to worry about what a civilization will think of this one 500 years hence because I doubt we'll make it that far ;)

Side: probably a mixture of reasons