Context for Kids

Sometimes when we are angry, God is the last one we want to talk to but He really should be the first one we go to. This week, I am going to share a fictional story about how things could have handled differently by Cain, in order to teach kids how to talk to God when they just want to avoid Him instead.

Adam and Eve have another baby, whom they name Seth, and during his life, people begin to “call on the Name of the Lord.” What does that mean and why is that important throughout the rest of the Bible?

We’re going to talk about Cain’s children and grandchildren and great-grand…you get the idea. All but one seemed to turn out pretty good, proving that only Cain was cursed and not his descendants. They developed a lot of wonderful technologies—which tells us quite a different story than we will find in pagan accounts. And we will also talk about Lamech, the first guy to take two wives (and we will talk about the problems that brings throughout the Bible) and to just be a flat-out bully.

One of the age-old Bible questions is, “Who was Cain’s Wife?” and to answer that, we also have to ask, “Who did Cain think was going to kill him if they found him?” If you remember Episode 20, we talked about how theological history is different from our modern history books and that will help us uncover the solution to this mystery. Also, Cain founded a city—does that make cities bad? What does the Bible say about cities and where does Revelation show us ending up when Jesus is king? And we’re going to talk about why there are so few women and children mentioned by name in the Bible.

Oh, if only Cain had listened and made better choices! Now God has to tell Cain the consequences of his terrible actions—and Cain is going decide to reject God entirely. Will God abandon Cain or continue to care for him?

Cain refused to listen to God and then took out his anger on his brother Abel. Now Abel is dead and Cain is still angry at God. This week, we will learn what Jesus had to say about being our brother’s keeper and how our hearts get hardened when we refuse to obey God and do what is right.

This is one of those frustrating Bible stories where we aren’t told nearly as much as we want to know. Cain and Abel both make offerings to God. Abel’s offering is accepted and Cain’s isn’t? Why not? We don’t know. How does Cain know his offering isn’t accepted? We don’t know! Where the heck are Adam and Eve while all this is happening? We don’t know that either! What we do learn is that God is very, very concerned about us when we have gone in the wrong direction.

I know--I skipped archiving an episode but it will go up next week. It occurred to me how stupid it was for me to be archiving the Passover program the day after the Passover just because of when it is airing. So, this is the episode airing throughout this week, but it is going up here first. Since we were talking about Cain and Abel’s offerings last week, this is the perfect time to discuss this week’s Bible holiday—Passover. What does the Passover teach us about God and what does it tell us about Jesus?

This week we’re going to talk about what kind of Book the Bible is—and specifically Genesis 1-11. The kids will learn about the genre theological history and why it is important to understand before talking about why God started out the Bible with one family instead of many—and what He was teaching us by telling the story that way. We’ll be talking about racism and why it is not compatible with our life in Christ.

One of the most frustrating things about life is free will! We love having it but we hate the mistakes we make because of it. Couldn’t God just force us to do the right thing? And what is exile and what does it mean in the life of Adam, Eve, their kids and all of us today?