Talk:Cain

"Cain's grandsons Jabel, Jubal,and Tubal-cain are respectively named in Genesis as the founders of pastoralism, music, and metalworking. Literal Bible interpreters have used this section of Genesis 4 as "proof" that cultures practicing pastoralism bear the mark of God's disapproval."

So, are music and metalworking also disapproved of by God? Tell that to the Christian rockers... FlightlessOstrich 23:47, 14 March 2008 (EDT)

Heavy Metal is probably an effective weapon against any hypothetical zombie Luddite, XD.--PlantB 18:25, 20 March 2008 (EDT)

Pastoralists
I've never heard the story that Cain's grandson invented pastoralism. Isn't Abel a pastoralist, and long before Cain's grandson?

In a secret underground bunker somewhere...
I may have found Cain. Fun place to waste some time, if you get bored. Majintahu (talk) 01:33, 11 June 2011 (UTC)
 * I'm not religious but decided to try to find some truth - and after many months I still haven't but .....


 * The research for the Dead Sea Scrolls is best from reliable sources- to much rewritten literature on these subjects
 * found that there are two books of Adam and Eve - these books are totally different from mainstream religions


 * here are two sites that may help in deciphering if your interested;
 * 
 * Qumran and the History of the Biblical Text edited by Frank Moore Cross
 * and Shemaryahu Talmon. Harvard University Press, 1975
 * best to gather correct translations of these subjects and not coming to any conclusions
 * before science has more of a chance to prove more of these books documents - which it has started to do TLOS 15:13, 21 August 2011 (PST)
 * Congratulations for making me laugh today. What really cracked me up was that Cain was/is a cyborg. Surprisingly, there is no mention of Abel in there. The Heidelberg Kid (talk) 15:23, 12 November 2011 (UTC)
 * There are days I wish people could only visit facebook, and Disney.com. the internet is a dangerous place if you don't understand how to play.  I mean, anyone who thinks Adam and Eve are more "authentic" (what ever that could possibly mean) than "the bible" (whatever that means), is bonkers.  Adam and Eve were written 200 years after the Christ story circulated.--[[Image:Pink mowse.png|25px]]Godot   I smell roasted chestnuts.  droollllllll. 15:46, 12 November 2011 (UTC)
 * And you chose to say that as a reply to me because why? The Heidelberg Kid (talk) 18:31, 12 November 2011 (UTC)

Two problems with 'the mark of Cain'
(Taking the story at face value)


 * It is not stated that the mark was hereditary
 * If it was, there was 'the Noah bottleneck.' Anna Livia (talk) 18:55, 8 November 2017 (UTC)

Environmentalist interpretation of Cain and Abel
Cultural philosopher Daniel Quinn has an interesting interpretation of the story. The farmers of the time (represented by Cain) probably produced more food, thus leading to population growth. They were overpowering and defeating the herders (Abel), who were possibly the ancestors of the Semites, the original authors of the story. Cain eventually overuses the land, leading to environmental catastrophe - that's probably why when he tills the ground, it doesn't yield, thats his "punishment".

in this sense, the "sin" of Cain is the same that of Adam: eating the fruit of knowing who's bad and good. Or less eloquently - the "knowledge of who shall live and who shall die". Thus it is about every culture that's ruling upon other cultures, and overusing agriculture. Quinn calles these the "Takers".

This is a very oversimplyfied rendition by me, apologies. 5.38.175.26 (talk) 11:18, 27 May 2020 (UTC)balazs

Doubled genealogies
Isn't it strange that lineages of Cain and Seth are almost identical, except for one additional generation in one of them? My tinfoil theory is that Seth was written in later, and in original myth humanity was meant to be descended from Cain alone (patrilineally), but at some point ancient Semitic fundamentalists got butthurt and amended the narrative. &mdash; Unsigned, by: 5.128.33.17 / talk