patrick jane forums

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I'm confident in my own mind that the Cain and Abel incident is unrelated to the plan of salvation as per Christ on the cross rather, it's a lesson about worship, i.e. church attendance.

Take for example Isa 1:11-20. Moses' people were offering all the covenanted sacrifices, they were praying up a storm, and observing all the God-given feasts and holy days. He rejected all of it, even though He himself required it, because the people's personal conduct was unbecoming.

● Prv 15:8 . .The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to Yhvh.

Perhaps the classic example is the one below.

● Ps 51:16 . .You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.

When David wrote that; he had only just committed the capital crimes of adultery and premeditated murder. There was just no way that God was going to accept his sacrifices and offerings on top of that; and David knew it too.

The principle shows up again in Jesus' teachings.

● Matt 9:13 . . Go and learn what this means: I desire mercy and not sacrifice.

Some folk honestly believe that Christ's statement, taken from Hosea 6:6, practically repealed the entire God-given book of Leviticus. But that's not what either Hosea or Jesus were saying. They meant that God much prefers that people be civil to each other rather than religious to their fingertips.

In other words; an ungracious person's lack of things like sympathy, patience, tolerance, lenience, helpfulness, pity, and common courtesy causes God to reject their worship just as thoroughly and bluntly as He rejected Cain's.

The principle didn't go away. It's still the Lord's way of doing business with people; including Christians.

● 1John 1:5-7 . . God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: but if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another.

It's likely a foregone conclusion that God is deeply insulted when people whose conduct is unbecoming all during the week come to church on Sunday actually thinking He's glad to see them show up for some quality time together.
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