Imagine that you are watching some kids play a game, let’s say soccer. They’re all on the playground, wearing their regular school clothes. You came in during the middle of the game and hadn’t watched them choose sides. They don’t have any uniforms or way to delineate who is on what team. Would you be able to tell the teams apart? Of course you would – the way that they are playing offense or defense, the direction they kick the ball, etc. would clearly show you which side they are on.

Extend this metaphor to Genesis chapters four and following. Some of these people are on God’s “team” – they know God, they walk with Him (we’ll call them the “orange team”). Some of these people are on Satan’s team (we’ll call them the “blue team”). How can you tell the difference? By the way they play the game. [Never assume that all the people in the Bible are making good choices - remember, the Bible isn't about these people - they aren't there to give us a list of heroes. The Bible is about God.]

In the first verse of chapter four, Cain is born. Eve’s statement is, “With the help of the Lord I have brought forth a man.” Guess what they are thinking? Rewind to the promise in 3:15- all they knew was that a male “seed” from Eve’s line would have the ultimate victory. They had no idea how long this would take and all the intricate ways that God would unfold His plan. So in their minds, Cain might be it! He’s the one! Unfortunately, he seems to be playing for the wrong team.

People have discussed for ages why Cain’s sacrifice was rejected and Abel’s was accepted. Most likely Cain knew that a blood sacrifice was needed (God had established that pattern by covering Adam and Eve with the skins in chapter 3.) But, no matter what the reasons were, Cain obviously knew what God required. Look at verse 7 – “If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.” Cain was clearly deliberately choosing not to obey God. He wasn’t just mistaken about the requirements.

So, in chapter four, we have a ‘blue’ team member, who obviously rejects God’s requirements and then gets mad and kills a member of the ‘orange’ team – Abel. Now keep reading in the chapter. What team is Lamech on? Take a wild guess. In verses 23 and 24, we find Lamech boasting to his wives: “Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; Wives of Lamech, listen to my speech! For I have killed a man for wounding me, Even a young man for hurting me. If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, Then Lamech seventy-sevenfold.” Hmmm…

Cain was bad. Granted. He killed his own brother in cold blood and then tried to cover his own sin while talking verbally with God himself! But, at least Cain had the sense to know that murder was not good. He tried to hide it. He was afraid of the consequences, and God in his unbelievable mercy promises to protect Cain and avenge sevenfold anyone who tries to hurt him.

Now think about Lamech. He’s taken two wives (a violation of the clear order established by God with Adam and Eve), kills a guy, boasts about it, and then says if anyone tries to hurt him back he will avenge himself far beyond how God would avenge Cain. It’s pretty obvious that Lamech is all blue!

At the end of chapter four, Seth is born, and Eve makes another interesting statement. “For God has appointed another seed for me instead of Abel, whom Cain killed.” Another Seed. Perhaps this is the one! Well, Seth is obviously not THE Seed that they’re waiting for, but his uniform does appear to be orange. Seth is born, Seth has a son (Enosh), and then the text makes a point of pointing out that “at that time” people began to seek the Lord.

Marching on to chapter five. Read verses 1 and 2 – do they sound familiar? “This is the book of the genealogy of Adam. In the day that God created man, He made him in the likeness of God. He created them male and female, and blessed them and called them Mankind in the day they were created.” Sounds quite a bit like Genesis 1:26-27! Why the repeat? Read on to verses 3 and 4: “And Adam lived one hundred and thirty years, and begot a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth. After he begot Seth, the days of Adam were eight hundred years; and he had sons and daughters.” This repetition seems to be a literary clue that we’re starting the story over.

This next chapter (chapter 5) is the account of the orange team (Adam, Seth, and their descendants, and eventually Enoch – famed for walking with God), just like chapter 4 seemed to focus on the blue team (Cain, his descendants, and eventually Lamech). Note the repetition:
“…all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years; and he died…
all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years; and he died…
all the days of Enosh were nine hundred and five years; and he died…
all the days of Cainan were nine hundred and ten years; and he died…
all the days of Mahalalel were eight hundred and ninety-five years; and he died…
all the days of Jared were nine hundred and sixty-two years; and he died…”

It goes on, but I think you see the repetition! :) What is the deal with the depressing list of who is dying when? What are they waiting for? [the Seed!] What happens every single time? [they die!] They know the Seed will come. God said He would. God’s word is trustworthy. There is a very real, very obvious spiritual battle going on, and eventually the Seed will be victorious. They just don’t know how long they’re going to wait!

**For more reflections on the Old Testament with personal application, you might want to download a free Bible study ebook!**

I’m finally doing a Spotlight Saturday again! Lo and behold, you have to plan ahead for these… not always my strong point. :) Today I’m thrilled to introduce you to my blogging friend, Rosslyn Elliot! I stumbled onto her blog, Inkhorn Blue, quite a few months ago and have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know her in the online world. Her blog is intelligent and insightful, and I always enjoy her perspective on life, faith, literature, and whatever else she decides to write about. I have also appreciated that for someone who has a doctorate in literature and writes novels, she never corrects my grammar. ;)

1. Tell us about yourself in 3 sentences or less
By day, I’m a Christian homeschooling mom. By night, I’m an inspirational novelist who blogs to let off some idea-steam.

2. Flashback: you’re a senior in high school and you’re wearing your favorite outfit today. Describe your “look.”
I’ve never been much of a fashion plate, so I suppose it would be jeans and a solid-colored t-shirt. Let me think of a few fashion disasters—and believe me, there are some to report. I had a black t-shirt with a tuxedo front printed on it when I was in junior high. I also went through a period of wearing nothing but primary colors: sapphire blue shirt, bright red pants, yellow belt. Ugh! Then the style was grunge in college; I did that well.

3. What is your favorite “fun” thing to do?
Play boardgames. Games allow me to spend time with friends doing something that doesn’t have to matter, just for the pleasure of it. I need to make more time for game nights, and I’m going to get started on that tomorrow by proposing a game night for our church. I’ve had that in the back of my head for a while.

4. What is your most dreaded household task and why?
Folding and putting away clean laundry. I’m always in the middle of some other task, and there’s never enough time, so a huge mound piles up on the bed. Then it really takes forever to put away. The only solution we’ve found is to go up there together and put laundry away for half an hour so we can keep each other company.

5. What is your favorite thing to do with your daughter?
Homeschooling. I have the best time learning with her. Nothing compares to the light in her eyes when she’s really interested in something. I also love the way she later repeats stuff back to me as if I’ve never heard it. “Mom, did you know that street kids in India sometimes live in the sewers?”

6. You have babysitting for the whole day on a Saturday – what will you and your husband do?
Honestly, a Saturday sitter would first enable my husband to go do something by himself, because he often takes our daughter out on Saturdays so I can write for several hours. Sweet, isn’t it? But let me stop dancing around the question and tell you what we like to do. We have been known to go sing karaoke on dates. We also like going to local festivals. If we had a sitter until late at night, we might go to a concert or a play.

7. What are three other blogs that you enjoy reading, and why?
Well, yours, for one! I like your mix of personal info and scriptural analysis. I never miss a post on my agent’s blog. Her name is Rachelle Gardner; she’s known for giving great advice to writers. I also really like Billy Coffey’s blog. He’s a very talented writer who views everyday life from a unique faith-based perspective.

8. How long have you been blogging, and what motivated you to start blogging?
I first started blogging to allow my long-distance family members and friends to keep up with our family life. Then I created another blog to connect with the Christian blogging community.

9. What five words would you use to describe your blog?
Faithful, Honest, Passionate, Encouraging… Confused. LOL!

10. Freebie: anything about yourself or your blog (or your books!) that you want to share?
I write Christian historical fiction including lots of romance and suspense. My first novel is under submission to publishing houses by my agent. (This is a fancy way of saying we don’t know what’s going on with it yet.) I’m close to finishing my second novel. Both novels are based on real historical people from the central Ohio area. I’m very enthusiastic about using my writing gifts to tell others about these real-life heroes.

Thanks for having me on your blog, Kristi!

Thanks for participating! Now, everyone please take a minute to jump over to Inkhorn Blue and say hello to Rosslyn! :)

A couple of days ago I was in Aldi, bagging up my groceries, and I witnessed a parenting tragedy right before my eyes.

NP and I will never claim to be perfect parents – who is? Every child on the planet has public melt downs and tantrums and issues… because we are fallen and depraved, and remember – our children are born little fools! But seriously, I don’t understand how people don’t step back and realize that their kid is unbelievably out of control.

A little boy, about four years old, was there with his apparent mother and grandmother. I watched as time and time again they would give him an instruction and he would defiantly yell, “No!” and give them a command in return. And they would cave. Every single time.

The phrase “we don’t negotiate with terrorists” actually went through my mind – it was going to be the title of this post, but I thought I might get weird hits from google! :)

Think back to the Folly of Fools post – these were points summarizing the description of a fool in Proverbs:

• A fool hates instruction and guidance. He thinks too highly of his own perspective to seek wisdom and understanding from others.

• The fool is in rebellion against authority, both divine and human, and refuses to receive instruction.

• His mouth quickly betrays his foolish heart – he is recognizable for lying, slandering, using perverse speech, babbling constantly and refusing to hear input from those who actually have something worthwhile to say, and stirring up conflict with his words.

• He is quick-tempered and does not hold back his anger.

• The fool delights in evil and mocks at sin.

Hmmm… sounds a lot like an out of control kid in Aldi, doesn’t it?

I really like watching Super Nanny. I don’t see it often, though, as it nearly sends NP over the edge.  There are so many families that are in utter chaos because they do not have wisdom when it comes to parenting. Somewhere along the way, our culture has lost the idea of children being little fools who need discipline and guidance to form them into wise adults.

Remember Proverbs 22:15 –

“Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child; The rod of discipline will remove it far from him.”

Kids need discipline! They need boundaries, they need consistency. Want to show genuine love for your child? Discipline him! Proverbs 3:12 says,

“For whom the LORD loves He reproves, Even as a father corrects the son in whom he delights.”

If this is how God parents us, shouldn’t we sit up and take notice?

Much of the reason I feel so deeply about this is my own burden for how our culture has lost the fear of the Lord. My three year old has a decent grasp on theology for a preschooler, but there is much that she is simply unable to comprehend because of age and cognitive development. She can’t really understand the concept of fearing God, but she can understand the concept of fearing her parents! This is not fear of being harmed in any way… this is a proper reverence for authority. She knows we love her deeply and unconditionally and will never harm her – and she also knows that she must obey or she will face consequences.

Discipline is much more than finding a way to get your kid to go grocery shopping without making a scene. Discipline is a life and death issue. If parents fail to teach their children to submit, if the foolishness deeply embedded in their hearts is never removed from them, if they are only rewarded for rebellion… when will they learn to fear the Lord? And where will a life of folly lead them?

“For the waywardness of the naive will kill them,
And the complacency of fools will destroy them.
But he who listens to [wisdom] shall live securely
And will be at ease from the dread of evil.”
Proverbs 1:32-33

Photo from Parents magazine

Today for Things I Love Thursday, I thought I’d take a few minutes to tell you about my favorite study Bible.

The Hebrew-Greek Key Word Study Bible is a fantastic tool for any serious student of Scripture – my parents gave this to me 10 years ago (wow – 10 years… I did not think it had been that long!) and I absolutely love it! Why, you ask? Let me tell you.

Often with other study Bibles I have used (which is a limited list – I’m sure there are other really good ones), I find that they have lots of footnotes and information that isn’t really necessary. The things that I don’t understand and really want to study and know more about seem to be carefully avoided! :) This Bible doesn’t have many footnotes, but usually if there are some they are extensive and in-depth, and usually they center on difficult passages. It is edited by Spiros Zodhiates, and he carefully explains original languages, cultural contexts, and other important aspects to “rightfully dividing” the passage.

As you might guess from the title, key words are coded with numbers from Strongs Concordance and keyed to Hebrew and Greek dictionaries and lexical aids in the back of the Bible. Grammatical codes are also given for many Greek verbs, which allow a person who loves to study but has no Greek training (me, me!) to know the tenses of the Greek verbs even though they are studying from their English Bible. Now, there are other ways to look these things up, but having the most commonly used words already keyed to the back of the Bible in your hands makes studying a much easier (and portable) process.

I love being able to take this with me to Bible studies and, when a question comes up about something I don’t know about, it’s easy to relatively quickly look up the original meanings of key words – this often answers many questions that arise in a study group and helps keep the “well maybe it means…” discussions to a minimum. This pleases me as it cuts down on heretical theories. :)

I also prefer to study with the New American Standard Version, but that is another discussion entirely!

Do you have any Bible study tools you enjoy? Please share! And you can check out more Things I Love Thursday fun over at thediaperdiaries.net.