Peace Is A Game, And I'm Not Playing.

"Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword." (Jesus Christ; Matthew 10:34).

Churches sometimes try to go out of the way to please people and attract members. Their idea is to make the non-Christian world like them in hopes of peaceful relations in which everyone feels all nice and good. But those who faithfully walk with Jesus Christ are often met with hostility. And it only makes sense that it would be like that. The prophet Isaiah said that the Messiah would be despised and rejected; so it stands to reason that whoever follows Him will be despised and rejected too (Isaiah 53:3). 

Faith in Jesus Christ reconciles sinners to God (2 Corinthians 5:18-21). And it produces peace among those who trust in Christ and follow His teachings (Ephesians 2). It is not, however, going to produce peace between the redeemed who have faith in Christ, and the unrepentant who do not. In fact, if one places his or her faith in Christ and follows Him, He guarantees that that person will be hated by the world, which is in discordance with God.

Jesus said to His disciples, "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you." (John 15:18-19). He said "Woe to you when everyone speak well of you, for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets." (Luke 6: 26). And, conversely, He said, "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you." (Matthew 5:11-12). 

He said, "You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved." (Matthew 10:22). To be at peace with God is to be at odds with the world which hates God, and vice versa. Just as to be sensitive to the world is to be insensitive to God, and vice versa. As the Scripture says, "...Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God." (James 4:4).  

It's not that God, or His people hate the world. Indeed, God's word says, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved." (John 3:16-17). The problem is that the world hates God, and therefore hates anyone who is at peace with God. 

Jesus Christ is God the Son. He has existed from eternity past with the Father. The world hated Him because it is in rebellion against God. That is why they crucified Him. That is why the world loves sin, and even tries to distort God's word to justify whatever kind of wickedness in which they are living. That is why Cain murdered his brother, Abel (1 John 3:12). That is why people of the world think it should be o.k. to murder unborn children. And that is why the wicked continue to hate anyone who trusts in Christ and stands faithfully on His word. I think of Meriam Ibrihim and many other Christians down through the ages.

Jesus Christ did not come to bring peace to the world. Well, He did; but He didn't. He came to make reconciliation and peace with God available to all who believe in Him and repent (turn away from sin, and turn to God). And His word says to us, "Do not be surprised, my brothers and sisters, if the world hates you." (1 John 3:13). Our business is to please God, not people (Galatians 1:10).

The Wives of Cain and Seth

"Where did Cain and Seth find their wives?" This is a question that is sometimes asked concerning the book of Genesis. (Seth was born to Adam and Eve after Cain murdered Abel). 

It seems distasteful to think that the sons of Adam and Eve were married to the daughters of Adam and Eve. Yet the Scriptures teach very clearly that all humanity is descended from one man and one woman - Adam and Eve (Acts 17:26, Genesis 3:20).

There is a reason why it was acceptable in those early times for the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve to marry. Contrary to evolutionary dogma, God created human beings in perfection. And in the earliest days of human history, the human gene pool was in a more pristine condition. 

The reason that marriage between close relatives is unacceptable in our time is because the human genome has degenerated since the creation and fall of humanity. In our time, if close relatives marry and reproduce together, there is a greater risk of mutated genes gaining dominance in their offspring. These genetic mutations then result in physical and mental birth defects.

We live in a broken world in which genes are susceptible to corruption. According to evolutionary dogma it has always been that way. But in truth, God created a perfect world in the beginning. Genetic mutations were not as significant in the earliest centuries of human history. And there were zero mutations in the genome prior to the Fall.

Even as late as the time of Abraham there was an acceptance of marriage between close relatives. Sarah was Abraham's wife, but she was also his half sister (Genesis 20:12). And Isaac was married to Rebekah, his cousin. Jacob too, was married to his cousins, Leah and Rachel. 

It should be noted, as an aside, that God merely tolerated polygamous unions like that of Jacob to Leah and Rachel in the past. "But from the beginning of creation" marriage was intended by God to be a lifelong, monogamous union between a man and a woman (see Jesus' words in Mark 10:5-9). 

By the time of Christ, polygamy had become antiquated in Israel. And in this Messianic age, God "commands all men everywhere to repent" (Acts 17:30-31).

It was not until Moses' time that marriage between close relatives was abolished by God. One of the six hundred and some laws of Moses is a ban on close relatives being married (Leviticus 18:6-18). So it is quite unacceptable in the eyes of God, due to the corruption of the human genome, for close relatives to marry anymore.

For these reasons, and because marriage between close relatives has become unnecessary due to the increase in the human population; it also has become socially unacceptable, weird, and gross for close relatives to marry.