In it Dr. Henry pointed out that the isolationism which many Christians adopt, the isolationism which removes us from contact with non-Christians, has also successfully removed us from grappling with some of the pressing social questions of our hour. Carl Henry wrote a book called The Uneasy Conscience of Fundamentalism, which bothered many people when it first came out. There is nothing in it of facing responsibility, and no honest answering of the terrible question from Cain's lips, "Am I my brother's keeper?" After all, if you stir up trouble, sooner or later you will pay the price for it." No one can deny the logic and truth of a statement like that. Why should we suffer for what some fanatic did? It's not our responsibility." Soon some were saying, "He ought to have known this would happen. "Well, it's not our fault that Dr. King was killed. When Martin Luther King was murdered, many were saying these same things. Though Cain could disclaim responsibility for knowing where his brother was, he did not hesitate to assume the far greater responsibility of taking his brother's life. Cain replies, "My brother? What have I to do with my brother? Am I my brother's keeper? Is it my responsibility to know where my brother is?" The hypocrisy of that is most evident. This is always the way of guilt - to disclaim responsibility. Then the LORD said to Cain, "Where is Abel your brother?" He said, "I do not know Am I my brother's keeper?" (Genesis 4:9 RSV)Ĭain's insolent and arrogant response to God's question is a sign of his inward, unacknowledged guilt. In this story of Cain and Abel it is highlighted for us by what followed the cold-blooded murder of Abel. Today we examine a very closely related problem, that of race relations, of human brotherhood. They want their own way, they want God to act as they want him to act (or perhaps I should say, as we want him to act). Men kill because they hate they hate because they will not accept God's ordering of life.
When they are small they are left unjudged and not faced. We saw what the New Testament confirms - that wars and murders spring from seeds of unreasoning jealousy and envy which are allowed to lie unjudged in human hearts. In our first study together of the story of Cain and Abel we examined the causes for human hatred and warfare.
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