Thursday, September 04, 2003
Sacrificial Questions
I was discussion christianity with a coworker, it is Thursday after all. He spoke of Cain and Abel and how God preferred Abel's sacrificial lamb over Cain's offering of the fruits of the earth.
Could that rejection have caused our tendency toward making such vegetative offerings to each other instead? How many of us here have received an offering of fruits or vegetables from the garden of a friend? Who among us has not celebrated a friendship or romance with sacrificial blossoms? Is it the ugly side of sacrifice that makes such a gesture special?
Other questions:
Is a potted plant any less special because the plant (ideally) lives on, and is not sacrificed at all?
Who do people who do give you gifts of jerky, steak or other meat think they are? Who do they think YOU are?
Could that rejection have caused our tendency toward making such vegetative offerings to each other instead? How many of us here have received an offering of fruits or vegetables from the garden of a friend? Who among us has not celebrated a friendship or romance with sacrificial blossoms? Is it the ugly side of sacrifice that makes such a gesture special?
Other questions:
Is a potted plant any less special because the plant (ideally) lives on, and is not sacrificed at all?
Who do people who do give you gifts of jerky, steak or other meat think they are? Who do they think YOU are?
