auntblabby wrote:
^^^
if abel had survived to do more things and to have more offspring, how would that not "change things"?
How WOULD it change things?
It wouldve changed that particular chapter. It would not have effected subsequent books (which were set centuries later). The later events dont build upon the Cain and Abel story in that way. How could it change anything? The Bible is not that tautly written.
Genisis doesnt even explain why he did it.
The Cain and Abel story is like Pandora's Box-a myth created to explain something (with Pandora its all evil in the world, with Cain and Abel its the invention of murder). Its a myth. Not a story with internal logic that can be "gamed" like a chess game.
Except in a roundabout external way- you could claim that Cain not killing Abel would change things. By killing Abel Cain invented murder. So if he hadnt invented murder then none of the other murders in the Bible could have happened. Including the Crucifiction.