I have heard of this idea of Ham, and have also considered if the mark put on Cain was his skin color turning black. It says this was done so nobody would kill him for murdering Abel. If you picture it, in the world at the time, if everyone was basically medium brown in complexion then a very dark black person would give them pause. The mark would be instantly known, and even if not understood, abided by out of fear or being perplexed to keep people from messing with Cain. This is not to say that dark skin is inherently evil, or that black people cannot be saved, or are inferior or stupid, or any prejudice, but that the mark just remains. When you read it in Genesis, the mark is not described as anything bad, in fact, but simply a mark to keep Cain from being attacked.
His curse: “When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.” You mentioned the perpetual problems in Africa, and we see it here, and pretty much everywhere in the world.
I guess you can say this only applies to Cain himself, but the bearing of such a mark on a people may have psychological factors that produce similar results as the father's curse. So, the mark doesn't mean necessarily anything materially or spiritually bad, but it is a "something" to human beings on some level, including those who have this "mark."
So, what I'm saying is, the curse is not in the ensuing lineage, but the visible mark may be, since it is actually NOT a part of the curse. And invariably, because it is a mark nonetheless, it carries a psychological load. So, black people can be successful and do well, but only if they have wisdom it seems. And this basically applies to all people, but for them, they simply have very dark skin.
You can see, this day and age, even if this were the case, the world couldn't accept it. If you look it up, pretty much everything I've seen immediately tries to discredit the notion that the mark was skin color, out of hand. I mean, maybe it's not, but the curse and the mark are separate things in how I read it, and there's no way anyone can say it is definitely not the case.
The problem is human culture has no wisdom. I and anyone can look at a black person thinking this theory is true, and still treat them as an equal human, even a brother or sister in Christ, but the world cannot.
The problem with the cain theory is that it falls apart at the flood unless one of Noah's son's wives were a genealogical direct descendant of cain, and the odds of that happening after nearly a thousand years worth of descendants from adam, while not impossible, is highly improbable upon the entry into the ark, and the elimination of the worlds population, save for the 8 on board.
I have heard of this idea of Ham, and have also considered if the mark put on Cain was his skin color turning black. It says this was done so nobody would kill him for murdering Abel. If you picture it, in the world at the time, if everyone was basically medium brown in complexion then a very dark black person would give them pause. The mark would be instantly known, and even if not understood, abided by out of fear or being perplexed to keep people from messing with Cain. This is not to say that dark skin is inherently evil, or that black people cannot be saved, or are inferior or stupid, or any prejudice, but that the mark just remains. When you read it in Genesis, the mark is not described as anything bad, in fact, but simply a mark to keep Cain from being attacked.
His curse: “When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.” You mentioned the perpetual problems in Africa, and we see it here, and pretty much everywhere in the world.
I guess you can say this only applies to Cain himself, but the bearing of such a mark on a people may have psychological factors that produce similar results as the father's curse. So, the mark doesn't mean necessarily anything materially or spiritually bad, but it is a "something" to human beings on some level, including those who have this "mark."
So, what I'm saying is, the curse is not in the ensuing lineage, but the visible mark may be, since it is actually NOT a part of the curse. And invariably, because it is a mark nonetheless, it carries a psychological load. So, black people can be successful and do well, but only if they have wisdom it seems. And this basically applies to all people, but for them, they simply have very dark skin.
You can see, this day and age, even if this were the case, the world couldn't accept it. If you look it up, pretty much everything I've seen immediately tries to discredit the notion that the mark was skin color, out of hand. I mean, maybe it's not, but the curse and the mark are separate things in how I read it, and there's no way anyone can say it is definitely not the case.
The problem is human culture has no wisdom. I and anyone can look at a black person thinking this theory is true, and still treat them as an equal human, even a brother or sister in Christ, but the world cannot.
The problem with the cain theory is that it falls apart at the flood unless one of Noah's son's wives were a genealogical direct descendant of cain, and the odds of that happening after nearly a thousand years worth of descendants from adam, while not impossible, is highly improbable upon the entry into the ark, and the elimination of the worlds population, save for the 8 on board.
You're right, I didn't even think of that. Thanks.
No problem.