In the Charlotte Observer of February 23, 2018, Mr. Keith Larson writes a column concerning guns and violence and how we are all guilty of “finger-pointing” after the recent school massacre in Florida. He begins his argument by quoting a fellow named Chad whose post on Instagram and Facebook has been viewed by half a million people. Larson concludes his argument agreeing with Chad concerning the popular post. Both are wrong.
Chad’s post reads under two hands, one holding a rock and the other a gun: “Cain killed Abel with a rock. It’s a HEART problem, not a gun problem. Jeremiah 17:9” Larsen writes: “The social media poster, Chad, is correct. Cain killed Abel with a rock.”
The VJV Bible on my shelf reads in Jeremiah 17:9: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” My NIV translation has essentially the same words. Neither mention a gun or a rock. In Genesis 4:8, my KJV has: “And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.” As with the Jeremiah verse, the NIV is similar, and neither mention a rock. Both Chad and Larson are guilty of, perhaps, following church tradition, but both are absolutely guilty of spreading false information.
The Bible has had to endured misinterpretation forever, and Chad and Larson offer one more example of this unfortunate circumstance. We may assume that, because the brothers were in a field, that Cain used a stone to kill Abel, but that is not Biblical because it is not written what he used, just that he killed his brother.
As for Chad’s original post, that Larson agrees with, I have no idea what translation he is using. In none can I find the words he quotes from Jeremiah 17:9.
Shame on Chad, Larson, the Observer, and any reader who has not checked the facts.
Southern Intersections 