Cain said to the LORD, “My punishment is more than I can bear.” – Genesis 4:13

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 15, 2018): Genesis 4

Behavioral Psychologist and Social Philosopher B. F. Skinner argued that “a person who has been punished is not less inclined to behave in a given way; at best, he learns how to avoid punishment.” In the end, that might be the same thing. Avoidance of punishment is, in itself, a change in behavior. The problem with punishment is that we are egocentric people; all we really see is ourselves and the effect that actions have on our world. According to Skinner, punishment does nothing to change that worldview. The reality is that anything that we do, we do because it makes our world better. A child steals a candy bar because it wants to taste the chocolate. If a child is punished for the theft, that behavior may be changed because the punishment brings more pain than the candy bar brought pleasure. But if the punishment is less than the pleasure received, or if the punishment is non-existent, or even just inconsistent, then the child will continue to steal candy bars. This is the dance that is performed in homes with young children on an almost daily basis; parents struggle to find an appropriate penalty for negative behavior that will make that behavior not worth pursuing.

Skinner also believed that there was another way. He truly believed that, given a young child and a providing the child with a consistent model of behavior, he could change the paradigm so that the negative behavior would never be considered in the first place, removing the need for punishment. But the challenge was starting young and being consistent.

At first glance, Cain’s words are infuriating. After all, Abel is dead; Cain still wanders the earth. Supporters of Capital Punishment might argue that any punishment less than death was not enough. Fans of the television show “Lucifer” know that in that comic book rendering of Cain, part of his penalty was never to die, leaving him wanting death, wanting the cessation of life that he gave to his brother, but never being able to receive it himself. The punishment had truly become more than he could bear.

But the truth is that Cain was being given something that Abel would never receive. His sin compounded that of his parents, but he would continue to eke out a life when his brother had none. The fact that the punishment was more than Cain could bear is probably the way that it should have been. He was the reason that his brother had died, which was more than Abel could handle. Anything less, and Cain might not have bothered to change his behavior; he wouldn’t have felt that punishment for his crime was something that needed to be avoided.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Genesis 5