Why Abel is Abel

In a former blog i wrote about the principle of Cain-Abel restoration. In the principle of Cain-Abel restoration the words 'Cain' and 'Abel' are used to characterize positions in relation to another. Abel here means a person who is representing God to his brother Cain, who is struggling to liberate himself from attacks of forces of evil. The purpose of the restoration of the relationship between Cain and Abel is first for both Cain and Abel to come closer to God and second for them to improve their human relationship, but centered on God.

To describe the positions of Cain and Abel i often prefer to use the words 'worldly' for the position of Cain and the word 'heavenly' for the position of Abel.

There is much confusion about what the concepts of Cain and Abel really mean. This is mainly due to the misuse of these concepts as qualifications for certain people. The words Cain and Abel are then used as a kind of noun or adverb to qualify those believed to be Abel and to disqualify those believed to be Cain. Sometimes people say that a person is Abel or that someone is an Abel person, meaning that this person would be 'good.' And to be Cain or a Cain person would mean that the person is bad. This is a misuse of the meaning of the concepts of Cain and Abel in the principles of restoration.

In the original meaning, both Cain and Abel are children of God and they both have a mission that they received from God. When people in the positions of Cain and Abel are fulfilling their missions they are growing in their course of restoration to find God.

Let us examine here why Abel is Abel.

The original Abel

For Abel there was nobody standing in the Abel position in relation to him. Abel was Abel because of an inherited heavenly position. That heavenly position meant that Abel could be reached by God and by heavenly spirits, in Abel's case we assume that these heavenly spirits were heavenly angels.

When someone is standing in the Abel or heavenly position it has nothing to do with an external position in an organization. When you are Abel you are Abel because, just like it was the case for Abel, you can be reached by God and consequently God can send heavenly angels and spirits to support you. To be 'Abel' means to be connected to God while at the same time not being controlled by evil spirits.

To keep your position as Abel you need to do God's will daily. You need to continously live a life of prayer to God and to continuously let the direction of your actions be determined by God.

Standing in this position it is more important that you have your personal relationship to God than to have contact to good spirits. You need your good relationship to God to judge the spirits that come to you. Also heavenly angels and spirits can make mistakes or sometimes they are being subdued by evil spirits. The heavenly angel that inspired and helped you yesterday may have made a mistake today. Your spiritual situation will change instantly in such a case, but you may not notice it right away. Sometimes the place of heavenly spirits is secretly taken by evil and misleading spirits. In such a case your only safety net is your relationship to God.

For Abel, his relationship to God always must be subject while his relationship to good spirits is object in relation to that.

The misunderstood position of Abel

In the Unification Church the positions of Cain and Abel have frequently be misunderstood and misused. The position of Abel then came to mean something like 'the position of an accepted leader' or 'the position of a leader appointed by Sun Myung Moon.' But even if Mr. Moon would have correctly chosen the person who was Abel at the moment of being appointed, that doesn't guarantee that this person can keep that position all the time. People make mistakes.

Furthermore, the positions of Cain and Abel should not be understood as being permanent. In reality, when two people meet, the qualifications of Cain and Abel are set at that moment and are open for change.

The names Cain and Abel should solely be understood as concepts for principles of restoration.

Another commonly made mistake is that the positions of Abel are thought to belong to people of a certain lineage. For example, in the Unification Church, the children of Moon were seen as Abel in relation to all other members.

Even though the qualification of being Abel can be inherited (for example Abel became 'Abel' as the second son of Adam), that by no means is a certificate engraved in stone. As shown above, one is Abel because of an actual and close relationship to God and in addition to that and consequently having the aid of good angels and spirits.

Sometimes people make mistakes and at that moment, almost instantly, the positions of Cain and Abel can swift. The one who was Abel may temporary become Cain and someone else may need to fulfill as Abel.

The pride to be Abel and the pride to be Cain

In order to overcome the problem of misunderstanding the positions of Cain and Abel i would advise that these names are firstly understood as responsibilities. Both Cain and Abel got a responsibility and mission from God. For your being loved by God it makes no difference whether you are 'Cain' or you are 'Abel.' Nobody is Abel all the time and nobody is Cain all the time. These positions are open for change in each new relationship and also for each new situation in an existing relationship.

To be Cain in a relationship with someone as Abel is a honor. It is a task given by God to protect and love that Abel person. And to be Abel in such a situation is a honor, a responsibility to keep your good love for God and to pass on that love to the one who is in the worldly position to you at that moment.

Ideally, the Cain-Abel relationship is resolved by Cain and Abel uniting centered on God. At that moment, one cannot anymore speak of the one person being Cain and the other being Abel. When two people are united in love, as brothers or sisters under God's love, it does not matter anymore who was Cain and who was Abel. The purpose of the task to solve a Cain-Abel relationship is that Cain and Abel unite in love centered on God.

For this it is paramount that this loving unity is initiated by Abel being in the subject position to Cain. In case that unity is a result of Cain becoming subject over Abel, the unity may be there but is not anymore centered on God.

It is therefore so important that the positions of Cain and Abel are not misunderstood, are not given to the wrong people.

See also this speech that Rev. Moon gave on Dec. 30, 1979:

Abel's Right Path From The Providential Point Of View