Planet of The Apes

Week 1 – Discussion Guide

Genesis 4:1-16
1 Adam [a] lay with his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. [b]
She said, "With the help of the LORD I have brought forth [c] a man." 2 Later she gave
birth to his brother Abel. Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. 3 In the
course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD.
4 But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD
looked with favor on Abel and his offering, 5 but on Cain and his offering he did not
look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.
6 Then the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 7 If
you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin
is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it."
8 Now Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let's go out to the field." And while they were
in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.
9 Then the LORD said to Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?"
"I don't know," he replied. "Am I my brother's keeper?"
10 The LORD said, "What have you done? Listen! Your brother's blood cries out to me
from the ground. 11 Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which
opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. 12 When you work
the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on
the earth."
13 Cain said to the LORD, "My punishment is more than I can bear. 14 Today you are
driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless
wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me."
15 But the LORD said to him, "Not so [e] ; if anyone kills Cain, he will suffer
vengeance seven times over." Then the LORD put a mark on Cain so that no one who
found him would kill him. 16 So Cain went out from the LORD's presence and lived in
the land of Nod, [f] east of Eden.

Mixers
Go around the circle and have each person give his or her
name/grade/school.

If “time dilation” were possible where would you go in outer

space?

Going Deeper
Describe the three Astronauts? What makes each one different
from the other? Dodge is the knowledge seeker; he wants to
scientifically explain everything. Landon is the glory seeker; he wants
to be famous and renown. Taylor is the complicated one. Discuss
the character of Taylor more in depth, talk about what you
like/dislike about him.

Consider these quotes:

“Tell me, though. Does man, that marvel of the universe, that glorious paradox who
sent me to the stars, still make war against his brother? Keep his neighbor's children
starving?”

© 2009 Dixon Kinser

“I'm a seeker too. But my dreams aren't like yours. I can't help thinking that
somewhere in the universe there has to be something better than man. Has to be.”
Do Taylor’s actions contradict the things he says? Why or why
not? What we want to particularly point out is that although Taylor is
intelligent and insightful (he sees that man is destructive and is
angered by it), there seems to be a disconnect between what he
believes to be true about people and the way he treats people. He sees
people as having evil in them, and yet he throws up his hands doesn’t
do anything about it. He has given up on humanity.

Reflect on the passage from Genesis. Why do you think Cain

says to Yahweh, “Am I My Brother’s Keeper?”

Consider the following passage from Matthew:

Jesus teaches this in the sermon o the mount:
9"You're blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or
fight. That's when you discover who you really are, and your place in God's family.

What does it mean to be blessed? Blessing in the Bible is about

receiving health, wealth, peace and possessions from God, but always
with the intent of using what you have to help others. You are blessed
(God tells Abraham) so you may pass on your “blessing” to others.
Then everyone gets what they need.

Compare Jesus teaching to the Cain and Able story. What

connections and divergences do you discover?

There is a call in the gospel to be like Taylor and like Jesus.

Taylor is right in the way he recognizes humanity’s failures. We
do make war. We kill each other. We stock pile wealth and
throw away food while others live in poverty and starve. But
his conclusion is not sufficient. Jesus challenges us to do
something about it. As Jesus dealt with the deep root cause of
Cain’s sin (sin and death in the good Creation) so we are called
to do likewise. We have to do something about this problem.
When we do, as Jesus says, we start to discover our place in
God’s family and we redeem the darkness by acting in the
opposite spirit of Cain. “We are our brother’s keeper!”

The place to start is by looking at what God first says to Cain

after the murder. (Read it in verse 10). He says “Listen!”
Listening to the cry of the needy, the forgotten, the oppressed
is always where this kind of blessing begins. God is listening.
God hears. So should we. Where do you hear the cries of the
needy? Where do you hear cries of injustice. How can you
© 2009 Dixon Kinser
listen better? What can you do about it! Is there anything you
are scared to give up for some one else? Why or why not?

Close in prayer. Pray that God shows us where we can bless the
world and contribute to its redemption rather than be apart of
the problem.

© 2009 Dixon Kinser