Scripture Engagement

Many people will be surprised to discover that the Bible contains curses, and that some of these are by God! Why would God do such a thing?  In most cases a curse is the removal of a blessing. God blesses us and says, 'But there are conditions to you keeping this blessing! If you disobey me in these things, and break those conditions, then I will remove the blessing (i.e. you will be cursed).' For example, in Gen 4 God warns Cain not to sin, but he goes ahead and sins anyway, by killing his own brother Abel. After that Cain is cursed 'away from the ground' i.e. he won't be able to farm the soil as an agriculturalist any more. That soil has soaked up Abel's blood. He doesn't deserve to live the life of a farmer. He is condemned to a life of travelling about in the land of 'wandering'. "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