- Blog Navigation
- Blog Home
- /
- Blog Archive
Is it true that Man had to work only after he committed the Original Sin?
the Original Sin?
Gen
2.8-10, 15 8 Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. 9 The LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
10 A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters.
15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to … 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; …
On the basis of the above verses in the Bible, all Christians are taught from their childhood that, in the Garden of Eden, God provided man a life of all comfort and rest. Man could live in Eden particularly without having to do any work to live because everything was provided by God.
This picture of man and his life in Eden is what has been given to the whole world and it is what everyone believes. In fact, there are great paintings, drawings, etc., old and new, depicting the wonderful life man had in Eden.
This may have had an influence on how Christians imagine their heaven to be; an existence with all comfort and rest. Eden is seen as a glimpse of what life in heaven could be. Yet, the angels in heaven are said to be working all the time.
All Christians are taught from their childhood that after man sinned (the original sin) he lost the life of bliss he had in Eden. (Gen 3.17-19)
Gen 3.17-19 17 To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’
“Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it
all the days of your life.
18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you and you will eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”
Furthermore, from this verse, all Christians were and are made to believe that only after man sinned (the original sin) did he have to start working to live for the first time ever.
Also, the faithful are convinced that if they live in obedience to their respective Church teachings/rules; and of course, God, you will become eligible for heaven where you will have the kind of life you had had in Eden; in comfort and rest without having to work, and maybe more. Maybe, this is why the prayer at the funeral of a Christian includes the plea for giving the dead person “eternal rest.”
This was and is a false propaganda or misinformation instilled into the minds and hearts of all Christians even from their tender age from the beginning of Christianity.
Whether it was a kind of brain-washing done to ensure blind obedience or not, one wonders? This was and is a trump card used blatantly by many preachers to rope in followers and keep them in their respective churches.
Of course, now you will challenge this shocking statement and demand for an explanation or apology. Let us look at the following verse given in various Bibles. (Gen 2.15)
Bible Reading
NIV: New International Version 15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.
KJV: King James Version 15 And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.
RSVCE: Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition 15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it.
GNT: Good News Translation 15 Then the LORD God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to cultivate it and guard it.
CEB: Common English Bible 15 The LORD God took the human and settled him in the garden of Eden to farm it and to take care of it.
In all the Bibles, Gen 2.15 says that God told man to cultivate the Garden of Eden and to protect it. God gave man these responsibilities, both of which required man to work. Therefore, even from the time man was created, he had to work. Thus, in Eden, man did not have a life of total comfort and total rest but had to do his part of work that God entrusted him with.
Of course, God planted all the trees in the Garden of Eden, which were good to see and good for food. God provided for man. (Gen 2.8-9)
When man sinned, in His judgment, God cursed the earth/ground/soil. Whereas there were no thorns and thistles in Eden, now the cursed ground had them. So only through hard/painful work and by the sweat of his brow would man be able to grow the food he needs to live. (Gen 3. 17-19)
So, the work man had to do in Eden, comparatively, would have not have been hard/painful or needed the sweat of his brow to live.
Yet, the stark truth is that man had to work to live even when he was in Eden.
This truth has not been told or revealed to the faithful; instead they have been misled into believing an untruth or false information.
Whether this was done and is being done intentionally or not , in the vested interest of some persons is another question altogether; and is to be determined by each one.