Is Work a Curse?
- Thread starter JM
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I could be wrong here but I would say no. This was the curse:
17 Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’:
“ Cursed is the ground for your sake;
In toil you shall eat of it
All the days of your life.
18 Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you,
And you shall eat the herb of the field.
19 In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread
Till you return to the ground,
For out of it you were taken;
For dust you are,
And to dust you shall return.”
Work was made much more difficult That was the curse.
17 Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’:
“ Cursed is the ground for your sake;
In toil you shall eat of it
All the days of your life.
18 Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you,
And you shall eat the herb of the field.
19 In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread
Till you return to the ground,
For out of it you were taken;
For dust you are,
And to dust you shall return.”
Work was made much more difficult That was the curse.
ericfromcowtown
Puritan Board Sophomore
No, work isn't a curse. We worked in the garden before the fall and I assume we'll be given joyous tasks in the new heaven and earth. Then why does it seem like a curse some days? Because with the fall, work is "by the sweat of your brow" (hard, frustrating, stressful etc...) and no longer what it was originally designed to be.
LawrenceU
Puritan Board Doctor
I think that Tim's distinction is important. My father pointed out that little nuance to me years ago. Our work, which is a gracious blessing, become toil because the ground that we must use is cursed. That 'ground' over time has become much more than mere soil. It encompasses all that a man must do to provide for his family, another blessing.
I also believe that work is a blessing. Notice in the 4th commandment that for 6 days we GET TO WORK.
Exo 20:8-11 "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. (9) Six days you shall labor and do all your work, (10) but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. (11) For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
We were created to work (or create) just like God is the ultimate creator (or worker). What a blessing we have been given if we could see work through God's eyes.
SDG...Mike
Exo 20:8-11 "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. (9) Six days you shall labor and do all your work, (10) but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. (11) For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
We were created to work (or create) just like God is the ultimate creator (or worker). What a blessing we have been given if we could see work through God's eyes.
SDG...Mike
SemperEruditio
Puritan Board Junior
Work is a curse when you have a job and then unemployment is the curse. So regardless if we have a job or not we are cursed. 
Scott1
Puritanboard Commissioner
Work, and everything connected with it- including our own indolence, covetousness and and ingratitude toward it, are all affected by the Fall.
But work, like everything else, is being redeemed, for His Honor and His Glory.
And the Kingdoms of this world, are becoming the Kingdoms of our God, and of His Christ.... forever and ever!
But work, like everything else, is being redeemed, for His Honor and His Glory.
And the Kingdoms of this world, are becoming the Kingdoms of our God, and of His Christ.... forever and ever!
EricP
Puritan Board Freshman
Work itself isn't the curse, but many of our coworkers and bosses are! Seriously, I'd have to agree with everyone else that cursing of the soil creating a fruitlessness in work is the curse, along with our attitude toward the work, knowing that our labors on earth end inevitably in death (hence in part the frustration in Song of Songs).
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