There is a certain purpose in everything that exists on Earth. All the events and situations have meaning and goals regarding God’s plan. Lord created people with a certain aim so that life would be in some sort of order. He gave humanity dominion over all other living organisms and formed them in his image. Many Christians throughout history, including many now, have understood this to mean that people are the most valuable component of Creation, if not the only one. While I am currently studying for the nursing profession, I am specifically concerned about the meaning behind my job and the impact it can have on the world. However, the purpose of humankind considering stories from the Scripture is to respect God’s will and live according to his guidance by caring for all his creations.
God forbade Adam and Eve from eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden. After they disobeyed, they were expelled from Eden’s Garden by God. Adam and Eve were not in God’s presence anymore after they left the Garden of Eden. Even though it might seem like a negative event because they became mortal and had to live on Earth, it has its meaning in the context of the creation of humanity. Adam and Eve’s presence as regular people is part of God’s plan because otherwise, His words, preaches, and morals would be impossible to spread globally.
This occasion can be considered a spiritual death, referring to this estrangement from God since Adam and Eve were no longer immortal because of leaving the garden, which allowed them to experience mortality. Although Adam and Eve were regular people and no longer with God, they were joyful and optimistic when they realized they might advance (Moses 5.10.). Therefore, it became an opportunity to live by God’s laws and strengthen spiritual morals despite Satan’s attempts to seduce humanity to choose the wrong path. These temptations put us to the test and force us to make moral judgments (Alma 12.24.). Individuals go farther away from the Holy Father with each sin they commit and do not turn from them.
Nevertheless, people get closer to God if they turn from their sins. Adam and Eve could carry out God’s order to bear offspring because of the Fall, which enabled us to arrive on the planet in a physical existence. The spirits will live on after the physical bodies pass away. It can defeat bodily and spiritual death because of Jesus Christ’s atoning work. Everyone born in this world will be resurrected and live eternally because Christ was resurrected.
Moreover, since Christ paid the price for people’s sins, they can turn from sins and receive forgiveness, allowing us to reunite with the heavenly Father. In any event, God created man from dust and then put him in the garden, according to Genesis 2:7-8. Moreover, the fact that man was created from dust grounds humanity in the natural world. Although humanity is described in Genesis 1:26-27 as being made in God’s image, Genesis 2:7-8 emphasizes that humans are also fundamentally a component of the natural, divine order. Even though humans are made in God’s image, they are still formed from the same “stuff of nature” as other living creatures, including animals.
The second aspect to keep in mind is that the two descriptions of humanity—as God’s image in Genesis 1:26-27 and as being created from dust in Genesis 2:7-8—clearly illustrate the special role that people play in God’s created order: people are to serve as God’s intermediaries between creation and God, or, to put it another way, as God’s priests of creation. God put a man in the garden to till it and take care of it or, more accurately, to serve it and keep watch over it, emphasizing humans’ mediatorial priestly duty (Genesis 2.15.). As shown in Genesis 1, God created Adam and Eve with the intention that they would act as both His priestly intermediaries and His vice-regents to govern over His creation. Considering the concept from the Scripture, it means that my purpose in life is to represent God’s will and take care of some aspects of existence as he would. That I something that I can perform through my profession as a nurse. I am currently studying to become a nursing professional and work with children, and I believe that it resonates with the overall purpose of humankind. Since my main duty is to assist someone weak and helpless, embracing my empathy and love, I believe this is right, considering the Scripture’s concept.
It is clear that God created people in his image and granted them dominion over all other living creatures in the world. Many Christians throughout history, and even today, have interpreted this to suggest that humans are the most or perhaps the only valuable aspect of Creation. Additionally, they believed that non-human elements of nature were only valued since they benefited humans. Genesis 1:26-28 implies that humans have a unique function within Creation, but it does not mean that they are of higher worth than other members of Creation. According to one understanding of how humans carry the image of God, people resemble God because they carry out their will and serve as ambassadors (Strahan). Genesis 1.26-28. suggests that humans have more stewardship or caretaking duty as God’s representatives. The stewardship verses could be a better description. These passages give us the obligation to take care of nature in a manner that follows God’s will, not the authority to control it.
Overall, following the Fall, Adam and Eve lost their immortality and were driven out of the Garden of Eden. The separation from God that occurred since they became mortal is called spiritual death. Because of Jesus Christ’s atoning work, it is possible to overcome both physical and spiritual death. Because Christ was raised from the dead, everyone born in this world will rise and live forever. God claims that people are fashioned in his likeness and are made of dust. The fact that God placed a man in the garden to tend to it and care for it—or, more precisely, to serve it and keep watch over it—highlights the role that people perform as mediators and priests. Although humans have a special purpose in Creation, this does not mean they are more valuable than other creatures. A better depiction could be found in the stewardship verses. Instead of giving people the power to dominate nature, these Scriptures provide them with the responsibility to care for each other in a way that reflects God’s will.
Works Cited
The Bible. Authorized King James Version, Cambridge UP, 2004.
Strahan, Joshua. The Basics of Christian Belief: Bible, Theology, and Life’s Big Questions. Baker Academic, 2020.