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Mark Roberts on The Chief End of Humanity

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mwkruse
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Mark D. Roberts: Creation, Contentment, and Work

… Human beings are not simply to sit on a beach and enjoy the beauty of creation. Nor are they simply to sit in a cathedral and enjoy the beauty of God. Rather, they are to be actively involved in creation and cathedral, being fruitful, multiplying, and exercising dominion. This suggests that we will be truly content as creatures when we are doing that for which we have been created. Moreover, by implication, if we are not being fruitful in our lives, if we are not exercising dominion over creation, then we will be rightly discontent. …

In his followup post, Roberts writes:

… I realize that what I’ve just said will upset some Christians who say things like: “I am completely fulfilled through my relationship with Christ” or “Jesus is all I need.” I’m suggesting that you won’t be completely fulfilled simply by being in relationship with Christ, however wonderful and essential this may be. Moreover, I’m saying that Jesus is not all you need, if by this you mean that you would be perfectly happy just to sit and pray and worship for the rest of eternity. On the contrary, Genesis reveals that we were created in God’s image to work in God’s world as co-creators (in a lesser fashion), fruit-bearers, and those who exercise authority over creation. …

Good stuff. I'm looking forward to what comes next in the series.

Comments

4 responses to “Mark Roberts on The Chief End of Humanity”

  1. Rick Avatar
    Rick

    “I’m saying that Jesus is not all you need, if by this you mean that you would be perfectly happy just to sit and pray and worship for the rest of eternity. On the contrary, Genesis reveals that we were created in God’s image to work in God’s world as co-creators (in a lesser fashion), fruit-bearers, and those who exercise authority over creation. …”
    But isn’t that part of “worship”? Doesn’t that flow from our relationship with Him?

    Reply
  2. Michael W. Kruse Avatar
    Michael W. Kruse

    In the first sentence you quoted:
    Jesus fulfillment = sit and pray and worship for the rest of eternity.
    In this context, I read “worship” to be conjuring up an image of the elders gathered around the throne shouting out praise and adoration.
    Work is indeed a worshipful response to God (and Roberts affirms that in the comments) but it requires a more expansive understanding of worship than the colloquial use of the term, which is what I think he was getting at in the first sentence.

    Reply
  3. John Avatar
    John

    But which version or interpretation of what Jesus taught and demonstrated while he was alive?
    Especially as there are now well over 30,000 different and differing Christian denominations, sects and sub-sects in the world, all competing for market share in in the market place of consumerist religion.
    But then again Jesus was not in any sense a Christian, nor did he create the religion about him – aka Christian-ISM. ALL of which was created by others after his brutal murder, and mostly long after, and mostly by people who never ever met Jesus up close in a living-breathing-feeling human form.
    Corpses or dead “human beings” are incapable of creating anything, especially mythologies about the presumed “resurrection” of their now very dead rotting (to dust) body.
    Jesus was an outsider, a radical Spiritual Teacher who, while he was alive, taught and demonstrated a universal, non-Christian, non-sectarian Spirit-Breathing Spiritual Way of Spiritual Life. Such a Spirit-Breathing Way has been (and still is) the fundamental practice in all forms of esoteric Spiritual Religion in all time and places all over the world. Even the non-humans are capable of practicing such a Spirit-Breathing Way.

    Reply
  4. Michael W. Kruse Avatar
    Michael W. Kruse

    John, I hadn’t heard from you in so long that I thought you had forgotten me. 😉

    Reply

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