Sanctity of All Human Life
“God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them” Genesis 1:27 (NLT2).
“The LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person”
Genesis 2:7 (NLT2).
Sadly, we have to remind ourselves that human life is sacred and that a single soul is worth more than the sum total of the world’s treasure (Mark 8:36). Human history testifies to the exact opposite: Life is cheap, only some are valuable, and too many are deemed expendable.
It is a great evil to consider another human being as a second-class human, or a sub-human, or a non-human, to think that someone else is worth less than you. It is a very small step from worth less to worthless.
Our world is better when we acknowledge the sanctity of human life, when we recognize that others have the same value as me. We are better when women are not treated as second-class. We got better when we no longer called Native Americans, Blacks, Chinese, and others subhuman. We will be better when we no longer deprive the preborn of their humanity. We are always better when we acknowledge the humanity and worth of others, when we turn from evil.
The sanctity, the sacredness of our lives begins with God, the source and creator of all life. Every person, from the moment of conception, gets their life and breath from God. Each one of us is a living creation of God and bears the image of God. This is not true of the fish swimming in Lake Don Pedro, or the bald eagle who landed on the power pole by my house, or of Walter our dog whom everybody loves. But it is true of you and me, of those who don’t like or even hate me, the old woman in the wheelchair staring into space as I walked past her at the convalescent home, the strange souls in front of me in the checkout line at Walmart, the illegal alien who thanked me for a cup of coffee but I couldn’t converse with because I don’t speak Spanish, the pregnant woman and the baby inside of her shopping at Dollar General, our governor whose politics I am not a fan of, the young man behind the counter who moved here from India a year ago handing me my gas receipt, the homeless guy at the entrance of Costco who lives a life I know nothing about. All of them are God’s image bearers, all of them recipients of life from God’s good hands, just like you and me.
If we are serious about the sanctity of human life we have to call evil evil, pray to be delivered from evil Matthew 6:13), and make sure we don’t participate in and contribute to evil. Dehumanizing, devaluing, considering someone dispensable is evil. Two more mass shootings in the last two days – evil. Even considering leaving a baby that survived an abortion to die on a hospital table – evil. Denying someone the justice and care I want for myself – evil. Mistreating, abusing, taking advantage of, defrauding, cheating, maligning, or murdering another human being – evil. However, the problem with calling evil evil is who gets to define evil. The powerful? The majority? Both of them have terrible track records. The wisest thing is to defer the definition of good and evil, of right and wrong, to God, who alone is untouched by evil and eternally wise (Proverbs 15:3, 24:11-12, Ecclesiastes 12:14, Isaiah 5:20, John 5:28-29, 1 peter 3:8-12, Romans 16:27)
Finally, in the debate on the sanctity of human life, the acknowledgment of God and calling evil evil is not enough. We, individually and collectively, have to actually treat each other right, with the dignity, respect, goodness, and compassion that sacred life deserves and demands, and we have to come to the aid of those who are mistreated. If loving God and hating evil were enough there would not have been a need for God and Christ to command us to love our neighbor as ourselves (Mark 12:31), to love each other like Christ loves us (John 13:34-35), and to even love our enemy (Luke 6:35). We can’t get abortion right if don’t love both (not one or the other) the mother and the baby growing in her first. We won’t get immigration right if we don’t love “those” illegal aliens first. We won’t get justice right if we can’t love the poor (Proverbs 29:7), the wronged, and the weak. We won’t get much of anything right if don’t love each other like Jesus. But when we do, evil is defeated, and the world is a better place.
Why put Jesus in the middle of the sanctity of human life? Because that is where God rightfully belongs and no one knows more about life and making right and righteous choices than Jesus, “I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance” John 10:10b (HCSB).
To God be all glory. Love you, Pastor Hans