January 6, 2003
LifeWay Explore the Bible Series for Jan. 19
Created in God's image, human life is sacred
___Genesis 1:27; Deuteronomy 18:10; Psalm 139:13-16; Mark 10:13-16
___By Robert Creech
___University Baptist Church-Clearlake, Houston
___With time and usage, any phrase can become worn and meaningless. Even the words "sanctity of human life" can lose their capacity to communicate. They can become a trite political slogan. Yet when we talk about human life, we address a holy subject. We should speak words like these slowly and thoughtfully, not glibly.
___Human life is sacred. Two great biblical affirmations tell us that this is so. First, God created human beings in his own image. Genesis 1:26-27 describes the Creator's intention in forming human life. God did something distinctive with this aspect of his creation. He created men and women "in his own image." This fact makes human life distinctive.
___Both the Old and New Testaments affirm the idea that human beings bear the image of God. In Genesis 9:6, God first forbids murder because people bear God's image. Because a human life bears the image of God, no other human being has the right to take it. In Colossians 3:10, Paul affirms the sanctifying work of God in renewing his image in us through Christ.
___The second truth that sets human life apart as distinctive is that God sent his Son to die on our behalf. In this way, he demonstrated his love for us (Romans 5:8) and, at the same time, demonstrated the value he places on human life. Jesus became human and lived among us (John 1:14) and he died to reconcile us to God. God regards human life as precious.
___Two things will be true of every human being you and I encounter: This is one who bears the image of God; and this is one for whom Christ died. These two truths mark human life as sacred, holy and precious.
___The sanctity of a human life begins in mystery. Technology enables us to observe human life in the womb, even to witness conception at a cellular level. Science has evolved the capacity to fertilize a human egg in a laboratory. At the time of this writing, rumor has it that the first cloned human child is about to be born in Canada.
___Such developments, nevertheless, have not removed the shroud of mystery about the origin of a life. Human knowledge may permit us to manipulate the process in a variety of ways. Nevertheless, we cannot replicate it. Life is a gift from God.
___At what point in this miraculous process does human life come into being? Theologians, philosophers and ethicists have struggled with this question in the debates about abortion. We value and protect a child as she emerges from the womb. Was she not equally valuable an hour earlier? What about an hour earlier than that? And before that? The only conclusion that clearly protects the sanctity of a life is to affirm its value beginning with the miracle of conception. The Psalmist spoke of God's hand in forming him in his mother's womb, and of God's knowledge of his life even at that stage (Psalm 139:13-16).
___At what point in this miraculous process does human life cease? Debates about euthanasia, assisted suicide and elder care have had to face that question. Is there some qualitative point at which a life ceases to be human? The sanctity of human life calls us to regard life as a holy thing even when its quality begins to diminish.
___Jesus confronted those who dismissed children as somehow less important than adults (Mark 10:13-16). In the same way, his teachings and actions challenged those who thought women somehow less important than men. Jesus valued all people--children and adults, old and young, women and men, Samaritan and Jew, poor and rich--as bearers of the image of God and as objects of the Father's love. The burden of proof will always belong to those who would devalue a human life for any reason whatsoever.
___The phrase "the sanctity of human life" is one we dare not speak lightly. Allowed to bear its full meaning, it calls to protect and care for the unborn and the aged, the healthy and the weak, those who are whole and those who are broken, saint and sinner. Every person of every race, tribe and nation is included in this affirmation.
___To speak these words means we must do more than take a stand on the issue of abortion. These ideas should affect our positions on war, capital punishment, world hunger and poverty, AIDS, euthanasia, care for the aged and a host of other issues.
___Either all human life is sacred or the phrase is empty. The power of that theological expression must affect more than how we vote. It must affect the way we live. Flowing from the life of spiritual discipline and devotion ought to be an authentic expression of care and compassion for human life (Isaiah 58:3-14).
___Questions for discussion
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