2023-06-04 Sanctity of Life

What’s a human worth? That depends entirely on how you value it. If you take the basic chemical elements of it, not much. According to the website ThoughtCo.com, in an article dated to January 13, 2020, “Your Body Is Made Of:

65%, oxygen

18%, carbon

10%, hydrogen

3%, nitrogen

1.5%, calcium

1%, phosphorous

0.35%, potassium (blank)

0.25%, sulfur

0.15%, sodium

0.15%, chlorine

0.05%, magnesium

0.0004%, iron

0.00004%, iodine

Your body contains trace amounts of other elements, such as silicon, manganese, fluorine, copper, zinc, arsenic, and aluminum.” What do you think the going rate for these chemical elements is for the average size human body? “The going rate for a body's worth of these elements: just $1.”

https://www.thoughtco.com/worth-of-your-elements-3976054 When I was younger, I remember it being more like $4. Oh well, our chemical value appears to have decreased.

What is a human worth? Well, during much of history, people were bought and sold as slaves. Obviously, the value of a slave depended on a number of factors, age, sex, health, job skills and skill level are the obvious ones. The British Museum online says, “Based on literary and documentary sources, the average price for an unskilled or moderately skilled enslaved person in the first three centuries AD was about 2,000 sesterces. To give a sense of scale, in the first century AD, a legionary (a Roman foot soldier) received a salary of 900 sesterces per year – amounting to less than 600 following deductions for rations, boots, and hay. An ordinary centurion (a legionary's commander) was paid 15 times more, (30,000 sesterces) only needing to set aside wages for a few months in order to afford an enslaved person.” https://www.britishmuseum.org/exhibitions/nero-man-behind-myth/slavery-ancient-rome

What is a human worth? During war, not much. During World War 2 in Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia, even less. Never mind the cultural Revolution in China or Pol Pot’s regime in Cambodia. The 20th century was the bloodiest on record.

The cold hard reality is that when humans are the ones to determine other human’s value, the results are awful. I’ve just described some atrocious ways in which humans value others.

Most of us believe that how slavery and Nazism and communism valued people is wrong. We assume that humans have high value. Why? Why do we think this way?

God’s Value of People

As Christians, we take our understandings and seek to shape our values from what God says.

So how does God value people? What does God’s word say about the value of a human?

In the Image of God

The creation account on the first page of the Bible is the foundational text speaking to the value of human beings according to God. To get a full picture of what it says about human being’s value we would need to read the entire text. But for the sake of time, I won’t. The first five days of creation describe the creation of everything but human beings. Light and darkness, water above and water below, land and sky, plants, the sun, moon and stars, creatures in the water and air.

On the last day we read, “And God said, ‘Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds; the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.’ And it was so. God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.” So now everything is complete, right? Since we’re one of the creatures that move along the ground, people are now created, right?

No. We are not lumped in with all the other creatures. We get separate treatment at the end of Day six. (Read vv26-31) (blank)

Not only are we not lumped in with all the other creatures that move along the ground God takes 3 verses to explain our creation. A separate explanation for a unique creation. What makes us unique?

We’re the only creatures described as being in the image of God. Wayne Grudem says, “the meaning is that God plans to make a creatures similar to himself. Both the Hebrew word for ‘image’ (tselem) and the Hebrew word for likeness (demut) refer to something that is similar but not identical to the thing it represents or is an ‘image’ of.” We are similar in our creativity, similar in our ability to communicate, similar in our ability to make moral decisions, similar in our desire for relationship and similar in our ability to love, but God is far greater.

An image is also a representative of the thing it is an image of, it is this image that gives us

Authority over the other creatures. As God is ruler over everything, he has given us rulership over the creatures of the earth. Like God is ruler, so we are rulers.

This concept of the image of God gives dignity to every human being. Yes, the fall came, and within us we have the brokenness that comes with the Fall, but the dignity of being created in God’s image is still there. I love seeing nature and the beauty of creation, whether that be here in Canada or any other part of the world. But as much as I find creation to be amazing, this passage reminds me that the people right in front of me, no matter how broken, are more in the image of God than the most beautiful nature scene. The person broken by drugs and substance abuse, the one who has been abused and had their heart broken, the one who struggles with self-worth and self-harm, the one with a physical deformity no matter how gross and the one who is decrepit and old was made in the image of God. Like God, but not.

This foundational teaching that all men are created in the image of God reverberates through the rest of Bible and through history ever since. How so? First, I’ll look at a few more scripture passages and then look at how this has played out in history and some specific issues today.

Prohibition against murder

We of course know the command in the 10 commandments, “You shall not murder” found in Exodus 20:13, but it’s not the first time this commandment is given. The first one explicitly connects the commandment to the image of God. Turn with me to Genesis 9, God’s covenant with Noah. We are included in this covenant because we are his descendants. After telling Noah that all living creatures will now fear man and giving them all for food for man, he speaks about the value of life. (read Genesis 9:4-6) (blank)

We are not free to simply take another person’s life and the explicit reason given is that people are made in the image of God. The image of God in people matters. What this passage makes clear is that even though the Fall has marred the image of God, it is still there.

Jesus reinforces this prohibition against murder and ups the ante in Matthew 5. (read vv21-22) (blank) Not only is murder wrong, devaluing another person with words is also wrong. ‘Raca’ “was a derogatory [Aramaic] expression meaning “empty-headed,” insinuating a person’s stupidity or inferiority. It was an offensive name used to show utter contempt for another person.” https://www.gotquestions.org/raca.html

Why did Jesus say this? He doesn’t say, but by his actions and words during his ministry it is obvious that Jesus deeply loved people. He had made them in his own image. Words matter. They cut to the heart and can murder a person inside. James reinforces what Jesus says here and refers back to the image of God when he speaks about the proper use of the tongue. “With the tongue we praise the Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be.” James 3:9,10

Speaking of Jesus, he brings up people being in the image of God in a subtle way in one of his answers to the pharisees when they use a trick question on him. (read Matthew 22:15-22) Who’s image are we made in? God’s. We should be giving ourselves to God.

The ultimate ethical injunctions are the great commandments of the OT, that Jesus quoted, “Love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and love your neighbour as yourself.” Because we are made in the image of God, we should be loving him first and foremost and because the people around us are made in the image of God we should be loving them as much as we love ourselves.

Loved Enough to Die For

Ultimately, the greatest expression of the value of a human life are the actions of Jesus. The incarnation teaches us that, because of his great love for us, Jesus put aside his heavenly glory and entered our world by taking on human flesh. This love found its ultimate expression in his death on the cross for all people. Every person on earth is equal before God. All equally sinned and all can experience the forgiveness of sin through faith in Jesus. Paul put it this way in Galatians 3:7-9 (read). Because both Gentiles and Jews gain salvation through Jesus, Paul could go on to say in Galatians 3:26-28 “So in Christ Jesus you are all children of god through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew no Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (blank) Every person on earth has intrinsic value. Every person has infinite worth. Why? Because the infinite God was willing to die so that person could have new life.

Reverberations in Society

The reverberations of this idea of people having intrinsic value have been worldwide. Because of the truth of people being made in the image of God, slavery was abolished first in the Roman empire and secondly in the 1800’s.

We like to think our western civilization is built on the ideas of Greece and Rome. To a certain extent it is true, but it is built far more on this truth of the dignity of man. The fundamental assumptions of Western Society are far more Christian than they are Roman or Greek.

It is because of the worth of every person that hospitals and universal health care came out of western civilization. In Canada universal health care was first championed by Tommy Douglas, a Baptist Minister.

It is because of this idea that Protestants built schools wherever they went in the world. The logic went like this, ‘since all people have value, and God wants to save all people, all people should be able to read so they can read God’s word.’

The advancement of woman’s rights come out of this understanding of the value of all people and their also being fully in the image of God.

Human rights codes come out of Western culture and have their foundation in this understanding of the dignity of humankind. No other culture or political system has ever produced anything like it. Because of human rights codes and the idea of the dignity of all people, all kinds of other rights and practices have been derived from the original codes.

Modern Setbacks

Unfortunately, not all people in our society have their dignity and right to life honoured and protected. Today, here in Steinbach a Walk for Life is taking place at KR Barkman park. It is planned and hosted by Life Culture whose executive Director is Susan Penner here in Steinbach. There is a barbecue lunch and some speeches and then a walk. It is not a protest, instead, it is a celebration of life and meant to be life giving. Everyone is invited to bring the kinds of things you would bring to a baby shower, like diapers, gifts cards, etc. I encourage you to go. Susan Penner will be speaking at one of the mini-sessions at The Gathering in Winkler next Saturday. I attended a session she put on for local business leaders and pastors.

The focus of Life Culture is to promote the view that every person has dignity and value, based on this understanding that all people are created in the image of God. They have value before they are born and value until their natural death. As such, Life Culture speaks up for the unborn and those who are being persuaded to commit suicide through Medical Assistance in Dying. The statistics for both are staggering.

Abortion is the leading cause of death in Canada.

Every year 100,000 babies die by abortion. Cancer kills 81,000 and heart disease 53,000.

While many assume that teenagers account for the greatest number of abortions, they actually account for the fewest, 2.3 % of abortions for those under 18 according to Canadian statistics. Over 50% are when the mother is between 18 and 29 with the rest over age of 30.

The top two reasons given by those pushing abortion are rape and the endangerment of the mother’s life. Both are tragic circumstances. However, only .14% of abortions are because of rape and .27% of times it is because the woman’s life is in danger. 19.9% of abortions are because of the social or economic reasons and the 75% are completely elective, no reasons are given.

According to a 2017 study published by the Journal of American Physicians & Surgeons, 74% of post-abortive women say they felt pressure from others to abort and 66% of post-abortive women say they knew in their hearts they were making a mistake when they underwent the abortion. I’ll never forget the anguish in the voice of a lady who called me out of the blue about 8 years ago after she had an abortion. The sense of guilt she experienced was overwhelming.

Meanwhile, MAiD, Medical Assistance in Dying has skyrocketed in Canada. When the Liberal government of Justin Trudeau brought it in, they said they would have strict controls on who would be allowed to choose MAiD. These controls have been steadily eroded. The annual number of people dying this way has gone from 1018 in 2016 to 10,064 in 2021. These numbers maybe don’t sound very high, but keep in mind that by 2021 it was the sixth leading cause of death. California brought MAiD in the same year Canada did with about the same population yet in 2021 they had 486 die, while we had over 10,000. MAiD removes the ethical and moral responsibility society has to take care of the aging and vulnerable. What also happens is the subtle pressure that it places on people who are elderly and struggling to end their lives so that their children no longer have to care for them. This has been well documented in the Netherlands for many years.

Will things change for the better re abortion and MAiD? Not likely. Canada is very definitely a post-Christian country. The support for both abortion and MAiD is well above 50%. I’m not speaking to you today about these twin evils for political reasons. What I’m doing is to try to give you a reason for personally rejecting these practices. I am opposed to abortion and MAiD for one reason and one reason only, the same reason I’m an Anabaptist and against taking human life in war. The dignity of human life founded in the truth that all people are created in the image of God and as a result, I, we, do not have the right to take another person’s life or treat them with disrespect.

Conclusion

What is a life worth? Corrina and I just finished reading the book Soul Care, by Dr. Rob Reimer. In his first chapter on Identity, he says this, (read p39) Dr. Reimer is right on target. Your life is worth the blood of Jesus. You are valued because you have been created in the image of God. It makes all the difference in how we treat others and how we value those around us. I urge you to choose The Biblical understanding of the value of human life and live it out.

Pray

Benediction: Numbers 6:24-26

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