“Meine Zeit steht in deinen Händen.”, read the plaque on the wall of my home as I was growing up. It was a quotation from the book of Psalms, verse 15:31, however, I did not grow up in a religious family so the meaning was completely wasted on me.
This saying, from Luther’s translation of the Bible, simply states that “My time (times or days) are in your Hands.” A beautiful way to look at the state of man in his relationship to his Creator.
In my godless upbringing, I understood that life was random. Good things happen, bad things happen and there is not much you can do about it – one way or the other. Yes, more than a little fatalistic. But, if you have no understanding of God, then you can not understand the uniqueness of human life nor see God’s hand at work in the world.
Through my early years of discipleship, in a Hutterite Community, I learned:
- We are all created in God’s image
- That human life has a God given value – no longer appreciated by the world
- That all taking of human life is wrong because it debases the value God places on human life
- That God will judge those whom take human life accordingly
- That no one has the right to take the last opportunity for salvation away from another – by killing them
Where am I going with this? Well, read on as I shift gears and look at a recent example, which affected my life, because I was there, talking and listening to those searching for answers.
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In the course of your life, you will find yourself readdressing the same issues repeatedly to see if the same answers apply to the world around you. At least this will be true if you question, find answers and then meditate on those answers to understand where God fits into the personal theology you either will create or have created for you if you fail to do so thoughtfully.
For me, this past week, has been one of readdressing the question of the value of human life and if God is really in control or not. Probably not a question you struggle with but by 16 I had encountered so much death and dying that I had lost any sense of value for human life!
So what happened?
Well, I was in Casas Adobes, at the Westward Look Resort, this past week.
Never heard of these places? Well, that is because this is a bedroom community outside of Tucson and when the shooting news hit the air a week ago – the shootings were now in Tucson – and not Casas Adobes.
In summary:
a mentally ill college student, whom had a drug problem, and a history of violence – was tossed out of college, was turned down by the military, had a fight with his father, was stopped for running a red light by a cop – and he snapped. He walked up to a political gathering, in front of the only grocery store near us, and opened fire on any and all in attendance. Six people were killed instantly, one gravely injured and 17 others wounded - though not critically.
What made those six so unique that they died? What made the 17 whom survived unique? What made the one whom should have died, but did not, unique? Indeed, were any of them unique? Or was their death or survival just a random occurrence? Where was God in all of this? These were the questions vocalized within the community this past week. When almost everyone in this small community knew everyone whom had been killed or wounded and even the family of the shooter – how do you give an answer when evil has struck a blow to the faith of the many, the faith of the weak, and driving further away the unbeliever from God whom they must seek?
And, I would add the question – are our days really in God’s hands when such random tragedies such as this can occur? Maybe David, whom wrote the original of this verse, which hung on my childhood home’s wall, was really a fruit loop and had no idea what he was saying.
Maybe we need to chew on this matter a little to find out one way or another.
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Human life is sacred; words used in one form or another to explain a pro-life viewpoint on issues like abortion, euthanasia, capital punishment and yes even war. While respect for the sanctity of human life is the foundation of the pro-life movement, what should this respect look like? How can we as Christians restore a reverence for human life into our daily lives?
The basis for understanding the sanctity of human life is defined in Genesis 1:27:
"So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them" (NKJV)
Being created in the image of God means more than just our appearance, having certain abilities or attributes. It means that as humans we are the images of God, regardless of what we can or cannot do. This image of the Creator is an attribute given uniquely to humans. Nothing else in God’s creation can have the same claim made for it.
In God's eyes, we each are endowed with something of God Himself. Each human carries within them the eternal, holy breath of God. Therefore, each human life exists as an expression of God. We are not soulless masses of flesh and blood, we each are image-bearers of God. Since we carry God's image, the sacredness of our existence, and the respect it demands, is based on something beyond ourselves – it can only be found in the essence of God Himself. It is not something you can see, touch, taste or smell. It is part of the mystery of human life.
In our creation, God has given us a basis for human dignity. It is not based on what we think of ourselves, what we can do, have done or even what God thinks of us in judgment. Interdependence upon each other nor our ability for independence does not lessen or enhance this dignity. It is not something we can lose or gain - it is the basis of who we are.
However, we live in a culture, which does not recognize the value of human life nor associated worth. Therefore, we collectively must create recognition and protection for those whom are dependent and/or incapable of having a voice within this culture. Human dignity is recognized and then strengthened when you, your family, your church and/or community care for those incapable of caring for themselves. When you care for others during their times of need you declare your recognition of their human dignity and value apart from the tasks they can no longer perform. Your willingness to serve and be served in time of physical weakness demonstrates your recognition of human dignity.
Our culture’s failure to respect the sanctity of life is shown through the actions of our society. We live in a time when people would rather die than continue living with less than their definition for "quality of life". Consider comments such as, "I would rather die than live as a …..". Just fill in the blank with your worse idea of what life could be like if you were injured, had cancer or just grew old. This idea is the creation of a society, which only respects those whom exhibit some level of physical ability, control and/or value to others. It should be of no surprise that dependency is looked upon as the ultimate weakness and worthy of death. When independence is seen as the basis for human dignity, then solutions such as abortion and euthanasia become the pragmatic solution.
Why has the concept of the sanctity of life been lost in our culture?
For starters, there is a spiritual source of this disrespect for life. In John 10:10, we learn that Satan’s goal is to steal, kill and destroy those made in the image of God. Motivated by hatred for those who reflect the image of God, the one who threw him out of heaven, Satan will continue to attack and seek to destroy us.
It is this spiritual context, which allows us to view the examples within our society where Satan has temporarily succeeded in destroying God’s creation:
- abortion
- experimentation on human embryos
- violence towards one another
- physician-assisted suicide
- euthanasia in many countries today
Satan is a ruthless enemy but not a very creative one. His mission is to "seek, kill and destroy" those created in the image of God and he will be with us until the end of this age. Our challenge is to reestablish the sanctity of life in our culture, restoring the value and worth of all human life from conception to natural death.
With the loss of Christian values in our society has come the disregard for the value of human life. Incidents, which have hogged our news reports, include all forms of violence man is capable of in taking the lives of others. Without an understanding of the sanctity of human life, all life becomes cheap. Man fails to recognize that each person, whom they are exposed to, bears the image of God. Since respect for human life is based on recognizing God as the Creator and man as having been created in His likeness, any nation having abandoned God will also abandon respect for God’s likeness. The sanctity of life is extremely difficult to grasp without God in the culture.
So, what can you do to help restore the sanctity of life in your life?
Restoration must begin in your own heart. It is safe to say you are not murdering our neighbors currently. However, examine your attitudes toward your neighbor, brothers and sisters in the Lord – which sow the seeds of hatred against the sanctity of life. We all need to struggle against the ways in which we fail to acknowledge the intrinsic worth of each individual through dishonor and/or disrespect.
This appears through our disdain for others based, for example, upon their appearance, negative comments we make behind their backs, gossip or impatience with the driver of the car ahead of us. Our sin of PRIDE shows itself through projected superiority, contempt for others and slander. Yet, physical acts of violence such as assault, rape and murder are more commonly associated with violations against the sanctity of life rather than acts of our heart (and tongue!). How can minor slip ups and our unimportant sins, such as these, be expressions of disrespect for God’s image in our world? The sins of our heart represent the core of our fallen nature - the very nature that motivates man to violate man, violates the image of God.
Next, as Christians we must teach the next generation to respect human life: parents teaching children by example, Sunday school teachers building up and not tearing down, discipleship programs and individual Bible study. If those we impact are respected and valued by us, they will grow to have an understanding of the sacredness of human life. Each of us is a spiritual leader to someone, you might not even realize this or to whom, but we have a duty to model the importance of human life to one another and the world around us.
Finally, we live within a government and culture, which has lost its understanding of the importance of human life. We must support public policies to protect human life and oppose legislation, which would threaten it. I am not proposing that you become an activist, but I am suggesting that you have a sphere of people whom you can influence by example, through prayer and discussion. As an individual, as a family unit, as a church, we must strive to restore to our culture and ourselves the concept of the Sanctity of Human Life.
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So what happened in Tucson?
An angry young man, raised without an awareness of the value of human life, struck back at a society which had rejected him in his estimation. His crime spree ended quickly when he attempted to reload his Glock’s magazine as a woman he had already shot grabbed both of his hands and blocked any attempt to insert another clip into the gun. Concurrently, two men in their late 70’s tackled him to the ground and restrained him until the police arrived.
As for the victims?
It is hard to understand that God, being in control, allowed for six lives to be ended so randomly and unexpectedly. If you hold to the concept that their days were equally in God’s hand, then they could just as easily have gotten whooping cough and died, or been struck by a bread truck. For those whom were wounded, it may well have been by design that their days were not up just yet and so there is the argument for their survival at this man caused tragedy.
Moreover, for at least one man in that crowd that day, he apparently did understand the sanctity of human life. When the shooting began, he threw his wife of 50 years to the ground and shielded her body with his. He died from the three bullets he took on her behalf.
Was God there that day? Yeah, it would seem random chance would have caused one heck of a bigger mess than it was…..
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Sanctity of Human Life Sunday is January 23, 2011.
Take this week and set aside some time to meditate on where you stand in your understanding of the value of human life. Meditate on what you are willing to do to underscore this understanding in your life, your church, your town, your state.
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