In the last 40 years, 53 million Americans still in the womb have been killed. Of course, millions upon millions more around the world have been killed as well. For example, in China, the one child only requirement has led to the genocide of numbers that boggle the mind. In Russia, abortion is so significantly declining the population that it is being viewed as a threat to national security. 42 million children worldwide are killed every year; 123,000 in-womb children are aborted every day.
The important number is one. Each one of these statistical children is an image bearer of God. The dignity of personhood is extended to each human person regardless of category. If they are human, they are an image bearer of the Almighty. Black. White. Asian. Hispanic. Our children’s song uses color, “Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in his sight.” That was and is a needed truth for all of us.
How safe should a child be in the mother’s womb? That should be the safest place for the most vulnerable of all. Yet clearly it has not been for 53 million Americans over the last 40 years.
All Human Life is Sacred Because it Bears God’s Image
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it.” (Genesis 1:26-28 ESV)
In the very first chapter of his book, God lays out who he is and who we are and how our purpose and value are derived from his.
God created man in his own image. What does that mean? It means human life is unique. God created everything else, and nothing else is given this distinction. All other species and biological life have their own level of value as God calls them “good.” So it is good and right for us to seek to promote the good of the environment and to enjoy God’s beauty in this amazing creation. That’s a post for another time.
Here we need to see the unique dignity and honor that God gives to human life. Bearing God’s image means that we have more likeness to him, more in common with him, than anything else in all creation. More than all the galaxies; all the herds of migrating animals in Africa; all the birds; all the atoms and molecules. All of them reflect the glory of God and say something about his divine nature (Romans 1:18-20). But there is more of God’s likeness in one human being than all the galaxies combined.
Every human being, young or old, inside the womb or out, is a moral and spiritual being. They have a soul with relational and spiritual capacities unique to us and God. We are moral and spiritual; we have a soul. This is what makes human life sacred.
Scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
©2013 Steve DeWitt. You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that: (1) you credit the author, (2) any modifications are clearly marked, (3) you do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction, (4) you include Bethel’s website address (www.bethelweb.org) on the copied resource.
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All About Him 