You are a unique individual, there’s nobody like you. You were created, and you are loved by a God of goodness and holiness. That God sent His Son to earth for you, and for each, and every human being, to seek and save the lost, and save through sacrifice. Your worth and value to God and to creation has nothing to do with your productivity, your circumstances, your experiences, or your status. Your salvation may be dependent on you accepting God’s love and walking in God’s way, but whether you accept it or not, salvation is always available to you. You are loved, amazing, and sacred, simply because God made you.
If you believe even a portion of what’s in the paragraph above, then you stand upon a doctrine of the Christian Church that we call “the sanctity of life”. While it doesn’t necessarily answer the question of “are you saved?”, it does answer the question of “what is a human being?”
We find this doctrine in many places in the Bible, here are just a few
- The Genesis account of creation (Gen 1-3)
- God’s words to the prophet Jeremiah (Jeremiah 1)
- The Sabbath commandment, which separates your value from your productivity (Exodus 20)
- The forbiddance of murder in the 10 commandments (Also Exodus 20)
- The mission statements of Jesus here on earth (John 3, Matthew 22)
- The great commission to the church (Matthew 28)
- Christ’s radical inclusion of those whom the first century considered to have low or no status
- Children and women (Matthew 19, John 4, 8)
- Romans and slaves (Luke 7)
- tax collectors and prostitutes (Matthew 9 and 21)
- Samaritans and gentiles (John 4)
- Lepers and the perpetually unclean (Matthew 8, Mark 5)
In short: God treats us all like we are special, beloved, individuals, who are uniquely made. Human beings bear the Imago Dei, the image of God. Every human being is offered salvation through Christ. None of the sacredness of your life is undone by any earthly circumstance, event, prejudice, or evil. None of those can touch your sacred worth.
If this is convicting with regard to how we treat one another… it should be. The last person that any one of us were really angry at, dismissive, or insulting to. That person is beloved by The God of the Universe.
And… so are you.
Historically, this Doctrine is a Deeply Meaningful Aspect of our Faith
The Sanctity of Human Life has been used historically to argue for and support some of the most groundbreaking and humanitarian movements of human history. As a Historian I can see this doctrine at work in many places:
- It motivated Early Methodist Bishop Francis Asbury to meet with George Washington shortly after the birth of the nation to discuss the abolition of slavery
- It was a part of the journey of John Newton turning from being a slave trader to abolitionist and penning the song Amazing Grace
- I hear it in the sermons and read it in the writings of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr and his fight against segregation.
- I absolutely admit that we as human beings do not always apply this belief perfectly and have often failed to live as though we fully believe in the sanctity of all human lives. BUT so many moments of goodness have come to human history from the times when we DID pay attention to it. When we do hear the teachings of God and when we do lift up the poor, the forgotten, the overlooked, the oppressed, the sanctity of human life is a part of that thinking, and Christians can give the world a picture of the Kingdom of Heaven.
The Sanctity of Human Life as it is applied to the Current Abortion Debate
You have the opportunity to engage this debate from a unique Christian point of view. In the United Methodist Social Principles, the church takes a true Sanctity of Life position on the topic that considers both lives of mother and child. You can read it here and below are a few short summary points.
- The church opposes abortion as birth control or gender selection.
- The church opposes late term abortion.
- The church understands that rare moments occur when the life of the mother is at stake.
- Overall, the church strongly encourages those facing an unplanned pregnancy to engage pastoral care and take time to seek the will of God.
- The church encourages loving and supportive care for those who have chosen abortion.
- The church commits to supporting crisis pregnancy centers and places a strong emphasis on supporting adoption.
Life is precious, Holy, and Sacred. The kingdom of heaven is lifted up when we as Christians remember this and incorporate it into our conversation. That’s one of our jobs here on earth as followers of Christ, to make the Kingdom of Heaven more visible here on earth.
I appreciate our United Methodist theologians as they wrestle with the sanctity of life in the abortion debate even if I, personally, might want to word a few paragraphs differently. I hope you can appreciate them too because they set an example of what it looks like to try and apply the sanctity of life to such a challenging question. May this discussion challenge you to think, direct you to pray, and inform what organizations you choose to and not to support. May it open your heart with compassion to the women facing such challenging moments and invite you to consider how our church could best be of support, grace, and help in the name of Jesus Christ.