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7
Government
The Sanctity of Human Life
by
David P. Gushee
THE IMPLICATIONS OF THIS VISION
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the great German theologian-martyr who knew a few things about the violation of human dignity, wrote these words in 1940: “Only because God became human is it possible to know and not despise real human beings. . . This is not because of the real human being’s inherent value, but because God has loved and taken on the real human being. The reason for God’s love for human beings does not reside in them, but only in God.”
History and current events consistently reveal that belief in human dignity is not just an indispensable bulwark against injustice and victimization, but also that it is fragile. It easily crumbles when a nation is afraid, or hateful, or selfish, or racist, or at war, or sexually irresponsible.
Christians must claim a holistic, comprehensive, sanctity of life vision and hold onto it no matter what pressures come our way. We must follow Scripture in viewing and treating each and every human being as sacred, from womb to tomb. This involves a constant fight against our sinful tendency to pick and choose whose lives will matter to us, or which threats against human dignity to be concerned about. This selective sanctity of life vision is often politically driven and leaves us more aligned with political ideologies than with Scripture.
Quite concretely, I want to suggest the following implications of this vision. In personal life, our calling is to honor the sacredness of everyone we encounter. This includes family members and friends but also strangers and enemies. It demands that a certain dignity must be accorded all people that we encounter, in all situations, ranging from a spouse who is currently frustrating us or yet another homeless person asking for change to that terribly difficult co-worker.
Our society could be transformed by Christians who refuse to participate in the viciousness of our current public conversation. Imagine the impact on our talk radio and our TV opinion shows if everyone somehow came to recognize the dignity and sacredness of their political and ideological enemies, and if Christians refused to support media personalities known for their anger and dismissive contempt for adversaries. Christians must be visibly different in how we speak of, and speak to, those we disagree with.
Here is a person for whom Christ lived, died, and rose again. We know this, and must act accordingly.
A holistic sanctity of life vision should shake up the settled categories of our politics. Certainly it includes holding onto belief in the dignity of the unborn child, even the tiny embryo, in the face of a culture that often derides these convictions. But it should also carry us into deep concern for, among others, the men and women on death row, the villagers on the receiving end of our bombs in Afghanistan, and the kids who have to go to subpar urban schools. The sanctity of life is not a Republican or Democratic vision, not a conservative or liberal vision, but a Christian vision that challenges every political party or ideology.
Ultimately, the sanctity of life will not be recognized without a prior recognition of the sanctity of God. Only as we fall in awe at the throne of God and recognize God’s holiness and majesty do we learn to value what God values in the way God values it. And the Bible, as we have seen, makes it very clear that despite our sin, God values human beings with an amazing and immeasurable love. All those who seek to honor God must seek to love human beings in the same way.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. Do you believe it’s possible for non-Christians or those who don’t hold Scripture as a sacred text to believe in the sanctity of human life? Why or why not?
2. Why do you think that some Christians often focus only on abortion as a sanctity of life issue while other Christians primarily emphasize care for the poor or opposition to war?
3. The author makes the case that one of the most foundational understandings for holding human life sacred comes from the concept of
shalom
. How did his description of
shalom
challenge you?
4. Have you ever considered the theological importance of God becoming a human in Jesus as it relates to this issue? How does it influence our understanding of humanity that Jesus himself was a tiny embryo, a small child, a poor homeless person, a convicted criminal, and a victim of violent death?
5. The early church is described as a “multi-ethnic, multi-linguistic, multi-racial, gender-inclusive, class-inclusive community. . . committed to pressing toward enemy-love.” In your cultural context, does your own community of faith embody these values? Why or why not?
6. Where is your own perspective on the sanctity of human life deficient? In light of the holistic vision presented in Scripture, what people are you most prone to ignore or neglect in giving proper dignity to?
END NOTES
1. For the purposes of this essay, the terms “human dignity,” “sacredness of life,” and “sanctity of life” will be used interchangeably. All refer to the conviction that each and every human life is of equal, immeasurable, and inviolable worth due to God’s actions and declarations toward humanity, as revealed in Scripture.
2. All quoted Scripture will be taken from Today’s New International Version of the Bible.
3. Gerhard von Rad,
Old Testament Theology
, vol. I, translated by D.M.G. Stalker (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1957), 2001.
4. Von Rad suggests that the resemblance might have been understood to extend even to physical characteristics (
Old Testament Theology
, 145-146). This makes more sense in light of Von Rad’s interpretation that humans were made in the image of the angels (elohim, Septuagint angeloi).
5.
Old Testament Theology
, 146.
6. John Barton,
Understanding Old Testament Ethics: Approaches and Explorations
(Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2003), 1-2.
7. Walter Brueggemann,
Living Toward a Vision: Biblical Reflections on Shalom
, 2nd ed. (New York: United Church Press, 1982), 16.
8. Walter Brueggemann,
A Social Reading of the Old Testament: Prophetic Approaches to Israel’s Communal Life
(Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1994), ch. 15.
9. Glen H. Stassen,
Just Peacemaking
(Cleveland: Pilgrim Press, 2008), ch. 2.
10. Dietrich Bonhoeffer,
Ethics: Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works, Volume 6
, edited by Eberhard Bethge, et. al, (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2005), 87.
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