Made in His Image
TEXT: Psa 139:13-16
INTRODUCTION
· What is the value of a human life?
· Important question – your answer to it influences your opinion about some hot topics in today’s society – physician assisted suicide, euthanasia (mercy killing), abortion
· Today talk about biblical principles regarding the sanctity of human life
I. WHY TALK ABOUT IT?
A. Churches across the country have set aside the 3rd Sunday in January as Sanctity of Human Life Sunday
1. January 22, 1973 the United States Supreme Court gave states the authority to legalize abortion
2. Since then, over 35-40 million legal abortions have taken place
3. More statistical info is available on abortion since physician assisted suicide and euthanasia are illegal & abortion is legal
B. Why children are aborted? (from Alan Guttmacher Institute: the research arm of Planned Parenthood, a Pro Choice Org)
1. 75% - a baby would interfere with their work, school, or other responsibilities
2. 2/3 say they cannot afford a child
3. 50% say they don’t want to be a single parent or are having problems with their husband or partner
4. 1% are victims of incest or rape
C. What does the Bible say about all this?
II. BIBLICAL PRINCIPLES REGARDING SANCTITY OF HUMAN LIFE
A. Remember that these principles apply to all of life – more than just abortion
B. Psa 139:13-16 – turn in your Bibles
C. God is creator of life & everything that makes up that life
1. Vs 13: You created my inmost being
You knit me together in my mother’s womb
2. Vs 15: (David speaking)
I was made
I was woven together
a. God is the creator; David has done nothing
b. He gave no input to God; no information paper
c. David didn’t request certain personality traits
d. David was totally passive in creation
3. Vs 13 - "You created my inmost being" – literally - ‘kidney’
a. Hebrew idiom - the part of me that is the center of my emotions and conscience
(1) Like we use the word “heart”
b. Speaks of moral aspect, spiritual capacity, my will
c. More than just genes, chromosomes, various chemicals, arms, legs, muscles, etc
d. Created all of us, including the moral & spiritual aspects
e. He knew us before we were born - our personality, gifts, hang- ups, our potential, His plans for us
4. Jer 1:4-5: The word of the Lord came to me saying, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you. Before you were born I set you apart. I appointed you as a prophet to the nations."
a. God knew us even before He formed us in the womb
III. HE CREATED US IN HIS OWN IMAGE
A. Gen 1:26-27: Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, & let them rule over the fish of the sea & the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, & over all the creatures that move along the ground." So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male & female he created them."
B. Every life is significant, important, and has dignity because we are created in the image of God
1. Child of a President of child of prostitute – are created in the image of God
2. Child of 40 yr old couple trying to have a baby for 15 yrs or the child of a 15 yr old who had sex one time - are created in the image of God
C. Have dignity, significance, importance because you were created in the image of God
1. Feel joy, disappointment, anger, love: because you were created in image of God
(IL) Mary became pregnant with Jesus, she went to tell her
cousin, Elizabeth, who was 6 months pregnant w/ Jn B,
Jn B “leaped with joy” within his mother’s womb when Mary
announced the news
The infant, Jn B, even before birth experienced joy – he
was created in the image of God
2. Make decision to come to chapel today because you were created in image of God
3. Ability to reason thru a problem because you were created in image of God
4. Have your own unique personality because you were created in the image of God
5. Can bear witness to HS & have a capacity for spiritual things because you were created in image of G
D. Image of God is marred & defaced because of sin, but it is still there
1. God’s sanctifying work in the lives of His people is a restoration process of the image of God in us
IV. IF WE EVER FORGET PEOPLE ARE MADE IN THE IMAGE OF GOD, THEN DEPERSONALIZATION AND DEHUMANIZATION REIGN & IT BECOMES OPEN SEASON ON HUMAN BEINGS BECAUSE HUMAN BEINGS ARE NO LONGER LOOKED AT AS BEING UNIQUE AND SPECIAL.
A. Logically follow it through
1. Not special – Abortion, infanticide & euthanasia become OK
2. Puts us on a slippery slope where anything can become possible
B. Three examples
(IL) Dr. Leo Alexander was a consultant to the Secretary of War in the Nuremberg Trials. He had extraordinary access to accused Nazi war criminals in the medical community. He wrote in the New England Journal of Medicine in 1949, arguing that compassionate killing of the terminally ill set the stage for the Holocaust:
“WHATEVER PROPORTIONS THESE CRIMES FINALLY ASSUMED, IT BECAME EVIDENT TO ALL WHO INVESTIGATED THEM THAT THEY HAD STARTED FROM SMALL BEGINNINGS. THE BEGINNINGS AT FIRST WERE MERELY A SUBTLE SHIFT IN EMPHASIS IN THE BASIC ATTITUDE OF THE PHYSICIANS. IT STARTED WITH THE ACCEPTANCE OF THE ATTITUDE. . . THAT THERE IS SUCH A THING AS LIFE NOT WORTHY TO BE LIVED. THIS ATTITUDE IN ITS EARLY STAGES CONCERNED ITSELF MERELY WITH THE SEVERELY AND CHRONICALLY SICK. GRADUALLY THE SPHERE OF THOSE TO BE INCLUDED IN THIS CATEGORY WAS ENLARGED TO ENCOMPASS THE SOCIALLY UNPRODUCTIVE, THE IDEOLOGICALLY UNWANTED, THE RACIALLY UNWANTED, AND FINALLY ALL NON-GERMANS.”
1. The slippery slope of an attitude that there is a life created in the image of God is not worthy to be lived
EXAMPLE #2
(IL) WHILE EUTHANASIA AND ASSISTED SUICIDE REMAIN ILLEGAL IN HOLLAND, DOCTORS ARE FREE TO ENGAGE IN SUCH PRACTICES WITHOUT PROSECUTION IF THEY FOLLOW SPECIFIC GUIDELINES. AMONG OTHERS, THESE PARAMETERS REQUIRE THAT THE PATIENT BE COMPETENT, VOLUNTARILY REPEAT THE REQUEST FOR DEATH AND THE PATIENT EXPERIENCE UNBEARABLE SUFFERING FROM AN IRREVERSIBLE ILLNESS. HOWEVER, TWO DUTCH STUDIES, CONDUCTED IN 1990 AND 1995 FOUND THAT DOCTORS IN THE NETHERLANDS PRACTICED EUTHANASIA APART FROM THESE GUIDELINES. THESE STUDIES SUBSTANTIATE THE SUSPICION THAT GRANTING PHYSICIANS THE LEGAL LIBERTY TO INTENTIONALLY BRING ABOUT THE DEATH OF A PATIENT COULD RESULT IN PEOPLE BEING KILLED WHO DID NOT ASK TO DIE. THE STUDIES MAKE A DISTINCTION BETWEEN TWO FORMS OF EUTHANASIA: #1 -THE INTENTIONAL KILLING OF A PATIENT AT THE PATIENT’S EXPLICIT REQUEST, AND, #2 - ENDING LIFE WITHOUT THE EXPLICIT REQUEST OF THE PATIENT. AN ANALYSIS OF DEATHS IN BOTH CATEGORIES REVEALS THAT 31 PERCENT OF CASES IN 1990, AND 22.5 PERCENT IN 1995 INVOLVED PATIENTS WHO DID NOT GIVE THEIR EXPLICIT CONSENT TO BE KILLED.
1. The slippery slope continues as physicians trained to save & preserve life created in the image of God now destroy it & take it away
EXAMPLE #3
(IL) JILL STANEK IS A 44 YEAR OLD NURSE WHO WORKED FOR SEVERAL YEARS AT THE CHRIST HOSPITAL & MEDICAL CENTER IN OAK LAWN, ILLINOIS, A CHICAGO SUBURB. SHE CHOSE THIS HOSPITAL BECAUSE OF ITS CHRISTIAN NAME, HOPING THAT SHE WOULDN’T HAVE TO FACE SOME OF THE ETHICAL DILEMMAS REGARDING ABORTION THAT SHE MIGHT HAVE TO FACE AT ANOTHER HOSPITAL. SHE SOON LEARNED THAT THE HOSPITAL, IN SPITE OF NOT HAVING A POLICY THAT REGULATED ABORTIONS, HAD BEEN DOING THEM SINCE 1978. JILL LEARNED THAT THE HOSPITAL FAVORED A NONSURGICAL METHOD OF ABORTION THAT USED A DRUG CALLED CYTOTEC TO INDUCE PREMATURE LABOR. THE BABIES DELIVERED ARE QUITE SMALL BUT FULLY FORMED. SOME OF THE BABIES, THOUGH PREMATURE AND SMALL, ARE BORN ALIVE. ONE BUSY NIGHT AT THE HOSPITAL JILL RAN INTO A NURSE WHO WAS ON HER WAY TO A SOILED UTILITY ROOM TO DROP OFF AN ABORTED-BUT-STILL-LIVING DOWN SYNDROME BABY. THE NURSE WAS TOO BUSY WITH OTHER PATIENTS TO HOLD THE BABY UNTIL IT DIED. JILL TOOK THE BABY AND HELD IT UNTIL IT DIED 45 MINUTES LATER. ANOTHER LIVING INFANT WAS FOUND LYING NAKED ON A SCALE UNTIL IT DIED. ANOTHER WAS FOUND LYING NAKED ON THE EDGE OF A SINK. JILL STANEK WAS PARTICULARLY STRUCK BY THE HOSPITAL’S INCONSISTENCY. THEIR MISSION STATEMENT WAS “THE MISSION OF ADVOCATE HEALTHCARE IS TO SERVE THE HEALTH NEEDS OF INDIVIDUALS, FAMILIES, AND COMMUNITIES THROUGH WHOLISTIC PHILOSOPHY ROOTED IN OUR FUNDAMENTAL UNDERSTANDING OF HUMAN BEINGS AS CREATED IN THE IMAGE OF GOD.” JILL STANEK, THROUGH VARIOUS AVENUES, BEGAN TO CONFRONT THE SITUATION AND WHILE THE HOSPITAL STILL DOES ABORTIONS, THE CASE HAS BEEN DEBATED IN THE U.S. SENATE. ALSO, REPRESENTATIVE CHARLES CANADY FROM FLORIDA SPONSORED HR 4292, “THE BORN ALIVE INFANT PROTECTION ACT OF 2000.” THE BILL PASSED 22-1 OUT OF SUBCOMMITTEE, BUT HAS NOT YET BECOME LAW.
1. This slippery slope was described on the U.S. Senate floor by Senator Bob Smith from New Hampshire when he expressed outrage that a woman’s right to choose had come down to choosing between a bassinet or a sterile hospital bucket for a life that was created in the image of God.
V. EACH AND EVERY ONE IS CREATED IN THE IMAGE OF GOD AND THERE IS VALUE IN, & HE CARES ABOUT EACH AND EVERY ONE.
A. Think about the ministry of Jesus – how much of it was to individuals
1. Widow of Nain – He brings her son back to life
2. Woman caught in adultery – Rejected & condemned by others, He reaches out to the one & gives her acceptance, forgiveness , & another chance
3. Blind Bartimaeus – In the midst of a crowd along a dusty road, Jesus reaches out to the one & gives him His sight
4. Man living in the tombs – Rejected by others, Jesus reaches out to the one & delivers him from demon possession
B. Jesus cares about each and every one & teaches us that there is value in one
1. He cares about & finds value in the elderly or terminally ill
2. He cares about & finds value in the little infant aborted at the hands of
another
3. He cares about & finds value in the mother who made the decision to have the abortion, the husband or boyfriend who encouraged it, the parents who paid for it
a. It is not either/or but it is both/and – He cares about & finds value in each life
4. The medical community who performed the abortion or euthanized the
terminally ill or the elderly - they were created in God’s image too & are of value in His sight
5. He cares…each & every one is valuable and important to Him…each & every one is His creation…created in His image
CONCLUSION
· On this Sanctity of Human Life Sunday, my hope and prayer is that we all may get a clearer glimpse of what it means to be created in the image of God & that we all may understand more fully & completely that we are all valuable to Him
