Value of Life
The soft music plays stirring the emotions inside. Words slowly appear on the screen speaking of the injustice and sadness in the world. Then for the climax of the commercial, sad pictures of young children suffering, malnourished and living in garbage. These commercials are quiet common in America, so common that I think we are even a bit calloused to them and the injustice and suffering in the world. The other night though, as my wife and I sat down to watch a program we heard the soft music began in what we thought would be another one of these advertisements. Then it got interesting. It was not an advertisement for the helpless and downtrodden people in the world but for cats and dogs. With an eerie likeness to the commercials we see about suffering humans, we saw one solely for the rescue of animals. The soft music, the words across the screen speaking of death and abuse, the sad pictures, then the plea for just $18 dollars a month to save an animal. It was so much like the commercials about human suffering that they offered to send you a picture of the animal that your money was going to. Now to make a few things clear before I go on: I am not saying that I do not care about the abuse of animals or that I am even indifferent to the fact. What caught my attention was that in that moment, animals and human beings were put on the same playing field and given the same value and with that point I have an issue. When it comes down to a suffering person or Fido the orphan dog, I would hope the $18 dollars would go to the person.
Maybe I am taking this too far (I don’t think I am) but the issue of human value is constantly on my mind. Are we valuable? Why are we valuable? And an even better question is from what or where do we get are value? These are monumental questions that should stir and challenge your soul. How you answer these questions can lay a basis for how you view the world around you and how you make major decisions. So where do you stand and what are your answers to these questions? Do your answers reflect how you live your daily life?
I would hope to say that most people could at least agree on the point that their own life is valuable. I know that some would not agree even at this point, but I believe even the mind set that doesn’t see self as valuable can be rectified with the right answers to the questions.
So now for the harder part of this blog, me trying to step out like I have some sort of answers to these questions while not feeling prideful. Welcome to my daily battle. Here we go though, "be bold Valentine", like your wife tells you. Sorry needed a moment to get my self pumped up to try and answer the questions I am asking on my own blog!
Is human life valuable? YES!! I truly believe that all human life is valuable.
Why are we valuable? I believe that we are valuable because of the One that created us.
Where do we get our value? We get our value from the God that created us.
When we can come to a true understanding of these questions I believe it will transform our lives. If we believe this then we have to come to the conclusion that our value can lie in nothing else. Not money, not fame, not the deeds we do. When our value comes from a never changing constant God then our value is not changed by anything. Not only should we find rest in this but we should also allow it to transform our mind on how we view others. A great pastor once said that "the truth that ended slavery was the truth of the gospel and the fact that the value of human life was found in God made men truly equal". I would love to go into this in greater depth with anyone that wishes to discuss, but for the sake of your time I will bring it to a close.
To point out one last point, I was up for a cheap date this past weekend with my wife and we went to go see "The Soloist". It caught our attention because of my passion for the homeless and my wife's enjoyment of the cello. It was a great movie. In the middle of the movie was a profound moment that stirred my thought on this topic of the value of human life. As one of the main characters recites the Lords Prayer, he got to the part saying, “Your will be done on earth as it is on heaven”, the camera pans over a scene of homeless people sleeping in trash cans and on the street. It then zooms in on the American flag above them. I paint this scene for you because I think it shows how the American view of human life is distorted because we don't see each other as created and given value by a great God. Instead, we see each other more or less valuable by who we are or what we have or what we've made ourselves to be instead of who God made us to be and the value He gives us.
Are our lives reflecting the fact that the value of life lies in the One who created it?
Please take time to reflect. Please.
Steve
Maybe I am taking this too far (I don’t think I am) but the issue of human value is constantly on my mind. Are we valuable? Why are we valuable? And an even better question is from what or where do we get are value? These are monumental questions that should stir and challenge your soul. How you answer these questions can lay a basis for how you view the world around you and how you make major decisions. So where do you stand and what are your answers to these questions? Do your answers reflect how you live your daily life?
I would hope to say that most people could at least agree on the point that their own life is valuable. I know that some would not agree even at this point, but I believe even the mind set that doesn’t see self as valuable can be rectified with the right answers to the questions.
So now for the harder part of this blog, me trying to step out like I have some sort of answers to these questions while not feeling prideful. Welcome to my daily battle. Here we go though, "be bold Valentine", like your wife tells you. Sorry needed a moment to get my self pumped up to try and answer the questions I am asking on my own blog!
Is human life valuable? YES!! I truly believe that all human life is valuable.
Why are we valuable? I believe that we are valuable because of the One that created us.
Where do we get our value? We get our value from the God that created us.
When we can come to a true understanding of these questions I believe it will transform our lives. If we believe this then we have to come to the conclusion that our value can lie in nothing else. Not money, not fame, not the deeds we do. When our value comes from a never changing constant God then our value is not changed by anything. Not only should we find rest in this but we should also allow it to transform our mind on how we view others. A great pastor once said that "the truth that ended slavery was the truth of the gospel and the fact that the value of human life was found in God made men truly equal". I would love to go into this in greater depth with anyone that wishes to discuss, but for the sake of your time I will bring it to a close.
To point out one last point, I was up for a cheap date this past weekend with my wife and we went to go see "The Soloist". It caught our attention because of my passion for the homeless and my wife's enjoyment of the cello. It was a great movie. In the middle of the movie was a profound moment that stirred my thought on this topic of the value of human life. As one of the main characters recites the Lords Prayer, he got to the part saying, “Your will be done on earth as it is on heaven”, the camera pans over a scene of homeless people sleeping in trash cans and on the street. It then zooms in on the American flag above them. I paint this scene for you because I think it shows how the American view of human life is distorted because we don't see each other as created and given value by a great God. Instead, we see each other more or less valuable by who we are or what we have or what we've made ourselves to be instead of who God made us to be and the value He gives us.
Are our lives reflecting the fact that the value of life lies in the One who created it?
Please take time to reflect. Please.
Steve
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