Life Is More Than a Slogan

This past Sunday, January 20, 2019, we recognized this year’s Sanctity of Human Life Sunday.  We use this day each year not only to celebrate God’s gift of life and to honor the many lives lost to abortion, but also to commit to protecting human life at every stage and in every circumstance.  The original Sanctity of Human Life Sunday was first held on January 22, 1984.  Then President, Ronald Reagan, issued the proclamation to coincide with the eleventh anniversary of the United States Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision which legalized abortion on-demand in all fifty states.  We continue to acknowledge Sanctity of Human Life Sunday every year, but why?  Why do we continue to bring focus to the third Sunday in January using a term that for some has been reduced to a cultural, political, or moral slogan—an overused remnant from the 1980’s?  The reason is simultaneously profound yet simple.
 
The word sanctity itself stems from the Latin word sanctus, which means sacred, holy, or inviolable.  In other words, as Professor of Christian Ethics at Mercer University, David P. Gushee, explains, “It is possible to argue that the idea of the sanctity of human life is essentially a conferring of God’s holiness or sanctity onto the pinnacle of God’s creation, human beings. Humans can have sanctity because God their Creator and Redeemer does, or because God wills that they should be viewed and treated as such.”  This is where the simplicity of the sanctity of human life lies.  Human value does not depend on financial worth, achievement, contribution to society, or success in any area.  Human value is predetermined before we are even born simply because we are our loving Father’s creation. 

The complexity of this ideal is multi-faceted. What makes the notion of the sanctity of human life more profound than the fact we are a creation of God, is its universality.  The sanctity of life is perhaps one of the most extensive and most inclusive moral obligations we as Christians or as human beings have to one another because each and every human being is included regardless of stage of existence or quality of experience and extending to every type of human diversity imaginable whether it be race, gender, ability, or socio-economic status.  What all are included in is a brotherhood of immeasurable worth and inviolable dignity as determined by God.  This stunning and elevated ideal of the worth and dignity of all human life is what we mean, or should mean, when we invoke the term of the sanctity of life.
 
Sanctity of human life is a moral conviction and obligation that continually challenges our efforts to redefine or delegitimize it.  Humans will often try to manipulate the universality of the sanctity of human life by limiting its scope of inclusion by eliminating those we deem to be “the others”.  Whether the motivation is hatred, convenience, or what we consider reasons of financial responsibility, we can sometimes find it difficult to include within the brotherhood of the truly human those we may not see as relevant or equal—the weak, the enemy, the disabled, the stranger, the unborn, the sinner, the racial other, the poor, or something as benign as the ex-friend.  However, each of these human beings has a value that far exceeds our capacity to count or measure.  Isaiah 55:8-9 states, "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways," declares the LORD. "For as the heavens are higher than the Earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts.”  Our efforts to alter the value of human life to fit into our convenient world-view, can never change the undeniable fact that God’s ways are the ones that truly define our existence.  God determined we all have value simply by creating us.  This blessing from the Creator of all ensures that every life is sacred.  This understanding is why the term “sanctity of human life” remains relevant to this day.  It will never be a remnant of 1980’s culture, because the worth God places on human life is undeniable and unending.
 
Now the question becomes: “What do we do with this knowledge?”  While the term sanctity of human life is often applied to the abortion debate, the term is much broader than simply protecting babies from abortion.  It is not enough to simply ensure babies are born, but rather that they and their entire family are able to live life abundantly.  According to Ephesians 1:5, “He predestined us for adoption to Himself as sons (and daughters) through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will.”  As the children of God we are also brother and sisters to each other.  As parents we teach our children to look out for one another.  As brothers and sisters in Christ it is our duty to do the same.  We have a moral obligation to protect life as well as to lift each other up so that we may all live life abundantly though Christ.  The Caring Pregnancy Center’s goal is to do just that.  We seek to protect life by educating the abortion-vulnerable, or providing life-saving ultrasounds.  Our nurses have currently performed 317 confirmed pregnancy ultrasounds, and of that, 309 have chosen life.  That is a remarkable 97.5%.  We seek to lift up families by giving them the tools to make the best choices for their families, pointing them toward spiritual and personal growth, and alleviating material needs by offering the items needed to feed and clothe their babies.  Despite all we do, we cannot do it alone.  Every life saved or improved is because of God’s grace and goodness, and the support of so many generous souls in the communities we serve.
 
It is our hope that you will join us in recognizing Sanctity of Human Life Sunday every day of the week and all year long.  More than that we hope you will join the community of brothers and sisters in Christ that seek to celebrate each and every human life and do what we can to lift each other up so that each person no matter their circumstance is able to live that sacred life abundantly.  Let this year’s Sanctity of Human Life Sunday be about more than just a slogan; let it become a call to action.

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