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I don’t know of any doctrine or theory in any religion or worldview in all of human history that has greater potential to value human life than the Imago Dei, the teaching that humans are made in the image of God.

This doctrine teaches us that every human life has value, from the womb to the tomb.

The unborn have value. Christians don’t hate abortion because we’re aligned a certain way politically. It’s because we believe that life begins at the moment of fertilization. And each and every human life, no matter its size or location, is made in the image of God. We stand against abortion, surgical or chemical. We stand against reproductive technologies that would eventually freeze or destroy embryos. Right now, there’s an estimated one million frozen embryos in the US alone. [1] And each one is created in the image of God.  

Women have value. Protest sign outside the Virginia Beach Planned Parenthood clinic. It was the silhouette of a pregnant woman and it said, “Love them both.” Even the woman taking the life of her unborn child is worthy of respect because she too is made in the image of God!  

Men have value. Earlier this year, a French Feminist author touched a nerve when she released a book entitled, I Hate Men. The book description says, “what if mistrusting men, disliking men – and yes, maybe even hating men – is, in fact, a useful response to sexism? What if such a response offers a way out of oppression, a means of resistance? What if it even offers a path to joy, solidarity and sisterhood?” [2] Men, you matter! You are made in the image of God!

The elderly have value. A few years ago the Finance Minister of Japan Taro Aso said the elderly should “hurry up and die.” They were called “tube people” and “tax burdens.”[3] Although most people would never say anything like this, we often treat our elderly like we believe this.  

The disabled have value. In 2017, the news broke out of Iceland that the small European country had nearly eradicated Down’s syndrome. [4] The truth was far more ominous. Iceland had not eradicated the disease, but the diseased. The reason almost 100% of the population is free of the disease is that almost 100% of babies diagnosed with Down’s in utero are killed before they’re born.  

All ethnicities have value. The Bible teaches there is one race, the human race. Different ethnicities. Racism is the any belief or behavior that elevates one race or ethnicity over another. We should lament the mistreatment of African-Americans in this country. We should also reject any attempt to solve the racial divide by targeting white people!

The distinction between humanity and every other created thing means every human life has value. From the womb to the tomb.

Christianity has always valued the least of these. In the second century, Greek philosopher Celsus mocked Christians because they “want and are able to convince only the foolish, dishonorable and stupid, only slaves, women, and little children.”[5]  

This is who we are. No, we don’t do this perfectly. We never will. Not until Jesus returns and makes all things new.  

 

[1]  Elissa Strauss, “The Leftover Embryo Crisis,” ELLE, September 29, 2017, https://www.elle.com/culture/a12445676/the-leftover-embryo-crisis/.

  [2]https://www.amazon.com/Hate-Men-must-read-feminism-patriarchy/dp/0008457581  

[3]  Justin McCurry, “Let Elderly People ‘Hurry up and Die’, Says Japanese Minister,” the Guardian, January 22, 2013, http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jan/22/elderly-hurry-up-die-japanese.  

[4]  Julian Quinones and Arijeta Lajka, “‘What Kind of Society Do You Want to Live in?’: Inside the Country Where Down Syndrome Is Disappearing,” August 14, 2017, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/down-syndrome-iceland/.  

[5]  Rebecca McLaughlin, Confronting Christianity: 12 Hard Questions for the World’s Largest Religion (Wheaton: Crossway, 2019), 144–45.