Today is a life affirming day of recognition….it is the Sanctity of Life Sunday…a day when most churches and individuals choose to celebrate life and inspire individuals to cherish & protect it. Many churches concentrate on the issue of teaching that abortion violates the sanctity of life (I happen to agree)… however, there are many, equally important ways to honor and celebrate life.
While abortion is a horror to me and i think it should be repellant to all human beings; that issues comes up at the very beginning of life. There are other circumstances that need to be addressed as well.
There are issues such as injury, illness and those who fight for the right to commit suicide. Life is precious at all stages. Should we turn a blind eye to those who would turn out the light of another human being simply because they are infirmed, disabled, impaired, terminally ill or have no desire to live another moment?
For those who truly believe in the sanctity of life…it gets a bit stickier for some when you enter into the idea of criminals who commit heinous crimes; and, the criminal justice system offers up the death penalty or death row for certain individuals who have been convicted of crimes that can dish out the death penalty as punnishment.
For me that is a bit trickier –i have not sorted out the boundaries of my beliefs on that. Criminals who commit the most horrible, vile crimes….it is a struggle in my heart to remind myself that God says, “Vengence is mine sayeth the Lord”. But, if that verse is applied strictly…then…punnishment will come later from God (in the meantime…life in prison without parole is the only recourse to prevent further tragedy).
On the other hand, there are scriptures that also talk about an eye for an eye…and if a man take a life he must also forfeit his. So…this part of the sanctity of life, i am still working out in my mind and heart. Until i have studied the issues more closely..i am going to err on the side of; Life is precious and must be protected…at the beginning of life, in the early part of life, in middle age, in the elder years and in all stages in between.
Write where you are 