“If men who are fighting hit a pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurely but there is no serious injury, the offender must be fined whatever the woman’s husband demands and the court allows. But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.” — Exodus 21:22-25 (NIV84)

We aren’t animals! We are not part of an evolutionary food chain. We do not live by the survival of the fittest. We are beings who seek answers to our origin, purpose and destiny. My dog Max thinks of none of those things. I am tired and irritated with how we have degraded the inherent value of humanity. We as a society tell people that they are no different from animals, and then we are shocked when they act like animals. We state that survival of the fittest is the main driving force of the animal kingdom, and then we are shocked by the violence that humans inflict on one another. We tell kids that they have no value-defining origin and no inherent value, and we wonder why they cut themselves, drug themselves and kill themselves.

Listen clearly! We are human beings created in the image of God. Although corrupted by sin, we are nonetheless sacred in God’s eyes, and we ought to be sacred in one another’s eyes. From the moment we are conceived in the womb to the moment we die and leave this earth, our lives are sacred. They are divinely governed and need to be humanly protected. The entire chapter of Exodus is dedicated to how human beings ought to be treated with dignity and respect. We need to restore the sacredness of human life in our society before we completely crumble. Our children deserve to be raised with a sense of inherent worth and value endowed by their Creator.

Peace!

Pastor Tom

www.firmlyrooted.church