Civics Lesson: Part IV (Life)

When Jefferson began to enumerate the rights given to us by God, he first said the these rights were "among" other rights granted us from a gracious Creator. But, it is these rights that are the most important in the existence of humankind. The first of these rights is the greatest of them. It is Life.

Without Life the other rights mean nothing. If you are not living, you cannot exercise liberty, you cannot pursue happiness. But why is the life of a human that precious? Because, all of us are made in the image of the Creator. That is reason God places great value on the life of each of us, and we should place that same value on each other.

When anybody murders another person, aborts a baby, creates an embryo merely to harvest cells, euthanizes the infirm, commits suicide, even rapes, assaults, or maliciously maligns a person, they show an udder lack of respect for life. If we are endowed by a Creator with life, then that Creator has known all people, knows all people, and will know all people from before they were a thought in another person's mind until long after people have lost all recollection of them (Psalm 139:14-18, Jeremiah 1:4-7).

Then what is the difference between someone murdering another person and the government executing the murderer for his crime? The taking of the life of a murderer is a just punishment. Nothing more is demanded of the murderer than what he took (Leviticus 24:17-22). Plus the execution of a murderer sends a message that innocent life is valued highly. It is valued as much as that of the condemned. When we do not allow for the death penalty, we add more value to the life of a murderer than that of the murdered.

What about Jesus' words on turning the other cheek (Matthew 5:38-42)? Remember that what Jesus is talking about individuals forgiving other individuals, especially if we are His disciples. He does not absolve anyone of the responsibility of their actions (Matthew 5:17-20). (I'll be discussing more on this in the definition of Liberty.) What Jesus wants of us is for the victim and/or their family to forgive the murderer as God has forgiven us, but He also wants the murderer to pay the full temporal price for his actions.

Life is a precious gift from God. Each human being is created in the image of God. Each human body contains the breath of God. How we take responsibility for this right and how we respect another's right to life tells a lot of our character.