Things We Take for Granted

Genesis 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. (ESV)

One of the things we take for granted is the notion that a human life has a very high, intrinsic value. It wasn’t always so, and in some parts of the world where Christianity hasn’t had an influence, it still isn’t.

Now, if you’re a Christian, you know why a human life is so valuable.

Genesis 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. (ESV)

A human life, male or female, has an intrinsically high value because we are made in the image of God. That’s a no-brainer. It’s blindingly, glimpsingly obvious … if you’re a Christian.

But if you’re not, then the value of a human life may still be something you believe in without really knowing why. It’s just self-evident, right? But as I said, it hasn’t always been so. What happened to change that?

Tom Holland is a British author, historian and one very public atheist. He writes this:

Today, even as belief in God fades across the West, the countries that were once collectively known as Christendom continue to bear the stamp of the two-millennia-old revolution that Christianity represents. It’s the principal reason why, by and large, most of us who live in post-Christian societies still take for granted that it is nobler to suffer, than to inflict suffering. It’s why we generally assume that every human life is of equal value. In my morals and ethics, I have learned to accept that I am not Greek or Roman at all, but thoroughly and proudly Christian.

Without Christianity, without God’s people expressing God’s love, this world would be a very different, much darker, place.

That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.

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