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Value of Human Life - Religious

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Submitted By jasminemale
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Christianity views all life as precious, but human life as sacred. This conviction informs and determines the Christian's attitude toward nature and toward human beings.

God is the author of life and therefore life is precious (see Ps. 36:9). When God created this planet, He sup plied it with light, soil, water, air, and seeds (Gen. 1:3-11). All seed is infused with potential for generation, growth, and reproduction; the Life-giver endowed organic matter with life.

God is the sustainer and owner of life; therefore life is precious. God did not abandon His creation when He completed His creative work. Scripture teaches that He is an active sustainer of life (Ps. 104:29, 30). Through the laws of nature instituted at Creation and through humanity's stewardship over the earth, God sustains life indirectly. But the Bible underlines God's active and direct involvement, and the total dependence of living creatures on His activity.

Life is set apart for a special purpose, and so it is precious. At the time of Creation God established a delicate and well-balanced biosystem on earth. According to Genesis 1:29, 30, green plants grow from inorganic soil and serve as food for animals; fruits and seeds are given to humans for food. Not one organic living thing exists without reason or purpose, nor is any living thing independent of everything else. Yet life's value does not lie simply in mutual usefulness or interconnectedness. Rather, harmony and unity in nature serve as witnesses to the existence and nature of its Creator (Ps. 19:1-4; Rom. 1:19, 20). Because of the divine purpose for their existence, the life in living things is precious.

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