Christian Beliefs About Sanctity of Life in Relation to Abortion
Christians believe in the sanctity of human life. They believe it is
sacred and should not be treated badly or discarded thoughtlessly.
Christians believe that God created the world and everything in it
including man. They also believe that God created the world good. In
the book of Genesis it states that man was created in 'God's image'
this means that man was made in the reflection of God so man has some
of the same characteristics as God and has a special relationship with
God, God is able to relate to man. Nothing else was made in the image
of God and this makes Christians believe that humans are special and
have a responsibility to God to care for each other and creation. A
quotation that supports these points is 'then God said 'Let us make
man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of
the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the
earth, and over all the creatures that move on the ground.'(Genesis
1:26-27). Therefore Christian's believe that human life is valuable to
God and that God cares for and looks after each individual. They also
believe that man has a soul 'the breath of life' which carries on
living after our bodies die, no other animal has a soul and so this is
another thing which makes humans special and another reason why
Christians believe in the sanctity of life. Christians also believe
that God cares about life because Jesus Christ was not only human, but
also God and he chose to live life as a human being. And they also
believe Jesus came to die to heal the broken relationship between God
and humans.
In the Bible there are Ten Commandments telling people how to live
their lives and there are the two that most reflect Christian's
beliefs in the sanctity of life. The first is 'thou shalt not kill' or
'thou shalt not murder', which tells us that we shouldn't kill anyone
The Christian view, that we are created in the image of God, formed by Him in the womb making us human upon conception, makes abortion wrong. It shows what abortion truly is, murder. Murder that is the sacrifice of a human life to the ‘god’ of convenience. While abortion may seem to solve immediate problems for some, this act is wrong and has consequences much worse than the consequences, joys, of having and raising a
In conclusion, it is evident that Christianity’s various beliefs regarding the relationships that exist between humanity and the supernatural dimension significantly impact the everyday lives of Christian adherents and allows them to maintain right relationship with God and others. It is through the teachings from St Paul, the commitment made in baptism and way in which an individual acts in regards to issues such as those concerning environmental ethics, that an individual is able to live out their faith in a way that they believe honours God.
This shows us how sacred life is and how only G-d can decide when it
2 Corinthians 3:18 states, “And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” God transforms Christians into His likeness. Genesis 1:27 reveals that, in the Garden, we were completely in His likeness: “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” To the artist, in the image of God means something different than what is often taught in Sunday schools. According to Sayers, “Is it his immortal soul, his rationality, his self-consciousness, his free will, or what, that gives him a claim to this rather startling distinction? . . . Looking at man, he sees in him something essentially divine, but when we turn back to see what he says about the original upon which the ‘image’ of God was modeled, we find only the single assertion, ‘God created’. The characteristic common to God and man is that: the desire and the ability to make things” (Sayers 17). The artist, like God, creates something out of nothing. But, there is an important distinction between something beautiful and poetic and something shoddy and cheap.
The relentless support of abortion is always contradicting the moral and good teachings of the Church. Through passed laws, pro-choice supporters have made it possible for many women to have abortions. In some countries, including the United States, there does not have to be a reason for a woman to have an abortion early in the pregnancy. The Supreme Court in the United States ruled that the fetus’s ability to live was between about twenty four weeks to twenty-six weeks (Glendon 22). These laws show that supporters of abortion do not believe that life begins at conception. This is contrary to the teachings of the Church. “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you” (Jeremiah 1:5). God knew us before we were conceived. He made us accord...
In his or her life, a Christian tries to obey the 10 commandments. Throughout history, these rules have been proclaimed by Moses and Isaiah and Jeremiah, taught by Jesus, interpreted by the apostles, like Peter and Paul, and other teachers within the traditional Christian understandings of what is right and what is wrong. Document 1 lists the 10 commandments, but there is a couple that emphasizes what one should not do. “You shall not steal, You shall not give false evidence against your neighbor, You shall not covet.” A follower of this religion would look up to these listings and obey them whenever in doubt or have difficulty making a tough decision. God also quotes in Document 9, “Blessed are the merciful; for they shall obtain mercy.” This explains how if you show mercy towards Him, you will get mercy back. In other words, it is related to the ‘Golden Rule’ which is to treat others the way you wish to be
vain, then human nature cannot by any means be justified and redeemed from God’s most
The basic idea of this analogy is that we were created in God’s image and likeness so possess qualities like those of God but as we are inferior to God we experience these qualities in lesser proportion to God. John Hicks example of the term ‘faithful’ helps to explain this analogy, as he states that men, woman and dogs can be faithful but the faithfulness of a man and woman is clearly very different to that of a dog. However there is a recognisable similarity between the two, otherwise we would not think of a dog as faithful. In the case of the analogy between the dog and human beings, true faithfulness is something we know within ourselves and a dim and imperfect likeness of this is in the dog and is known by
Understanding what it is for man to be made in the image of God is essential to understanding the role a pastor is to fill. The Image of God refers to
Men know well that they are acted upon, but they do not know by whom. So they must invent by themselves the idea of these powers with which they feel themselves in connection, and from that, we are able to catch a glimpse of the way by which they are led to represent them under forms that are really foreign to their nature and to transfigure them by thought. (172)
All human beings have an immortal soul (atma) which is part of God and is on a journey to reunite with Him (Mukti).
what the Christians meant it to mean is that we, as humans, have no right to
The relationship between God and his creations humans can be said to be a very complex relationship. Genesis shows us many examples of God's interaction with humans and human's interaction with each other. From the creation of Adam and Eve and all the events that follow afterwards, I shall show what the relationship tells us about the nature of God and mankind.
implies that God is present in all of us and should not be chucked out
One may ask what exactly does it mean to be made in God’s image. For someone not familiar with the Christian religion may find this as confusing. Living in God’s image does not exactly mean living as if you are God, which would blasphemy, but instead use our attributes that God has given us that are similar to His own. Christians are aware that God’s image is holy, merciful, benevolent, just, independent, and also rational since he has the ability to reason. Thus since humans were created in God’s image, we all encompass these characteristics.