In this video, Grace@Work leader Cortney Alexander tackles the question, “Are people inherently valuable?”
Our culture wrestles with an important question: Do people have inherent value? Are people valuable by their very nature? How we answer this question will dictate how we answer a host of important issues, ranging from how we view elderly people, unborn babies, race relations, and gender relations.
We’re going to talk about the Biblical view, but let’s start by addressing the evolutionary worldview that so many in our culture have adopted—often without even knowing there’s an alternative. The evolutionary worldview says that life somehow evolved from non-life, though the mechanism by which that supposedly happened remains unexplained. Then, as that original living organism reproduced, its genetic code somehow gained more and more information over time through random, yet incredibly fortuitous, mutations, such that its offspring eventually came to possess a wildly diverse set of amazing functionalities.
It’s kind of like if the simplest smart phone app began self-developing more and more functionality as it was copied over and over, such that it eventually spawned an entire app store, in which all different manner of apps arose from that one simple app—all by accidental random copying errors.
We know that errors in software rarely produce beneficial functionality, and we know the same thing about mutations in genetic information. They are far more likely to cause problems than benefits.
Leaving this problem aside, under evolutionary theory, people are accidents, just as every other life form is an accident. It follows then, that life forms that arose by accident don’t have much inherent value. Rather, they only have the value that they contribute to the society around them.
Therefore, it’s not surprising that people who hold tightly to this view frequently begin to view people in purely utilitarian terms—what can you do for me and culture? One such person is a man named Peter Singer. He has stated that it is morally acceptable to kill disabled babies. It might surprise you to learn that he is a professor of Bioethics at Princeton University. Another man who has similarly stated that he sees no moral objection to killing babies with incurable diseases is Richard Dawkins, who has grown famous promoting the evolutionary worldview and criticizing Christianity.
Let’s contrast the evolutionary worldview’s opinion on the value of human beings with the Bible. The Bible says that mankind—both male and female—is made in the image of God, which separates us from the animal kingdom. The Bible says that mankind is not an accident, but was deliberately created by God, for God.
In fact, while man and woman obviously play a major role in making babies, the Bible makes clear that this process doesn’t happen without God’s involvement. As Psalm 139 says, “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb” (Ps. 139:13).
Not only that, but the psalmist goes on to declare, “I will praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are your works” (Ps. 139:14).
We see a couple things in this: First, the recognition that God receives credit for the creation of life. Second, people are wonderfully made—God’s work in creating life is marvelous.
From the oldest invalid to the unborn girl developing in her mother’s womb. From the wealthiest CEO to the prostitute walking the streets. They are all made in the image of God and therefore are inherently valuable.
We see evidence of how God values human beings in what he says and how he acts toward those who actively oppose him and his ways. He says, “I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, . . . so turn, and live” (Ezk. 18:32). These aren’t just words; God followed this statement with action. As the apostle Paul wrote in Romans chapter 5, “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8).
In contrast to the evolutionary worldview, God says we are not accidents, but we were wonderfully and fearfully knit together by him. What God has knit together, let no man destroy or defile!
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