Explain the Religious Teachings upon the Value of Human Life

Explain the religious teachings about the value of human life

Christians see all human life as valuable, as every human is considered to be made in the image of God, whether you're rich, poor, weak or old. Because of this Christians feel that only God can give and end a life. This is what's known as the sanctity of life.

The meaning of the word value is for something to have worth. For example a fireman may have greater value then the murderer in prison. All humans are born with value, however the way you are as a person may impact one's worth. As God only created human life in his own image then a Christian may feel that their life is especially valuable compared to another animal and may consider their life to be a gift from God. The quote "are sparrows not worth two pennies, and you are worth more than many sparrows" from the book of genesis supports the claim that human life is more valuable than any animal. God does see animal life as important as he claimed that "all life was good", and that as the humans are in charge of them, humans have a high sense of value.

It is suggested that God may want humans to have free will, and for us to make our own decisions. God is considered to be all knowing, and all powerful where as humans in God's image are said to be knowing and powerful but not perfect. This was illustrated in Adam and Eve where they gave into temptation and decided to eat the "forbidden fruit". St Paul stated that because of Adam's actions all humans are born with original sin as a consequence for the humans moving out of god's good books. This shows that humans can make mistakes and break a so called law. For example, one of the Ten Commandments is "thou shall not kill" is now applied in the UK natural law. This may suggest that ending human life is intrinsically bad; however this doesn't mean the law isn't always followed.

Christians feel that God created human beings with a purpose, which is to do good in their life which will eventually unite them with God. In order to reach this potential the humans will have to use their own conscience and free will in deciding what the most loving thing to do is, in each specific situation. There are arguments however that some things are predestined, which means that God has already decided which people will go to heaven or hell. If this was the case then it would appear that some humans have more value than others, which goes against the argument that all humans are made equal.

A counter argument for that is some Christians believe that God's intention is for every person to reach salvation, and be at unity with God. It could be argued that Jesus' death and suffering gives all new human life the value of starting life sin-free. Christians argue that people who choose to live their life following Christ will have a very high