Monday, August 14, 2006

Sanctity of human life

"The Sanctification of Human Life", an excerpt from "How Christianity Changed the World" by Dr. Alvin Schmidt, addresses the value of human in Roman and Greek times. The article speaks to many areas about the sacredness of life, including infanticide as well as abortion.

Roman society's bankrupt morals included the practice of "exposure" -- placing unwanted babies on the hills and letting "the Gods" decide their fate.

Read with a critical mind, though. The author makes some assumptions that may not be valid. One example is the assumption about translating Galatians 5:19-20 and Revelations 21:8 to imply an anti-abortion stance. The NIV Bible translation has an Evangelical bias, yet neither its study notes nor the NIV Bible Commentary mention either of these passages as relating to abortion.

So use reason with your reading. Reason is one of the four legs of the Wesleyan Quadrilateral "stool", after all.

No comments: