NOTICE: The following
article is written by the author itself and not by me, I am not trying to
violate their copyright. I will give some information on them.
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TITLE:
http://www.nationalrighttolifenews.org/news/
ARTICLE
TITLE:
What Christmas says about human life and dignity
DATE: Friday December 20,
2013
AUTHOR: Paul Stark
AUTHOR
INFORMATION: Paul Stark is a Communications
Associate for Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life, NRLC’s state affiliate. http://www.mccl.org/
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Christians
use the Christmas holiday to remember and celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.
This event (apart from everything else it entails) provides a number of
insights about human life and dignity.
1. Each of us was once an unborn child.
The Incarnation—the coming into the world of Christ—did not happen in the
manger. It happened some nine months earlier. This is what the facts of human
embryology and developmental biology tell us, and it is what the scriptural
accounts affirm.
Mary
is said to be “with child” (Matthew 1:18) upon Jesus being “conceived … from
the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 1:20). Earlier, Mary is told she will “conceive in
[her] womb … a son, [to be named] Jesus” (Luke 1:31), who even before birth is
called a “child … [who] will be called holy—the Son of God” (Luke 1:35). Luke
1:41-44 recounts that the unborn John the Baptist (who was probably in his
sixth month) “leaped for joy” in his mother’s womb when he entered the presence
of the unborn Jesus (who was probably a very young embryo at the time).
Jesus
began his earthly existence as an embryo and fetus. So did all of us.
2. The weak and vulnerable matter just
as much as the strong and independent. God chose to enter the world in the most
vulnerable condition possible: as an embryo, and then a fetus, and then a
newborn baby lying in a manger. This is startling, and it turns ancient “might
makes right” morality on its head. It suggests that human dignity is not
determined by age, size, power or independence.
3. Motherhood is enormously honorable.
Mary, the mother of Jesus, was utterly important, admirable and deserving of
great honor. All mothers are important and deserving of honor.
4. Human life is extraordinarily valuable.
Christmas is part of God’s larger plan to rescue humanity because He loves us
(John 3:16). Jesus was born so that we might live. From this Christian
perspective, God considers human life to be immensely precious, and worth
saving at tremendous cost. “Christian belief in the Incarnation is thus
inseparable from belief in the objective, and even transcendent, value of the
human race as a whole, and of each human person as an individual,” writes
Carson Holloway.
Christmas
proves that human beings matter. All of them, at all stages of their
lives—including the youngest and most vulnerable.
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