People

There is no morally relevant sense in which, “It is … possible to damage a newborn  by preventing her from developing the potentiality to become a person.”   

“Merely being human is not in itself  a reason for ascribing someone a right to life.” [From The Journal for Medical Ethics]

1) I matter because God made me.

Gen.1v26, “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness.”

a) Does “image” means that we look like God?

b) Is “image” about characteristics and abilities?

c) Being made in “The image of God” means all human beings are special because of who made them.

 i) no human being is worthless.

ii) all human beings have the same value to God.

“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” (Genesis 1:27)

iii) Our identity is rooted in relationship with God.

iv) it’s wrong to destroy the image of God.

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart;” (Jeremiah 1:5)

Abortions in the UK in 2011: 181,438

“Let US make man in OUR image” (Genesis 1:28). Why the plural?

“God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number.” (Genesis 1:28)

Children are a blessing from God.

God provides for his people:

“I give you every seed-bearing plant and … every tree that has fruit…They will be yours for food.” (Genesis 1:29)

(2) I was made to rule

“…fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” (Genesis 1:28)

A question to ask your atheist friend…Why are they both advocating evolution and saving endangered species?

“God saw all that he had made and it was very good.” (Genesis 1:31)

God’s declaration about all he made: is that its good. There’s no evil. No wickedness. No disasters.

3) I was made to rest.

“By the 7th day, God had finished the work he had been doing’ so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating he had done.” (Genesis 2:2)

 

i) Rest is good for us

ii) Rest keeps us humble

 

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I want to debate more:

• Join the Alpha Course starting Wed 3 October, 7:30pm – book online at www.stjamesnewbarnet.com/courses

 

I want to know more:

 

Abortion / Euthanasia.

• MPs address: Theresa Villiers MP, Theresa Villiers, 163 High Street, Barnet, Hertfordshire, EN5 5SU
• Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child: www.spuc.org.uk
• Life – www.lifecharity.org.uk
• Journal Medical Ethics Article Summary: http://blog.echurchwebsites.org.uk/2012/02/29/
  journal-medical-ethics-afterbirth-abortion-baby-live-paper-alberto-giubilini-francesca-minerva/

Genesis 1:25-2:4 issues generally

• To Read: The Message of Genesis, Atkinson, Bible Speaks Today commentary
• To Read: Who Made God? Searching For a Theory of Everything, by Prof.Edgar Andrews. (an excellent response to Dawkins et al)
• To Read: Carrie Sandom, Different By Design, an accessible, sensitive and practical outline of the Bible’s teaching on gender
• To Read: A New Name: Grace and Healing for Anorexia. By Emma Scrivener
• Sexuality: http://truefreedomtrust.co.uk
• Christian environmental group: www.arocha.org
• Rest and Sabbath: www.qideas.org/blog/wisdom-and-sabbath-rest.aspx
• To listen: John Piper: “Male and Female He Created them in the image of God” www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/sermons/male-and-female-he-created-them-in-the-image-of-god/download/audio/full
• To Read (Identity: for children) Max Lucado’s “You Are Special”