The Sanctity of Life.

We are living in challenging times. And while I remain optimistic that things will get better, we have some real problems that will take a lot of effort to overcome. One of those problems is an ever increasing disregard for the sanctity of life. It manifests itself in many ways: abortion, war, assassinations, murder, genocide-and the tolerance and sometimes encouragement that accompanies these. A disregard for human life will erode a society if left unchecked. As Christians, it seems alien to us to have so little concern for other people. But we also know that this has been around for a very long time. After all, the second sin ever recorded was that of Cain murdering his brother Abel. Since then, God has condemned murder and set harsh punishment for those who would commit it. We can understand why murder is wrong at a very fundamental level: we value our own life so we would not want that to be taken away from us or others. God feels this way too, with the added aspect that He is the creator of all life. Killing someone is killing one of His creations. He being the giver and sustainer of life gets to determine the conception and cessation of life. The taking of the life of another person stands in defiance of God and His law.