Thinking and Living Biblically
“Now choose life,
so that you and your children may live.”
Deuteronomy 30:19 (NIV)
Saturday’s headline read UK Chooses Death from Beginning to End. Two life-changing votes were held in the UK Parliament last week concerning the beginning and ending of life. The first measure “decriminalized abortion” by allowing abortions to occur as late as birth. The MPs also passed an assisted suicide measure that now allows physicians the legal right to help patients kill themselves. Author James Mildred concludes, “Taken together, both votes show that the cultural landscape of the UK is moving further and further away from its Christian roots. Members of the UK Parliament have further undermined the intrinsic dignity of human beings made in God’s image.”
Two years ago I began serving on our church’s initial Theology of Life team. We were to develop a twelve-week integrated Pro-Life “Womb to Tomb” curriculum to be taught throughout our church’s adult Sunday School communities. Our Life Curriculum Team consists of several pastors, seminary professors, parents, and other professionals who have worked together to develop appropriate materials for addressing some current important life and cultural issues from a biblical worldview. These topics cover all of life and include:
Theology of life
Gender, sexuality, and identity
Fertility, infertility, IVF, abortion, and abortion recovery
Disability, special needs, fostering, and adoption
Aging, dementia, eldercare, and end of life decisions
Legal issues including wills, living wills, abortion, and euthanasia
Grief and loss
Because a faithful biblical definition of “pro-life” is grounded in the Bible’s teaching of man—male and female—as the Imago Dei, our Life Curriculum examines how we as Christians should understand, articulate, and defend the implications of biblical truth for the sanctity of all life, literally from “womb to tomb.” In other words, what does the Bible say about…??? (fill in the blank).
John 9 is the biblical basis for our session on disability. In context, Jesus and his disciples have just left the temple following a confrontation with Jewish religious leaders. Leaving, they see a blind man begging by the side of the road. In that culture disability was viewed as a punishment for sin instead of one of the consequences of living in a fallen world.
The disciples ask Jesus, “Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
Jesus replies, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.” (John 9:3)
The ninth chapter of John’s gospel has sixteen questions within five conversations and is all about the “seeing” as Jesus declares, “I am the light of the world.” (John 9:5)
Jesus sees a man born blind from birth. (9:1)
The disciples see a sinner. ((9:1)
The blind man sees darkness. (9:1)
The neighbors see a healed beggar. (9:8)
The Pharisees see a Law-breaker. (9:16)
The blind man’s parents see a trap. (9:21-22)
The healed blind man sees Jesus. (9:25, 38)
By the end of John 9, it’s clear that everyone except the blind man is asking the wrong questions. The healed man is the only one who correctly asks, “Who is Jesus?” And the question we must all ask is, “Who remains blind?”
Jesus’ concern and compassion for those with disabilities should motivate us to do the same. He healed lepers; restored sight to the blind; made the lame to walk; opened deaf ears and silent mouths; and cast out demons from the mentally ill. We can’t heal or restore like Jesus did, but we can show compassion and kindness to those affected by disability. We can also obey New Testament mutuality commands to greet, welcome, accept, love, and pray for one another.
Thinking biblically begins by remembering:
God is my reference point
His Word is my authority
His glory is my purpose
His presence is my promise.
Regarding the urgent need for Christians who think and live biblically, theologian Carl Trueman writes:
“In the space of a few decades, the moral institutions of society have not simply parted company with those of Christianity-they have come to stand in direct opposition to many of them…The churches now need to teach Christian ethics more explicitly and more thoroughly, because that is where the wider culture will challenge Christian discipleship most powerfully…In short, we need good Protestant ethicists who are able to come up with solutions to the various challenges that we face, solutions rooted in our Christian understanding of what it means to be human.”
How prepared are you to face the cultural issues of our day? Do you know what the Bible has to say about both life and death issues? Genesis 1 is a great starting place for developing a comprehensive theology of life. God is the Author of life- all life-both in creation, re-creation, redemption, and community.
Choose life…so that you may live.