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Promoting life, justice, and dignity |
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The Most Holy Trinity |
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At some point in time, the Lord God, Yahweh, created the universe with a plan in mind. “For thus says the LORD, who created the heavens, who formed the earth and made it: he established it; he did not create it a chaos, he formed it to be inhabited!” (Isaiah 45:18) Then, over a period of time, He created life. For scripture says, “…I, the Creator, who gave them life” (Isaiah 57:19). He created life on the land, life in the sea and life in the air. On the third day, God said, "Let the earth bring forth vegetation: every kind of plant that bears seed and every kind of fruit tree on earth that bears fruit with its seed in it” (Genesis 1:11). On the fifth day, God said, "Let the water teem with an abundance of living creatures, and on the earth let birds fly beneath the dome of the sky” (Genesis 1:20). We don’t know how long all this took. Since God is infinite, how can we comprehend time on His scale? “But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” (2 Peter 3:8) |
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But, on the sixth day, God created man! Man’s creation was very special, formed by the Father and supported by the Holy Spirit. “The LORD God formed man out of the clay of the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and so man became a living being” (Genesis 2:7). “The spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life” (Job 33:4). At the same time that he created us, God set into motion our ability to reproduce. He gave us authority over all the other living things that inhabit the earth. God blessed them, saying: "Be fertile and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and all the living things that move on the earth” (Genesis 1:28). Indeed, man’s creation was very special. God, in His infinite wisdom, directs the metamorphosis of our evolution. For, our existence is predetermined by God. “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you" (Jeremiah 1:5). Life begins in our mother’s womb. “For thou didst form my inward parts, thou didst knit me together in my mother's womb” (Psalm 139:13). Our existence is no accident. God created us out of His infinite love. God loves each and every one of us as individuals. God gave man a special existence that separates us from the rest of living things. We are formed in the very image of God. “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him” (Genesis 1:27). Our soul is the main attribute that makes us the image of God. Our soul is the main attribute that separates us from the rest of living things because our soul lives on forever. “The soul is the principle of life in the body, it lives on after death” (1 Corinthians 5:3). Vegetation, fish, birds, and other land animals die and vanish. We, however, are very special in God’s eyes for we live on forever. “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish.” (John 10:28). We need to honor and respect the dignity of every human being. We do not have the right to take another human life. “There is no man who is master of the breath of life so as to retain it and none has mastery of the day of death” (Ecclesiastes 8:8). We do not have the right to take human life by means of abortion, euthanasia, suicide, assisted suicide, capital punishment, or murder. Our mission should be to protect, improve, and preserve life. For if God gave us the ability to multiply, gave us dominion over the earth, knit us in our mother’s womb, formed us in His own image, and gave us an immortal soul, then what right do we have to stamp out another human being’s existence? “I call heaven and earth today to witness against you: I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Choose life, then, that you and your descendants may live.” (Deuteronomy 30:19). Choose life! |
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Life Through the Scriptures |