In the book "What if Jesus Had Never Been Born?" by D. James Kennedy and Jerry Newcombe, there is a paragraph on how we are reverting, in the Western world, to heathen paganism. The following is quoted from this book:
In modern times, we have drifted from a sanctity of life ethic to a quality of life ethic. The concept of sanctity of life is a spiritual life; it is a religious concept. The word "sanctity" means "holy or sacred unto God, inviolable, that which God has declared is of great value." It is therefore, a spiritual concept.
However, for a humanist or an atheist or an unbeliever of most any kind, there is no such thing as sanctity of life. Unless there is a God who has given us a spirit and who sanctifies us, there cannot be a sanctity-of-life ethic.
With such a low view of man as that introduced in the last century, should it surprise us that man has killed more of his own during the twentieth century than in all the other centuries combined? As the saying goes, "Ideas control the world." Only by the resurgence of modern paganism, in a post-Christian culture, do we find the Nazi concentration camp, the Soviet gulag, the American abortion chamber.
Quality of life is a physical concept. No one can look at another and determine the quality of that person's soul. If life is merely molecules in motion, then we can have a quality-of-life ethic. But if we are Christians and believe that there is an infinite, eternal, and unchangeable God who is spirit, who has given us an eternal soul; and if we have an inalienable right to life, we cannot buy that kind of ethic.
When Supreme Court Justice Harry A. Blackmun wrote "Roe v. Wade" he appealed to religion. However, he said, "If I were to appeal to religion, I would appeal to the religions of Rome and Greece" - which, of course, practiced and encouraged abortion, infanticide, euthanasia, suicide, and all the rest, including the Coliseum! He would appeal to pagan religion for support of "Roe v. Wade"! We are reverting, in the Western world, to heathen paganism, and most people don't even know that is happening!
The morality of any society can be easily judged by the view it holds of human life. In 1844, H. L. Hastings visited the Fiji Islands. He found there that life was very cheap and that it was held in low esteem. You could buy a human being for $7.00 or one musket! That was cheaper than a cow. After having bought him you could work him, whip him, starve him, or eat him, according to your preference - and many did the latter. He returned a number of years later and found that the value of human life had risen tremendously. One could not buy a human being for $7.00 to eat or beat. In fact, you could not buy one for seven million dollars. Why? Because across the Fiji Islands there were 1,200 Christian chapels where the gospel of Christ had been proclaimed, and the people had been taught that we are not our own; that we have been purchased with a price, not with silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Jesus Christ.
Remove Jesus Christ from the history of the world and the value of life would indeed be just as Jack London's character Wolf Larsen put it: "Life? Bah! It has no value. Of the cheap things it is the cheapest." You who are reading this book might very well not be alive today if Christ had not been born!
By George Konig
June 26, 2005
www.georgekonig.org
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