Sanctity of Life Sunday

Sanctity of Life: All human life is a sacred gift from God and is to be protected and defended from conception to natural death. We will uphold the sanctity of life and bring the grace and compassion of Christ to those who face the realities of previous abortion, unwanted pregnancy, and end-of-life illness.

– from the All Souls Statement of Faith

CONSTITUTION AND CANONS of THE ANGLICAN CHURCH IN NORTH AMERICA

Title II, Canon 8, Section 3

God, and not man, is the creator of human life. The unjustified taking of life is sinful. Therefore, all members and clergy are called to promote and respect the sanctity of every human life from conception to natural death.

Genesis 2:7 (NLT2) Then the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person.

Colossians 1:17 (NLT2) He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together.

Acts 17:25 (NIV) And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else.

Genesis 1:27 (NLT) So God created human beings in his own image.

In the image of God he created them;

male and female he created them.

• What it means to be an image of God
  • we have been created to display something about God
  • we have been created with the capacity for intimate relationship,
    • to be loved by God, and to love God back

Every single human being, no matter how much the image of God is marred by sin, or illness, or weakness, or age, or any other disability, still has the status of being in God’s image and therefore must be treated with the dignity and respect that is due to God’s image-bearer.

–  Focus on the Family

James 3:9–10 (NLT) Sometimes (our tongue) praises our Lord and Father, and sometimes it curses those who have been made in the image of God. 10 …Surely, my brothers and sisters, this is not right!

Psalm 139:13–16 (NLT)

13 You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body

and knit me together in my mother’s womb.

14 Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!

Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.

15 You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,

as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.

16 You saw me before I was born.

Every day of my life was recorded in your book.

Every moment was laid out

before a single day had passed.

Jeremiah 1:4-5 (NLT2) The LORD gave me this message: 5  “I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb. Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my prophet to the nations.”

Exodus 20:13 (NIV84)  “You shall not murder.”

Genesis 9:6 (NLT) If anyone takes a human life, that person’s life will also be taken by human hands. For God made human beings in his own image.

Psalm 39:4 (NIV) “Show me, O LORD, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting is my life.”

Psalm 90:12 (NIV) Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

Euthanasia – to artificially hasten death

• So what do we do now?

…all members and clergy are called to promote and respect the sanctity of every human life from conception to natural death.

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