Compassion: A 14-Day JourneyMuestra

How Much Is a Life worth?
As easy as it is for us to grow thick skin from the daily diet of violence served up by the media, most of us still cringe when we read about the Ammonites' brutality to the people of Gilead, Israel's territory east of Galilee. Respect for human life is always at stake during wartime, but in this case, the Ammonites' unnecessary torture and violence toward their victims is an example of how life was devalued during the time.
In our day, we struggle with ethical dilemmas in the areas of reproduction, biotechnology and death. How can the sanctity of life be preserved in our world--where scientific advances are complex and confusing, where technology changes at an ever-increasing speed? Evangelical leader Charles Colson addresses issues related to abortion, stem cell research and euthanasia in a discussion under the heading "What Is Life Worth?" Some poignant paragraphs follow:

Life and death become judgment calls, subject in some cases to ethics committees' determinations and hospital guidelines. But who decides what our ethics will be? If there is no truth, there are no true ethics, only prudential standards that reasonable people try to apply. So the best-intentioned doctors in the world have to make judgment calls, ever aware of the costs involved for the hospital in which they are staff members. Aware of the patient's suffering, pressured to handle as many cases as possible, embroiled in a quality-of-life matrix, the white-coated doctor becomes god, with nothing like God's judgmentÉ

I don't want to be misunderstood here. Max's [Colson's grandson's] autism is not a good thing--it's part of the world's brokenness. Yet that brokenness has been used to enlarge my capacity to love. That's a very great gift. Paradoxically, Max has introduced joy into the lives of his teachers, his mother, her grandparents, and many others because of these costs, these sacrifices. How should one account for that?

How should Max account for himself, and why should he have to? Max is more than happy to be alive, thank you very much. Max knows a joy and wonder that puts me to shame. Why is that?

Let me just suggest at this point it's because the good life is not about the sum total of what we contribute to the world. It's about loving. Utilitarianism knows nothing about love. Love is the beginning and the end of the good life, however, and it's in love that our lives must be centeredÉ

The issue that has to be decided is clear if we're willing to see itÉIfÉwe are creatures made in the image of God, then life has an ultimate value that cannot be understood within the context of a cost-benefit analysis. How much is a human life worth? Is it priceless, or is it determined by the preferences of the powerful? It all depends on how human life comes about, whichÉhas given rise to a raging debate in our society.