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Value in Human Life? Part II

Ok, so a couple days ago I posed the question: Does human life have intrinsic value? I talked a lot about the entertainment that humanity has received from human injury/death throughout history, and how that seems to indicate that human life does not intrinsically have any value, but I also said that I disagreed, that I believe human life does have intrinsic value. So today, I'm gonna talk about why I believe this.

To begin, if human life, truly has no intrinsic value, than life is valued on its accomplishments/failures, contributions to/detractions from society/the world, what it does, or possible even what it has the potential to do, but that last one's moving more into granting intrinsic value. So naturally, we would determine a value of a life by examining it, and that value could change. Most likely, value would be highest during the peak of ones life, and life would be considered less valuable in the beginning, when it is unproven and unsure, and at the end, when the usefulness is winding down. Based on these assumptions, there could be a case made that the value of life is dependent on what it does. We see things like abortion and geronticide in the world, and strong arguments are made for all sorts of mass killings of "useless" drains on society. Whether, this is dependent on age, societal status, race, intelligence, health, etc... there have been plenty of proponents of this way of thinking throughout society, and while they may have logical arguments, they are viewed by most as deranged or evil or something like that. That seems to indicate to me that human life must have some sort of intrinsic value, because if not, why does the loss of life in those "drains" on society upset the general populace so much?

charity: water -- Campaign for Rwanda

I recently ran across this organization, charity: water, through Klout actually, and I think it is great.

Watch this video about their September campaign for Rwanda.

Value in Human Life? Part I

Over the last week or so I have encountered several things that got me thinking about this topic.

Does life have value?

This past week I heard the quote, "Human life has no intrinsic value." I don't agree with it, but it got me thinking...does life have value, simply for being life, or does it only have value based on what it accomplishes?

I have been reading The Hunger Games, and am almost done with the last book. I, personally, really like the story, but at the same time, it is extremely disturbing. What makes it so disturbing is the total disregard for the value of human life exhibited by many of the characters, and the entertainment value that so many derive from watching people, kids, slaughter each other. In the books (just in case you know nothing about them) 24 teenagers are forced to fight in the "Hunger Games," which are a nationally televised fight to the death that serve as a way for the government (The Capitol) to control the people, but also as a huge source of entertainment for the citizens of The Capitol.

For lots of people in our world today, the concept of watching people kill each other for amusement and entertainment seems horrid, at least initially, but sadly. I don't think that people, in general, are nearly as horrified at the concept as they portray.

Lost in the Depths of True Life

I was listening to "Lost" by Red on my way to work this morning, and it just struck me so I thought I'd write about it. It reminded me of, what has become, one of my favorite verses:

 

"Deep calls to deep in the roar of Your waterfalls;
all Your breakers and Your billows have swept over me." -- Psalms 42:7

 

God is so immensely deep and incredible. There is no way that anyone could ever know the depths of who He is, of His love, His righteousness, His wrath, His justice, His wisdom, etc... We can truly spend our lives lost in Him, and not just our lives, but all eternity, every moment finding something new, and it is amazing!