God loves people. So much so, He paid the ultimate price to redeem humanity. Due to His eternal investment; God desires we treat ourselves and others with palpable respect.
Two terms you don’t hear much anymore are dignity and integrity. In fact, try this quick exercise. Come up with a thumbnail definition for each right now.
Let me help you out. Dignity, the inherent worth of each individual, is directly given to us by God. Scripture asserts that we are created Imago Dei, in God’s image. The Preamble of the U.S. Declaration of Independence concurs. Integrity is how you act before God. Behave out of character, and you de-face the value with which you were fashioned. I state again, clearly. Dignity is given by God; integrity is behaving accordingly.
No doubt you notice my overt deference to Deity as the source of dignity and integrity. Do you have a better one? (Parenthetically, take God out of the picture, and dignity and integrity become less evident. Exhibit “A”: entertainers Madonna, Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus, Snoop Dog & Snookie, and a legion of others. Would you use the words dignity and integrity to describe their act?)
Ponder two real-world ramifications, and why I take the time to write this article. And why, you should read it.
Modern society has pushed the envelope off the table regard decency and obscenity. Pornography, a modern epidemic, is now Main Street. God must cringe. Not because He is a prude. (After all, God designed the human body, and thought up sex!) But because gratuitous cheapening dehumanizes the individual. In essence, graphic sensuality reduces the person to merely an object of base desire. Body parts, if you will. A piece of meat to be used then discarded. Strip them of their clothes, and while you’re at it; their dignity. Not to mention, in so doing, compromising your own integrity.
Abortion likewise robs the person of God-given dignity. The most basic right to life. I admit, I have given the “fetus” personhood status. Have you ever heard an expecting couple excitedly announce, “We’re having a fetus!”? Scripture repeatedly infers inherent worth in the womb (Ps 139, Jer 1:5, Job 31:15, Mt 18:10, I Cor 3:16, Gal 1:15, et al..).
You have heard the phrase “Death with dignity” referencing humane and sensitive care for those at end of life. Death with dignity first requires “Birth with dignity”. Correct?
In the act of abortion, society or somebody, deems the “fetus” not fit to live. Seems to me that is a choice, best left to the Creator. So doing, we act in integrity.
Dignity and integrity, essential elements originating from eternity. When we think and behave as God intends; everybody wins.