Imago Dei V (for Vita)

I recently came across a term I don’t think I have encountered before: ‘pro-vita’ (read more about that here) which literally means ‘pro-life’ ('vita' is a Latin cognate meaning ‘life’) and also applies to the oft debated issue of abortion. However, ‘pro-vita’ goes further and includes more than just abortion…it is about being in favor of life (i.e., against the death penalty and ‘an extreme reluctance to engage in war,’ the latter of which was added by the originator of the term recently in this blog entry).

The stance to always be in favor of life finds its most convincing biblical precedent in Genesis 9.6, although the notion of capital punishment for murderers is there, too. If I am going to be against the death penalty I have to somehow speak to this. I think the idea of punishment here is synonymous with the ‘eye for an eye’ notion that comes out later in the Torah. However, as Christians, we interpret the Old through the New (i.e., Testaments). Jesus seems to give the Spirit hermeneutic of the Law and nuances response to murderers and enemies differently while maintaining the why behind the original command…i.e., the reason was explicitly because to kill (or murder) a human being is to kill one whom ‘God made in his own image’ (Gen. 9.6). The other significant reason I am opposed to the death penalty today is that there are people who are on death row (and those who have been executed) for a crime of which they are truly not guilty. This is an important issue to battle, but I think the heinous act of abortion deserves more fervor behind the fight because it is abundantly more prevalent today than capital punishment. Borrowing Scot McKnight’s term ‘Eikon’ to refer to humans made in God’s image, somewhere around 3,000 Eikons’ lives are taken each day in the U.S. alone (via abortion). While this is certainly not the only issue of injustice Christians should be addressing in our world today, it certainly is an extremely important one at least for Christians in the United States! (And I’m not talking about picket lines and I don’t think shaming is the most productive way to get positive results…action, help, grace, and other options promoting life for those who really did not ‘want’ the child that is growing in them must be part of our response. Again, being ‘pro-vita’ means in all aspects including that of the mother!)

The case against abortion will find its strongest precedent biblically and theologically in Genesis…spec. 1.26-27, 5.1-4, and 9.6. The question in regard to the issue today is: ‘When does someone begin bearing the “image [and/or likeness] of God”?’ The answer from Genesis seems to be clearly: no later than conception (Catholicism teaches it goes back to the sperm and the egg before conception, which is why they take a doctrinal stance against all forms of birth control, including those of prevention other than mere abstinence). The reason that I say no later than conception is because from Gen. 1 & 5 the statement that humans are in the ‘image/likeness of God’ is intricately linked with the command to be ‘fruitful and multiply’ (i.e., reproduction) in BOTH instances! In other words, reproduction/being fruitful and multiplying is how God has ordered for us to become co-creators with God. In addition, looking at the 'image of God' through a relational lens indicates that a relation begins at conception; it is, granted, an utterly dependent relationship (which continues essentially for several years) but a relationship nonetheless. No later than conception does a person (though not cognizant of the fact for quite a while) begin relating to the outer world, most immediately to her/his mother, and God who, in my tradition's view, is already in pursuit of a relationship that will redeem her/him eternally!

War: this one is difficult, I admit. I have developed a stance of thinking we should be very reluctant to engage in war. I’d say that the case to go to war (from a Christian perspective) will not be one of retaliation…but one of defending others who are being utterly treated unjustly and are incapable of helping themselves. And even in this case, every other possible option should be exhausted before engaging in war. There are many other ‘criteria’ for a just war as has been developed by Augustine, et al. in Christian history, but the injustice has to be extremely horrible in order to justify putting ‘Eikons’ at risk not only of being killed but also of killing other ‘Eikons’…it’s one thing to be willing to die for a cause…quite another to be willing to kill for it. I will admit that there’s much more that could be (and has been) said about this, but I’ll leave the issue here for now.