Sanctity Of Life Sunday

SANCTITY OF HUMAN LIFE SUNDAY

Genesis 1:27

27So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.

1. How have people with disabilities
been treated historically?

1. How have people with disabilities
been treated historically?
2. What message do we see in
scripture about people with
disabilities?

1. How have people with disabilities
been treated historically?
2. What message do we see in
scripture about people with
disabilities?
3. How are disability and abortion
connected today?

1. How have people with disabilities
been treated historically?
2. What message do we see in
scripture about people with
disabilities?
3. How are disability and abortion
connected today?
4. How can we honor the image of
God in the lives of people with
disabilities?

1. How have people with disabilities
been treated historically?

“let there be a law that no deformed child shall live.”

Aristotle

“In Rome, children with disabilities were treated as objects of scorn. Children who were blind, deaf, or mentally [disabled] were publicly persecuted and reported to have been thrown in the Tiber River by their parents. Some children born with disabilities were mutilated to increase their value as beggars.

Other children born with disabilities were left in the woods to die, their feet bound together to discourage anyone passing by from adopting them. In the military city of Sparta, the abandonment of "deformed and sickly" infants was a legal requirement.”

Minnesota Governor's Council on Developmental Disabilities

“…it is estimated that some 5000-8000 children with physical and intellectual disabilities were killed in Nazi Germany under a programme of euthanasia.”

WWII, Nazi Germany

2. What message do we see in
scripture about people with
disabilities?

2 Samuel 9:6-7

6And Mephibosheth the son of Jonathan, son of Saul, came to David and fell on his face and paid homage.

2 Samuel 9:6-7

And David said, “Mephibosheth!” And he answered, “Behold, I am your servant.”

2 Samuel 9:6-7

7And David said to him, “Do not fear, for I will show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan, and I will

2 Samuel 9:6-7

restore to you all the land of Saul your father, and
you shall eat at my table always.”

Matthew 12:9-13

9He went on from there and entered their synagogue.

Matthew 12:9-13

10And a man was there with a withered hand. And they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the

Matthew 12:9-13

Sabbath?”—so that they might accuse him.

Matthew 12:9-13

11He said to them, “Which one of you who has a sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath,

Matthew 12:9-13

will not take hold of it and lift it out?

Matthew 12:9-13

12Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”

Matthew 12:9-13

13Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And the man stretched it out,

Matthew 12:9-13

and it was restored, healthy like the other.

3. How are disability and abortion
connected today?

"…we have basically eradicated, almost, Down syndrome from our society”

Icelandic Geneticist Kari Stefansson

4. How can we honor the image of
God in the lives of people with
disabilities?