Inside Out Living

I came across an interesting article today on the Yahoo News service that was published by the Associated Press. You can read the full article here. To summarize the article, it was about how the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has lowered the "value of statistical life." The value of a life is now placed at 6.9 million dollars instead of the 7.8 million dollars that it was just five years ago. The EPA said that people shouldn't think of the number as a price tag on a life. However, to me that is exactly what it sounds like. When we begin to ask the question if something that would save lives is cost effective because of the value of a human life then this is exactly what the number means. I am not going to ignore the fact that government agencies must have some way to make a decision about the practicality of certain policies but it is troublesome at some level to place a dollar figure on a human life.

God made it very clear that human life is precious. In Genesis 9 God states that because people are made in his image, that murder is strictly forbidden and should be met with the severest of penalties. Now I am not going to start a debate on the death penalty, I am just pointing out why God has said that human life is of infinite value. When God sent Jesus to die on the cross he also made a statement about the value of human life. Because we are of infinite value to God, Jesus willingly gave up his life to provide for our salvation.

God has never skimped on the value of human life and neither should the church. Yes the church should make wise decisions as stewards of the resources God has entrusted to us. But far be it from us to place a dollar value on the salvation of someone's life. I don't think that a church should ever decide not to do something that is impacting eternity because the cost per salvation is too high. I am not saying that programs will come and go because they will. But it just doesn't fit with God's view of people to ever say that there is a limit to value of a human life.