Life Issues
Lutherans for Life seeks to educate and equip Lutherans in Australia and NZ with resources that enable them to defend the dignity of every human life from conception until natural death; and foster community responsibility for the defence of God's gift of human life.
Why do life ethics matter?
Because individuals make moral choices, ethics or morality may seem like an individual matter. Indeed, people seem to set their own standards of morality. But even before morality becomes individual, it has its basis in community.
We are born into communities. Our communities have their own standards and expectations that shape our individual understanding of right and wrong. Learning morality starts with our parents. They, in turn, are part of other communities that shape their identity and moral choices. That's what morality is all about: learning to hold to common convictions and standards that provide order for our communities and for society as a whole. Morality is the glue that holds society together in a state of reasonable harmony.
Unfortunately, society's morality often fails to maintain order in a way that is good or fair for all. In those cases, commonly accepted morality may have to be challenged and changed. The church as a moral community is clearly concerned about the quality of moral life in society.
Life, identity and purpose
Whether you believe it or not, your life is a gift from God. God thought of you before the creation of the whole world and, when he created you, he made you in his very own image (Ephesians 1:4; Genesis 1:26).
Even now, God knows more about you than you know about yourself. He has a plan for you – perhaps one you can’t see – 'to give you hope and a future' (Jeremiah 29:11).
This is an important reality to reflect on. We are so often tempted by the world to find our identity in other more transient things: our job; our level of education; our sexual orientation or relationship status; our family; our appearance; and our skills.
Yet to build our identity on such things is to build on shaky ground. These things come and go. Rather, God calls us to root ourselves in something deep and secure. Something unchangeable – God himself, through the person of Jesus Christ.
Marriage
Christian marriage is a beautiful gift from God. It was a part of God’s original design for creation and was the first human relationship God created: a relationship of companionship, complementarity, sexual unity, exclusivity and permanency.
In the story of creation, God recognised it was 'not good for the man to be alone' and so decided to 'make a helper suitable for him' (Genesis 2:18). What we realise here is that God saw value in human relationship, and the need to create a companion for Adam who could share life with him.
Marriage also has a deeper reality because it reflects the relationship between Christ and his church (Ephesians 5:22–33). Just as Christ laid down his life for the church, Christian men are called to show a sacrificial love towards their wives and wives are called to respect their husbands. Thus, husband and wife are called to serve one another in love and service.
Singleness
We live in a highly sexualised society which puts a great value on romantic relationships. We hear about them in the movies, on television, in magazines, and in every form of social media.
We can feel tempted to think that if we are not in a romantic relationship then we are somehow incomplete. Yet this is not how God sees things.
In fact, Jesus himself speaks of singleness and celibacy and as a special gift of God!
St Paul, too, encourages people to embrace the single life and even highlights advantages of being single. People who are single, he says, are spared the ‘troubles’ that come with marriage and family (1 Corinthians 7:28) and so can devote themselves more fully to God’s work.
Adoption
We are all adopted sons and daughters of God. As St Paul writes in Galatians 4:4–5: ‘God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons’.
St Paul continues by explaining what our adopted status means. First, it means we have the privilege of calling God ‘Father’, and trusting he hears and responds to us as our loving Father. Second, our adoption means we have a rich inheritance as heirs of God’s kingdom (Galatians 4:6).
Our adoption has nothing to do with anything we have done, and nothing to do with any genetic or family tie, as Jesus himself teaches (Matthew 12:48–50). It is a sheer gift of grace. God saw us stumbling under the weight of our own sin, destined for an unhappy future. He did not turn a blind eye. He had mercy on us, calling us into his family through baptism, and granting us a secure future.
Sexualisation
Modern life is full of photo imagery and advertising. Businesses and big brands are pushing to get every consumer dollar they can. Marketers realise that sex sells.
Now that sexual imagery has infused our public places (and especially our TV shows and computer screens), our culture has been changed. These changes have brought with them new pressures for girls (and to a lesser extent, boys) to be sexy, beautiful and appealing. In the media, females become like shiny accessories and objects of desire, while fashion trends embrace ever more daring styles.
It is only human to want to be liked and accepted by our peers, so when we are bombarded with messages that tell us that the way to be accepted is to look a certain way, to dress a certain way, take a photo a certain way – it is no wonder we want to get on board.
Suffering
Suffering is one thing in this world that we can all be sure to encounter in one form or another. When we do encounter it, it can be really tough, and we may find ourselves looking for ways to avoid it.
The question of how to reconcile faith and suffering has been a tough question for thousands of years. The problem we face is: how can a good, loving, and all-powerful God allow us to suffer? This has been a stumbling block to many, and it is a tough question to deal with.
Unfortunately, there is no one-line answer that will satisfy someone who is suffering. It is more of a journey as we walk with the Lord, learning to lean on him and having our faith tested and strengthened along the way.
Self-harm
Self-harm is exactly what it sounds like: harming yourself intentionally. This may sound like a strange idea to someone who has never felt like hurting themselves on purpose, but it is extremely common, and you may know people who do this. In Australia there has been more than 20,000 hospitalisations each year since the turn of the century, and possibly many more that never get reported.
Self-harm may involve people cutting themselves or taking a drug overdose for the purpose of causing pain and suffering. Self-harm is not always linked with attempted suicide, although of course suicide is the most extreme example of self-harm. Many people who self-harm report that they do so because they want to live, not because they want to die.
Self-harm is not the solution. It cannot fix your problems or take away your pain. It may make you feel better for a time, but it cannot give you lasting peace.
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