HUMAN LIFE IS GOOD AND PRECIOUS, BECAUSE EVERY HUMAN BEING WAS CREATED IN THE IMAGE OF GOD.
Bible Reading of the Day: Read Genesis 1:26-31.
Verse of the Day: “God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27, NIV).
“How did you save up sixty dollars?” Don asked his friend Patrick.
Patrick shrugged. “Mowing lawns and stuff,” he said.
The two boys walked side by side down the aisles of the My-T-Mart until they reached the electronics section. “What video game are you going to buy?” Don asked. He was almost as excited as Patrick.
“I don’t know.” He pointed to a package. “I’m thinking of that one.”
Don wrinkled his nose. “You’ve already got a basketball game.” He pointed to another game. “Why don’t you get Slaughterhouse?”
“Nah,” Patrick answered. He turned and called to the store clerk, who unlocked the cabinet, allowing the boys to pull some of the games from the shelf to look at.
“Why not?” Don pressed. “It’s the coolest game!”
“My parents won’t let me,” Patrick said. “They say it’s too violent.”
“That’s why it’s cool!” Don gushed. “Your parents are dumb.”
Patrick wasn’t happy that he wasn’t allowed to buy Slaughterhouse, but he didn’t like Don calling his parents dumb. “They’re not dumb; they just don’t want me playing a game like that.”
“What’s wrong with it?”
Patrick found himself in the unusual position of defending his parents for a decision he didn’t like. He put the basketball cartridge back on the shelf and faced his friend. “How many people do you have to kill in Slaughterhouse to beat the game?”
Don wrinkled his nose again. “I don’t know,” he said. “A lot. What’s the point?”
“My parents don’t want me to think that killing people is a game,” Patrick said.
“That’s dumb,” replied Don. “Slaughterhouse isn’t gonna make you into some serial killer.”
“That’s not the point,” Patrick answered. “Look, maybe it’s not a big deal, but my parents are just trying to teach me to respect life, especially human life, because God made all of us in his image. And Slaughterhouse sure won’t help me remember that, will it?”
Don started waving his hands back and forth in a gesture of surrender. “All right,” he said, “I give up! Buy any game you want; I don’t care.”
Patrick smiled at his friend. He’s not so bad, he thought. After all, Don had helped him realize—in a backward sort of way—how wise his parents could be.
TO DISCUSS: What makes human life valuable to God? to others? to you? Do you think you can ever become less valuable? Why or why not? How can you show your respect for human life?
TO PRAY: “Lord, teach us to have the same respect for human life that you have.”
