The Dignity of Man
Posted: Thursday, February 16, 2012
by John Waddey
firstcenturychristian
The dignity of man is based on his origin; created by God, in His image (Gen. 1:26). Of all the creatures God made, only man has higher intelligence, volition, a conscience that allows him to discern between right and wrong and immortality. Only man is amenable to law and considered responsible for his conduct.
This dignity is not bestowed by rulers or governments. It is God-given. An ideal state will readily acknowledge and support man’s dignity. History demonstrates that rulers and governments have often ignored or even denied man’s dignity. Many have trampled upon it. They have discouraged citizens from claiming and expressing their inherent dignity. This disregard for human dignity has been demonstrated in numerous ways:
• War can rob man of his dignity. To motivate their soldiers to kill the enemy without pity, to destroy his homes and cities, governments often resort to dehumanizing him. They are referred to as insects or animals. Tales are spread attributing sub-human practices to them. The brutality of war often reduces participants to the level of barbarians and dignity is lost. Even civilians on the losing side are often suffer extreme deprivation and are forced to resort to humiliating ends to get the necessities of life.
• Violent criminals rob their victims not only of their goods, but of their dignity as well. Every act of personal violence and death reveals a lack of respect for the dignity of their victims.
• The experience of being imprisoned for extended periods of time can result in a man losing his dignity. Housed among the most depraved, vicious and worthless of humanity, and forced to survive in the midst of that environment, prisoners are forced to live more like caged animals than humans.
• Tyrants who gain control of nations by force often dehumanize their opposition or those selected to be the scape goats who are blamed for every problem and every failure. Nazis in Germany did this to Jews, Serbians, Croatians and Gypsies.
• The caste system of nations like India reserved dignity for the upper caste, the Brahmins. At the bottom of the social order were the harridans, the outcasts. They were treated as less than human, unworthy of respect and equal treatment. Although this is now illegal, it still prevails in practice.
• Racism such as South Africa’s apartheid worked much like India’s caste system. There the native Bantu people were denied the dignity due them.
• Extreme ignorance and poverty can cause some to caste aside their dignity. In their struggle for survival, they are forced to struggle for scraps of food. Thus in days past, even in our nation, there were those whose standard of living and conduct was not much above that of ravening wolves. Lying, cheating, stealing, the selling of self, all for morsels of food. This was the result of their extremity. Such circumstances denies people the opportunity to improve their minds. Their entire life and energy must be devoted to survival for the day. No time is left for the elevating things of life.
• An educational system that undermines a child’s belief in his divine origin and status and persuades him that he is only a highly evolved biped of the mammalian class of vertebrates robs him of his dignity. As does the effort to subvert his moral and spiritual value system. The fruit of this type of secular education is seen in our disintegrating social system.
• A governing system that makes men dependent, obligated, and subservient to the state, that treats them like children and thus destroys their ambition to be independent and self-reliant robs them of their dignity. The welfare state robs dependent citizens of their dignity. This has been demonstrated in the result of governmental poverty programs that encouraged laziness, substance abuse, discouraged marriage and encouraged illegitimacy. In most cases these poverty ghettos become havens for crime and violence.
• In the field of science, some whose religion is secular humanism, view men as nothing more than animals for experimentation; as creatures to be studied and manipulated. This is seen in the desire to clone, to create weapons of mass-destruction, to create mind-controlling drugs, etc. It robs mankind of its dignity.
• In the field of medicine and sociology, the passion and demand for permissive abortion, for euthanasia and voluntary suicide reflects a mind set that has little respect for humanity and tends to rob mankind of their inherent dignity.
The swaggering street punk may demand respect or else. But all he will get is to be despised by whose see and know him. Respect comes naturally to the person of dignity who treats others with dignity and respect. The poor man of faith’s love for God, his self-respect and reliance has dignity that far surpasses that of the rich, the powerful and the famous of the world who know not God and who deny their noble pedigree. Christ in a person’s heart is the hope of glory (Col. 1:27). It bestows the dignity, God intended for us to have!
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