The earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters….  the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being….  When you take away [the living creatures'] breath, they die and return to the dust. When you send your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the earth. (Genesis 1:2; 2:7; Psalm 104:29-30)

Over a decade ago I began working on a biblical worldview presentation that would include a sound theology of nature and express the importance of life as a gift of our Creator that needs to be cherished and preserved. Because we are alive and are surrounded by material life, it is easy to take it for granted and forget how rare all life is in the cosmos (its existing only on earth as far as we know).

Since that time I discovered a book that I feel presents the theology of life and the truth about the life-giving Spirit that has added more sound reasoning and biblical truth to what I tried to convey in that presentation like no other: The Source of Life: The Holy Spirit and the Theology of Life by German theologian Jurgen Moltmann.  This book provides great biblical insight that supports the conclusion I came to while working up my presentation: the motivating principle of Christian behavior is life affirmation.

In essence, when we live on the path the Bible would identify as the way of truth, life, and light, virtually everything we do and all the decisions we make will move in the direction of perpetuating, preserving, and affirming God’s gift of life.  Living any other way puts us on the opposing path of deception, death, and darkness.  As I was wrapping up my presentation, I began to enumerate how the daily behavior of a follower of the Lord of Life might look.  Though surely not exhaustive, here is the list as it stands today.

The Life-Affirming Behavior of Those Living on
The Way of Truth, Life and Light:

1.  Worshiping and obeying God, Who is the eternal and supernatural source of life
2.  Acting as attendant and steward of the creation, which is the temporal and natural source of life.
3.  Working heartily to gain sustenance for life and glorifying God through the expression of creative activity (that which is life-celebrating and life-affirming).
4.  Confining sexual intercourse to the nurturing bounds of marriage (male and female for life’s procreation and for conjugal bonding (making family the core structure of a life-affirming society).
5.  Recognizing that sexual intercourse in the bounds of holy matrimony is an intimate sacrament of unity exclusively between male and female (the procreation of human life outside of this natural bond being impossible and making homosexual behavior  “against nature”).
6.  Nurturing human life from conception to adulthood.
7.  Avoiding unjust war, murder, manslaughter, violence, and causing unnecessary animal suffering and death.
8.  Practicing behavior that is healthful (life-perpetuating) and attending to the healing of those who suffer.
9.  Sharing of the earth’s resources among all people, attending to the poor and
disenfranchised, and practicing sacrificial giving.
10. Depending upon God and the Body of Christ (the church) for security in our life and living.
11. Avoiding sinful (life-threatening behavior) and lovingly admonishing those who sin.
12. Affirming, proclaiming, and celebrating the life-giving truth found in both the special and general revelations of God (the Bible and the Creation).

[Photo by by toddwshaffer]

Here are some of Moltmann’s thoughts on respect for all of life that exists only because the Holy Spirit gives it and maintains it:

Reverence for life always begins with respect for weaker life, vulnerable life.  In the world of human beings this means the poor, the sick, the defenseless.  In the world of nature it means weaker animal and plant species, the life of which is a present condemned to extinction because of human barbarism.  Today, to sanctify life means defending God’s creation against institutionalized human aggression.  Laws for animal welfare, plant protection, conservation of the countryside and other protective statutes are necessary wherever our “fellow creatures” . . . are exposed to the power of human beings.  Today aggression proceeds from industry and from the “free market”….  Living without violence also means minimizing the technological use of violence against nature as far as possible, turning from hard to soft technology, restricting the use of energy by way of more efficient energy production, and caring solicitously for the natural environment.