Again and again, in the debate surrounding assisted suicide, we encounter the term “dignity.” Both advocates and opponents tend to understand that term similarly. Namely, that dignity essentially means “worth” or “value” or “something deserving honor.”

Despite a common denotative understanding, there are dramatic differences in the understanding of its source and its enduring quality (or lack thereof).

For Christians, our faith is exceptionally clear about our dignity as persons. For us it is the intrinsic and irrevocable value that all human life has, and will always retain — from the first moment of our existence, through the last breath we take. We don’t lose it.

We are irreplaceably valuable regardless of the circumstances we find ourselves in. Our worth, our dignity, transcends any and all circumstantial considerations. A world-class athlete who suffers a tragic accident and faces spending the rest of his or her life in a wheelchair has lost none, not one iota, of dignity.

The reason is simple. Our dignity comes from being made in God’s image and likeness. This makes us more valuable than anything else in the material universe!

Our worth is not related to the fickle circumstances of human life. Even if I reject God, I’m still always and invariably made in His image and likeness, and endowed with the dignity that comes from that gift. This is not the same message we receive (implicitly or explicitly) from our modern society which tends to view human dignity quite differently.

While it may recognize human life as valuable (at least some human life), it typically doesn’t recognize God as the source of that value (if it did, it could not tolerate things like abortion). Further, especially in our own country, rather than focusing on the intrinsic “value of human life” there is a decisive trend to focus instead on the ambiguous “quality of life” — especially for end of life issues. When this happens the “dignity” of the human person begins to be thought of in terms of, or even measured by, a consideration of the “quality of life.”

This shift paves the way for some lives to become more valuable than others. Life’s value changes as the circumstances surrounding it change. Its value becomes based largely on what one has to offer, what is possessed or how enjoyable one’s life is (or appears to be), instead of Whose image I’m made in.  

If my life possesses certain things or qualities it is deemed valuable. If it doesn’t possess certain things — or no longer does — it correspondingly loses its value. With the loss of the sense of its value, it appears more justifiable to dispose of it. Why keep something worthless?

In fact, looking at the state of Oregon, where assisted suicide has been legal for some time, we see this is a major factor in choosing it. The most common reasons cited are:

â–º being “less able to engage in activities making life enjoyable” (96 percent),

â–º “losing autonomy” (92 percent), and

â–º the “loss of dignity” (75 percent) — (as reported by state of Oregon at http://www.public.health.oregon.gov).

Clearly, for those making this choice, life becomes no longer valuable without a sense of its possessing certain things.    

For Christians, Jesus shows us something completely opposed to this mentality: the presence of the Cross doesn’t diminish our true value, or the value of human life. Did Jesus lose any of His dignity while dying on the cross?  Isn’t it rather that His death — as gruesome or as outwardly “undignified” as it may have appeared — became rather a testament to the value of our lives? Are we not to follow His own example (1 Peter 2:21)? Each of us is to honor God not only by our lives, but must also strive to honor Him at “the hour of our death.”

No death can honor God, or live up to the dignity He has bestowed on us, by breaking one of His laws in the process.