What is a human life worth? Mathematically, not much. There are over 7 billions humans on earth. Compared to some endangered species, many humans could be eliminated and we would still be fine. Besides, some scientists are contending that there are too many humans. It is not good for the environment. It is not good for the earth. Although they wouldn’t say it, the implication is that many humans could be rid of and that would be better for the rest of us.

If so, then who should be eliminated? Who should remain and who should go? Who should be left to flourish and who should become extinct? And who decides? In the 1930s, the Nazis decided that it was the Aryans who should be left to flourish and the Jews should become extinct.

These are the issues we are dealing with as we welcome another MLK Day today. There are those still in the U.S. that protest against the validity of what the day stands for. Although many claim to know God, they obviously don’t. They would not have drawn the conclusion that some people are superior to others if they knew God. But what is disturbing is that those who are in the Bible belt are some of the staunchest racist in this country. And they use God to justify their racist view on human life.

God allows us to repeat these mistakes over and over. The stories of the racist past are replete in the Bible. And they have been repeated all throughout history. Yet, here we are, still repeating, still blundering, still sinning… We are only proving to ourselves how hopeless, sinful, and foolish we are. We are NOT to be trusted.

I’m thankful for a man like Martin Luther King Jr. A man who sacrificed himself for the good of many. And it is through men like him that God works His grace to correct the course of history for the good of human beings.

PH