Other Religions’ View Of “Human Life” Versus God’s View Of “Human Life”
Bodie Hodge, M.Sc., B.Sc., PEI
Biblical Authority Ministries, August 5, 2025, (Donate)
Introduction
Human life—is it precious? Or is it no different from the
life of a mosquito? Human life—is it worth living? Or should we just kill
whomever we want? Save a human baby? Or sacrifice our children? From the baby in the womb to the elderly in
the nursing home—are they made in the image
of God? Or made in the image of an animal?
These are serious questions that impact life
or death—perhaps your own one day. Our culture is in dire need of
direction. You would think these questions would be easy to answer, but
depending on your worldview or religion, the answers can be trickier than you
may think.
Religions of the World
To understand how various world
religions’ view “human life,” you need to understand religions around the
world. Let’s start with a big
picture.
There are ultimately only two religions in the world: God’s
and man’s. God’s religion is the truth because God is truth. God revealed the
truth to us in His Word. The Word of God, the 66 books of the Bible, is true by
virtue of it coming from God who is the truth and absolute
authority.
Man’s religion, on the other hand, uses the mind of man,
which is naturally rebellious to God since sin (Genesis 6:5; Psalm 14:1–4,
58:3; Isaiah 53:6; Romans 1:28; Ephesians 2:1–3), to attempt to supersede the
Word of God. In simplistic terms, it means that man’s opinions are elevated to
be greater than God’s Word. This is
humanism in its broadest sense. So the two competing religions are biblical
Christianity and human-based religions (humanism).
But there are a multitude of religions floating around in
the world, so how can I be so bold as to say there are only two?
Simple—humanism breaks down into a multitude of beliefs, or more properly,
“sub-religions.”
Humanism breaks into four types of religions that try to
compete with biblical Christianity by elevating man’s ideas and demoting God’s
Word. And these four break down into further variations. The four, with examples, are:
· Materialistic religions—only material exists; no spiritual/nonmaterial [e.g., secularism, naturalism, atheism, agnosticism, modernism, post-modernism, Epicureanism]
· Spiritualistic religions—these are also called mysticism or transcendent mysticism or Eastern religions where only spirit exists; no material things exist. You are merely deceived into thinking material things exist. These religions include Taoism, Hinduism, Jainism, New Age.
· Moralistic religions—suggested moral codes, but no absolutes. For example, paganism, Confucianism, witchcraft, Wicca, animism/spiritism, Shinto, ancestor mythologies, Buddhism)
· Counterfeits of Christianity (something that mimics Christianity but deviates due to someone’s contrary claims (e.g., Jehovah’s Witnesses, Islam, Mormonism, Judaism)
Naturally, these human-based religions break into further
subdivisions. But because of the elevation of ideas and opinions of man as the
truth, these religions deviate from the absolute truth of God’s Word into
arbitrary, and thus false, religions.
View of Human Life
These religions view human life in a variety of ways.
Consider the materialistic religions.
Materialistic Religions
With these religions, human life must be defined in terms of
materialism. Life is not material, but
to be consistent with that set of religions, it must be redefined.
God is life (John 14:6) and the absolute standard of life
and the ultimate life-giver (Genesis 1). Life is not material because life is
also part of the purely spiritual realms—consider angels, Satan, and the
heavenly host. They are spiritual beings (e.g., Hebrews 1:14) who are living
creatures and were created by God (e.g., Genesis 1:1–2:4; Exodus 20:11;
Nehemiah 9:6). But they are not part of the material world. This means life is
not purely materialistic. This makes sense since God, who is THE life (John
14:6) is also spirit (John 4:24) and not bound to the material world that He
created.
Yet the materialists and naturalists (who believe that
“nature is all that there is”) must redefine life. They demote human life to
being insignificant and definitely not made in the image of God.
Furthermore, they equate human life as indistinguishable
from animals or plants or anything else. This is because they generally argue
man evolved from animals anyway, which ultimately came from matter like rocks,
fluid, and minerals.
Being consistent with this philosophy and since morality is
immaterial and shouldn’t exist anyway in this religion, then, if you can kill a
rat, you can kill a human. If you can break a rock, then you can break a human.
If you can eat a vegetable, then you can kill a human baby—hence the immense
child sacrifice we see through abortion today.
Notice how this religious philosophy degrades humanity to
nothingness and meaninglessness.
Spiritualistic Religions
The spiritual religions fare no better. In these eastern
mystical religions, spirit is all that exists. They are essentially the exact
opposite of the materialistic religions. This ultimate spirit is named The
Ultimate Reality in Taoism or Brahman in Hinduism or the “cosmic
consciousness”, “divine presence”, or “universal energy” in New Age
and is the impersonal god with which ‘all is one’.
The universe is not really the universe, and you are not
really you in these religions. Instead, you are deceived into thinking that
these things are distinct and material. Mystical religions teach that all is
one—you are me and I am you and we should stop drawing distinctions so we can
enter the final state of being one with The Ultimate Reality, the universal
energy, or Brahman.
The illogical aspects of these religions are shocking.
Consider how anyone can know anything about the supposed ultimate god, when the
impersonal ultimate god cannot communicate to mankind since communication is a
personal thing. I’ve yet to have a mystic hand me all their money and say,
“Since you are me, here you go.” One cannot live logically in these
religions.
And speaking of logic, since all is one, being logical and
illogical is one and the same so being logical is irrelevant to these
religions. Therefore, they are false.
But what about the mystic’s view of human life? If all is
one, then a person is no different from a rock. In Eastern Mysticism, there is
still concept of good and bad, although it is arbitrary. It is not revealed by
the ultimate being (Brahman, for instance), but instead are arbitrary
suggestions from man.
It is presumed that if one does better in this life (by that
arbitrary standard), then they climb the karma chain or go down it; but
ultimately, it doesn’t really matter. The hope, if this is really hope, is to
go back to nothingness or “nirvana.” The human life doesn’t really exist, just
Brahman or Ultimately Reality.
With this view, why care about anyone else, even children?
If these religions are taken to their logical conclusion, why not just murder
people or let them suffer if you want to, since they don’t really exist. Not
much of an uplifting view, is it?
Sadly, suffering in these religions are often met with
indifference. People just presume that a person must have done something bad in
a previous life and they deserve what they are getting. It is far different
from the high value of human life as given in the Bible.
Pagan and Moralistic
Moralistic and pagan views have some type of human-built
moral code system, though they are clearly arbitrary, since there are so many
different views. These “moral codes” are merely suggestions from Buddha or
Confucius, ancestors, rulers, or petty, (not very powerful) “gods” like
Dionysus, Diana, Baal, Zeus, and so on.
None of the rules are absolute and there really isn’t an
escape from personal guilt if you break one. For instance, if you hurt someone
and that is deemed wrong in these systems, the gods aren’t going to strike you
down. There are no consequences from dead ancestors or false gods and so on.
Even so, you still live with guilt of knowing what you did even if you get away
with it. This is unlike Christianity where your guilt is even cast upon Christ
and his righteousness and purity is ultimately imputed to you.
True justice and consequences are never enacted by the
alleged gods if you break one of the rules. In short, rules are just a
suggestion, and following these rules really doesn’t matter either—it’s all up
to you.
With religions like this, how is human life viewed?
Historically, in many of these religions, human life was devalued and even
sacrificed. This is true from Baal and Molech worship, to the Druids, to the
mythical religions of old. In wicca, voodoo, and witchcraft, there are no
qualms about casting people with curses.
In Buddhism, the doctrine of “anatta” or “no soul” is a
central concept (essentially a temporary soul, not an eternal soul). This has repercussions for morality since
your temporary soul ends when you die. As some have said, “When you die, you’re
done.” Things really don’t matter in the end according to this moralistic-style
religion.
Strange how “moralistic” religions really have no basis for
morality when you analyze them. Moralistic religions, when taken to a
conclusion, are just arbitrary and meaningless without morality. Why does
morality really matter in life—and why does human life matter at all in these
pagan religions? When it comes down to it, life doesn’t really matter in these
religions.
Counterfeits of Christianity
Finally, there are religions that mimic or “counterfeit”
Christianity—but then deviate. Religions such as Islam, Mormonism, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and Judaism borrow extensively from the pages of the Bible, and most
of them agree that the Bible is true with minor asterisks. Basically, they
proceed to change the Bible in light of their new alleged revelations and
interpretations (how convenient and errant)—which come from man (hence, the
humanistic element).
The problem is that they have it back to front. You must use
previous revelation to prove your new revelation. This was done by the apostles
using the Old Testament to prove the new eternal covenant of the gospel (e.g.,
Luke 24:32; Acts 17:2, 18:28). When you
use the standard of the 66 books of the Bible to evaluate these alleged new revelations (such as the Book of Mormon, Koran, apocrypha, Watchtower, Talmud,
or Papal Proclamations of Infallibility), they fall tragically short.
But where do these counterfeits get their view of human
life? Largely from the Bible. They are open about it. This is why many of the
people in this group of religions often agree with biblical Christianity’s view
of life. However, there are exceptions.
One cannot help but recall the bloody history of the early
Mormons with their wars in Illinois, Missouri, and Utah in the 1800s. The
history of Islam, Christianity’s largest counterfeit cult, is plagued with
bloodshed, Jihad (holy wars), a view of Muslim superiority, terrorism, and
female degradation. A deviation has indeed occurred from biblical truths
regarding the value of human life. The key for these religions is how much of
the Bible are they still going to borrow?
I encourage them to borrow all of it.
Interestingly when it comes to human life, one would think
the Jews—who rightly proclaim the truth of the Old Testament—were fourth highest on the list of religions that find abortion (child sacrifice)
acceptable behind Atheists, Agnostics, and Unitarian Universalists, with
Buddhists immediately following them.[1]
One would expect the other of these top fives to have a low view of human life,
but this surprises many about common Jewish thought on the sanctity of child
value and life.
Conclusion
There is considerable difference in the view of human life
among religious groups around the world. When we start with God and his Word,
man is made in the image of God, is eternal, and has eternal value. The value
is extended to people from the moment of fertilization, when a new and unique
person is formed.
Relying on humanistic views of human life, human life is
almost always demoted. Children in the womb suffer, children suffer, women,
elderly, or anyone considered “inferior” for arbitrary and incorrect
reasons—everyone ultimately suffers. Many don’t realize why suffering exists
(which began with sin in Genesis 3). Many don’t realize that God himself
provided a means of salvation in Jesus Christ.
God is the creator of life, giver of life, the reason life
has value, and will be the final judge of your life. Because human life has
been imbued with special value and meaning by its Creator whose image it bears,
to demote it is to go far into error and rebellion against God’s design.
Bodie Hodge, Ken Ham's son in law, has been an apologist
since 1998 helping out in various churches and running an apologetics website.
He spent 21 years working at Answers in Genesis as a speaker,
writer, and researcher as well as a founding news anchor for Answers
News. He was also head of the Oversight Council.
Bodie launched Biblical Authority Ministries in
2015 as a personal website and it was organized officially in 2025 as a
501(c)(3). He has spoken on multiple continents and hosts of US states in
churches, colleges, and universities. He is married with four children.
Originally at Answers in Genesis; Edited; Republished by permission.
[1]
David Masci, Americans religious Groups Vary Widely In Their Views Of Abortion,
Pew Research Center, January 22, 2018, https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2018/01/22/american-religious-groups-vary-widely-in-their-views-of-abortion/.
