The Raccoon on the Road

What defines the value of life? And before I go any further, I’ll make it clear that this blog is not about my pro-life stance. It’s about something that is even more important to me. But, like many of my blogs, I have more questions than answers, and today I set some of those questions before you, dear reader. This whole thought stemmed from a small event that happened today while I was driving.

If you know me, you know that I am a lover of animals. If you saw me at a party, there’s a 95% chance that you’d see me talking to the house pet before you saw me talking to another human. They bring me comfort, and understanding in their beautiful, silent way. Animals have a special way about them. They’re resilient, sometimes undergoing abuse that seems to all but fade when they meet the arms of a safe person. They’re joyful, finding pleasure in the small things: naps, a treat, their owner getting home. Or the more wild ones, they live in quiet submission to God’s design, interwoven with the parts of nature that humans don’t fully understand. Though some cultures have begun to; I have a real awe for Native cultures, people that lived in more harmony with creation than we do now.

Or, for me, animals have been God’s way of screaming at me my own worth when I myself did not see it. He even used several dreams of service dogs to get my attention. 

But despite this, despite the intrinsic grace and beauty that we can all agree is within animals, my stance today is on the value of the human soul. Nephesh, as it is used in the Bible to describe both a soul as well as a living being. They didn’t differentiate between the soul and the body as we do now. It says in Genesis that God breathed life into human “nephesh’s” and then they became alive. You, as a human are one whole. A beautiful nephesh with great worth.

So to tie these two thoughts together, here is the event that happened today that brought all of this about. I was driving home on a highway I drive often, where I saw a dead raccoon on the side of the road. Its body was rigid in a shape as if it were still walking. I averted my eyes, the picture of decay hard to swallow. Death is always difficult. We weren’t created for it, after all. And then I began to think about all of the activists out there that fight for the cause of animal lives. 

Hear me out—I’m not saying that this isn’t a noble pursuit, I myself have worked with several rescue organizations for stray and homeless dogs. I believe in the intrinsic worth of all of creation. And yet, I believe that the human being, the human soul, our nephesh, however you want to call it, is of even more worth. 

I heard a quote once that said something like, “How precious must a human soul be if both God and the devil are after it.” And that struck me. I, personally, consider myself an evangelist, which in Christian speak means someone that shares the gospel with another. In my more South-side of heaven speak I like to say it's my attempt at robbing hell. I have heard it all when I’ve done this. I’ve been ridiculed, I’ve been slandered, yelled at, and in these endeavors I bare the cross of shame in the world’s eyes. “Someone who forces their religion on others” some would call it. But what if it isn’t that at all? 

God said in the garden that he made man in his image. He made us intrinsically valuable and capable of choice, and I believe that part of being made in his image is that we have an immense capacity to do good. That drive for goodness comes from somewhere, after all. It’s in our DNA. He knit it into us as he knit us together in our mother’s wombs. Fearfully and wonderfully. I believe that even the worst people have a capacity for some level of goodness. No matter how far we stray from our God design, it’s still there, knit into us. 

And so my thought today is about this little raccoon I saw. It hurts when we see an animal dead on the side of the road. We wonder if something could have stopped it, if the driver could have been more careful, we consider the value of that little life. 

But I’d like to, considering this day and age and the spiritual climate we live in, play the devil’s advocate. What if all those people who are faithfully, and potentially “annoyingly” sharing God’s story of Jesus with you, what if they are much more noble in their love than we are when we fight for animal rights? What if they truly have seen a side of the universe that you have yet to see—or at least believe. 

Oftentimes in the Bible God uses creation to remind us of our own value. He cares for the sparrows and even the ravens, he dresses the lilies, how much more will he clothe you? All of these reminders he takes from creation, because for humans it’s easy to forget our own value. But we value creation. We value the things we care about, and indeed we should because we were created to reign over them. Humans were created to have dominion over the earth. That means it is our job to care for the animals, to do things humanely and justly. All of this comes from our God design, though many do it without being connected to the one who designed them. But at least they do it, right? 

So just as I saw that raccoon today, and wondered what could have changed its fate, that’s what I see everyday of my life when I (to my best ability) spread God’s message, even when it’s not well received. That’s the cross of shame of being an evangelist, and perhaps a Christian altogether. God has revealed to you the truth, and with it comes the fate of each and every human being. That’s why we pray, that’s why we give, that’s why we change our entire lives when we meet him. Or at least for me. I want the world to know he’s true, and that they are valuable. That’s why I pray for my server at restaurants, give Bibles to strangers or pray over and over again for the salvation of my family members. I’ve seen the bigger picture, I’ve gotten a glimpse of the other side and what truly awaits each and every one of us. 

An atheist once said that he doesn’t believe the Christians who don’t share their faith, because if you truly believed that heaven or hell was hanging in the balance for each and every human, why would you be so selfish to not share it? And that’s my motive when I evangelize. When I share another Facebook story, or befriend another person who hates me because I have God’s seed in me. I see the value of their soul, their nephesh, and I would be a fool if I did nothing about it. 

So, as I said, today I am playing devil’s advocate. Maybe not the best use of words, but it’ll do for this picture I’m attempting to paint. We are vain when we strive to save the lives of creation but neglect our own eternal fate. We are off in some ways when we can see the value of an animal but not the value in our neighbor, gossiping about them, judging them. We sin against God when we hate our brothers and determine their worth by our own standards, instead of God’s. “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works.” Ephesians 2:10