Did you think you were God??

~Erin Blair

My husband and I love Alfred Hitchcock movies. They are different from the modern horror films that are more gore and hack-and-slash with no plot. We appreciate the Hitchcock films for “turning our wheels” and making us think, making our mind do the tricks for us. One of our favorites is the film “Rope” staring Jimmy Stewart. This probably isn’t considered a horror film like, say, Psycho, but the other day I was thinking of a wonderful point this film made.

Let me give a brief synopsis. Two college students decide to murder via strangulation another student because they determined he was intellectually inferior. They then stuffed his body in a trunk and served food off the same trunk later that day at a party they hosted in their apartment. One of the guests they invited was their college professor played by Jimmy Stewart. They thought that killing this “inferior” student would impress their professor. But Jimmy Stewart’s reaction, which in my opinion is one of the best speeches in movie history, has stuck with me:

“…Tonight you’ve made me ashamed of every concept I ever had of superior or inferior beings. And I thank you for that shame. Because now I know that we’re each of us a separate human being, Brandon, with the right to live and work and think as individuals, but with an obligation to the society we live in. By what right do you dare say that there’s a superior few to which you belong? By what right did you dare decide that that boy in there was inferior and therefore could be killed? Did you think you were God, Brandon? Is that what you thought when you choked the life out of him? Is that what you thought when you served food from his grave? …You’ve murdered! You’ve strangled the life out of a fellow human being who could live and love …”


With all the politics swarming around us today involving rulings on abortion and “mercy” killings and ISIS, this snippet keeps echoing in my mind. What is the sanctity of life? Who determines who has the right to live or die?

God is the One who created life (Gen. 2:7, 22). He is the One who created man in His image (Gen. 1:26) and therefore made man a special being, different and superior to all the animals and plants. When God made man, He “made man upright, but they have sought out many inventions.” (Eccl. 7:29) When man gets “puffed up” and thinks he is smarter or “hot stuff” than he should or really is, that’s when trouble begins (Rom. 12:3; Gal. 6:3). That’s when he starts thinking himself more knowledgeable than God or just throws God “out the window.”

Who are we as people to think we can determine what life is to be spared and which is to be “killed off” or is inferior? God has created man in His image! We are all deserving of life and none are more or less inferior in any way to another. As I sit here and type this, I can feel my son moving and kicking. Who dares determine if his life is less important than another? Who are we to judge life that God created? We need to learn to respect life, whether in the womb or in the nursing home, for all souls are important in the sight of God. Christ died for all mankind and that puts a very high importance on all human life!

Erin resides in Ben Wheeler TX with her husband, Jordan and is awaiting the birth of their first child, Judah Rae Blair. Erin has been involved with preparing and organizing the work of the church since she was a teenager by teaching all ages of Bibles classes, helping prepare and organize Ladies Days, Prom Alternatives, Youth Rallies and VBS.  She is currently works as a paralegal for a law firm. She and her husband also spend their time enjoying their garden, dogs, rabbits, chickens, ducks, quail…etc.  Life is never dull at her house.