New Testament Christianity: A Preventive to Suicide (By Mike Willis)

New Testament Christianity: A Preventive to Suicide (By Mike Willis)

It is my firm conviction that the revelation of God in the Bible is the best
preventive to suicide which can be found. The man who understands what the
Scriptures record is better equipped to face life's problems than the man
who has not sought to build a relationship with God based on the Scriptures.

A Case In Point

The sixteenth chapter of Acts not only records the conversion of the
Philippian jailor, it also contains the record of an attempted suicide. As a
matter of fact, the New Testament record provides a refreshing contrast
between two life-styles - that of New Testament Christianity with that of
paganism.

The Apostle Paul and his associate Silas were beaten and thrust into prison
following a miracle in which, through the power of God, they cast out a
spirit of divination from a young lady. When her masters saw that their hope
of financial gain through selling the woman's ability to divine the future
was gone, they brought charges against Paul and Silas. The result was that
they were beaten, thrust into the inner prison, and put in stocks. How would
they handle this serious setback? Would they go into a spirit of depression?
Did they need a double dose of Valium? Would they contemplate suicide? None
of these reactions are recorded. Rather, the record states, "And at midnight
Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God" (Acts 16:25). Their
spirits were indomitable. They were able to handle these kinds of problems
in life without sinking into the depths of emotional despair.

The record continues to relate that an earthquake was sent from God which
loosened the bonds of the prisoners and caused the prison doors to be
opened. "And the keeper of the prison awaked out of his sleep, and would
have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled" (Acts
16:27). Without a doubt, the jailor was responsible for these prisoners with
his life. In the event that they escaped, he would be killed.

Nevertheless, when problems confronted him in his life, he handled them
differently than did Paul and Silas. When Paul and Silas sat in the inner
prison fastened in bonds, they sang praises to God. When the jailor thought
that the prisoners had escaped, he was ready to commit suicide. I suggest to
you that these two attitudes toward facing the problems in one's life
manifest the superiority of Christianity toward meeting the problems of life
over that of paganism.

The Basis For Life In Paganism

Paganism has a different concept toward life than does Christianity. The
differences in these concepts toward life, affects one's outlook on life.
Let us consider some of the attitudes which paganism has toward life.
Remember that by "paganism," I mean any non-Christian approach toward life.

1. The life is considered in relationship to the number of pleasurable
experiences. Some forms of paganism measure life on the basis of the
proportionate number of pleasant and unpleasant experiences. When the number
of unpleasant experiences exceeds the number of pleasant experiences, life
is not considered to be worth living anymore. Hence, suicide then becomes a
viable option. Christians are not taught to so measure life. Life must be
weighed in relationship to a judgment day with everlasting consequences
(heaven or hell).

2. Life is considered without regard to future existence. Secularism is not
concerned with life after death. Our secular society has generally destroyed
any concern for the hereafter. No one is talking about heaven and hell
anymore. Hence, the modern pagan does not decide his present conduct on the
basis of how it will affect his future existence.

3. Man is considered to be merely an animal. Our evolutionist friends have
perpetuated their doctrine of men; it is taught in practically every school
in America. Our children are taught that man is merely a highly developed
animal. He is not told that he has a soul which is immortal and which is
created in the image of God; rather, he is told that man has simply
progressed on the evolutionary scale at a more rapid rate than has other
animals. This certainly colors ones disposition toward his life.

4. Why not commit suicide? From the pagan point of view, why should a man
not commit suicide? What logical reason can a person give for a man not
taking his life? Pagans have rejected the Bible as their standard of
morality; they have rejected a belief in life after death. Hence, why should
a pagan not take his life when life on this earth becomes more unpleasant
than pleasant? There is no answer to these questions if one accepts the
premises of modern paganism.

Christian Ethics: The Solution to Suicide

The advantage of Christianity over paganism becomes exceedingly apparent
just at these points. Notice how Christian ethics give an individual a
reason for not taking his life.

1. Murder is sinful. The first step which I would take in dealing with a
potential suicide victim would be to tell him that the taking of human life
in such an act is murder self-murder, but murder nonetheless. Murder is
still murder if the victim consents to it. The taking of one's life is
sinful (Rev. 21:8); it is destruction of the body which is the dwelling
place of the Spirit of God (1 Cor. 6:19-20).

2. Life is sacred. Man is created in the image of God. The Genesis account
states the following:

And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them
have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and
over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that
creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image
of God created he him; male and female created he them (Gen. 1:26-27).

The sacredness of human life is also seen in the punishment which is given
to those who take another's life. When one is trying to show the importance
of any given item, he prices it highly. When a particular ordinance is being
emphasized, the punishment for disobedience is made particularly harsh. For
that reason, the punishment for a parking violation and that for murder are
different; life is more precious than a parking violation. God's evaluation
of human life is seen in the punishment that he gives to the man who takes
another's life. He stated, "Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his
blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man" (Gen. 9:6). Hence, life
is exceedingly precious in the sight of God.

To this must be added the statements relative to the manner in which a
Christian is a part of God's purchased possession, the church. Paul
instructed us concerning the proper usage of the body in his comments
regarding fornication. Notice the several arguments that he made: (1) The
body is for the Lord (1 Cor. 6:13). Our bodies are to be used to the service
of God; they are to be presented as living sacrifices to God (Rom. 12:1-2;
Phil. 1:20). (2) My body shall be raised from the dead in the likeness of
Christ's resurrected body (1 Cor. 6:14; cf. Phil. 3:21). (3) My body is a
member of Christ (1 Cor. 6:15). Under the figure of the church as a body,
Paul argued that the body of Christ is made up of individual members of the
church. Hence, my body is a part of the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:14-26).
(4) My body is the temple of the Holy Spirit and (5) the possession of
Christ. Paul wrote, "What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the
Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in
your spirit, which are God's " (1 Cor. 6:19-20). Hence, the body of man is
sacred. The Christian cannot take his life because it is a violation of
these principles.

3. Sin separates a man from God throughout all eternity. The Scriptures are
quite clear in revealing that the punishment for sin is eternal life in Hell
(Rom. 6:23; Rev. 21:8). Hence, the man who is contemplating suicide because
of

horrible circumstances in this life should be told that he is headed for
something worse by taking his life. He will not be improving his
circumstances by taking his life. Rather, he will simply be hastening an
entrance into eternal punishment.

4. There is hope for a better tomorrow. The hopelessness of the potential
suicide victim can be dealt with through the Christian's blessed hope for an
eternal inheritance "an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that
fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of
God through faith" (1 Pet. 1:4-5). Regardless of how bad one's circumstances
might be in this life, there is hope for a better life beyond the grave. No
one's situation is totally hopeless.

One's circumstances in this life might become unpleasant to the degree that
he has no desire to continue to live on this earth below. Paul's
circumstances became that way. Sitting in a prison in Rome, Paul wrote, "For
I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with
Christ; which is far better" (Phil. 1:23). His circumstances in life were
not pleasant. To die would be an improvement for him. Yet, not once did he
consider taking his own life. Rather, he fixed his hope in God and on
heaven. He said, "For our conversation (politeuma citizenship) is in heaven;
from when also we look far the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall
change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body,
according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto
himself" (Phil. 3:20-21).

Christianity Is Profitable

Understanding the temptations which face the potential suicide victim, we
see Christianity alone has the answers for him. We are therefore reminded
that Christianity is profitable not only for the life which is to come but
also for the one which presently exists (1 Tim. 4:8). (concluded next week)

[Truth Magazine XXIV: 7 (February 14, 1980), pp. 115-117]
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Suicide: Self-Murder (By Mike Willis)

The number of eases of suicide continues to increase every year. One can
hardly imagine that those who have so much to live with have so little to
live for. Yet, the number of Americans who are taking their own lives
continues to increase every year.

Not surprisingly, the number of teenage suicides has increased as well. In
the last decade the number of incidents of teenage suicide has increased one
hundred per cent.(1) Here are the grim statistics of teenage suicide:

The suicide rate among fifteen-to-twenty-four years-olds has risen by almost
300 percent in just twenty years. An average of thirteen teenagers kill
themselves every day.

Suicide is the third leading killer of teens (following accidents and
homicides). As if these statistics aren't gruesome enough, some experts
argue that suicide may, in fact, be the number one killer.

The basis for this argument? Suicides often go into the record books as
accidental deaths. For example: A person killed in a head-on collision,
while driving at night on the wrong side of an expressway with no
headlights, would probably be pronounced an accident victim - unless there
was positive proof of suicide, such as a suicide note.

Though about five thousand teenagers kill themselves each year, the number
who attempt to kill themselves is as much as one hundred times as high, or
about five hundred thousand teens.(2)

None of these statistics means quite so much to an individual as does a
personal telephone call relating that one of his friends has committed
suicide. I shall not soon forget my alarm upon hearing that my cousin had
murdered his estranged wife and then committed suicide. Just a few weeks
ago, I was informed that one of the young men who was baptized in a recent
meeting which I conducted had taken his life. The brethren in one northern
Ohio city related the suicide death of the brother of one of the members.
The mortician who handled this suicide related that this was the eighth case
in one month of death through suicide by a teenager.

Surely these statistics are alarming. However, they certainly are useless
unless they cause us to ask what is causing these increases in suicide and
what can be done to prevent others. I speak as no authority, for I have not
given myself to a thorough study of this subject. However, I would like to
make some suggestions as to causes and preventions.

Causes of Suicide

1. Hopelessness. Almost every document written regarding suicide relates the
hopelessness of situations as a leading cause of suicides. "It's not so much
that the person wants to die; he just doesn't see any alternative," wrote
Reina Gross.(3) Psychiatrists agree that a leading cause of suicide in the
young is hopelessness about the future.(4)

Generally this hopelessness is not concerned with life after death; it is
pertaining to life on earth. A wife feels trapped in an unhappy marriage;
she sees no way out except through death. A teenaged girl becomes pregnant
out of wedlock. Rather than face the problem, she commits suicide.

2. Problems in the home. Though these categories are not mutually exclusive,
they need to be enumerated separately. "Insecurity in family life is given
as one likely cause (of suicide, mw). `Divorce is breaking up families at a
great rate,' says Paula Cantor, an associate professor at Boston University,
`and for an adolescent it's more damaging to lose a parent through divorce
than through death.' "(5)

The increase in divorce affects suicides of both teenagers and adults. Our
lack of concern for the solidarity of the family unit causes instability in
children as one of its byproducts. Sometimes, this results in teenage
suicide. More and more, we can see the wisdom of God in revealing the family
structure as one of the stabilizing forces of life.

Added to the problem of divorce as an enemy of the home which contributes to
suicide must be the neglect of children. Janet Chase-Marshall wrote,

"There has been a definite weakening of family standards and parental
authority," says Dr. Joseph Teicher, director of child adolescent psychiatry
at the Los Angeles County-University of Southern California Medical Center.
"There are more and more divorces. And more children are physically and
emotionally abandoned at an early age by parents who are so troubled
themselves they cannot give that vital life fluid we call nurturance."

Related to the breakdown of family ties is the emphasis on "doing your own
thing."

"We have become very egocentric and competitive - even with our own
children," points out Cleveland phsychiatrist Dr. Victor Victoroff. "Our old
traditional resources - family, church, schools, government - are seen
cynically as untruthful and untrustworthy. So, in a world where mom and dad
are both working, and grandparents are off living the `good life' in some
retirement city, who is there to help a troubled teenager?"(6)

The assessment that the problem is the home failing to meet the emotional
needs of the teenaged suicide is not some isolated comment of some
narrow-minded preacher. ". . . Morris Paulson, the clinical psychologist who
conducted the U.C.L.A. study, found a common denominator among these
disturbed youngsters: `Every one of them had a home that wasn't providing
the understanding and caring that the child needed.' "(7)

I am sure that other breakdowns in the home could be enumerated as causes of
suicide. However, these should be sufficient to make us aware of the
instability of the home as a contributing cause of many suicides, both of
the young and old.

3. Financial problems. There has always been an increase in the number of
suicides which increase is coincident with the financially troubled times in
our economy. When a man gets himself in hopeless financial conditions, he
sometimes uses suicide as his way out. In some cultures, suicide is more
honorable than bankruptcy.

Materialism and Teenager Suicide

Our emphasis on the accumulation of things in many respects affects our
children. However, when our emphasis on things becomes so engrossing that it
is a contributing cause in children taking their own lives, it is time for
something radical to be done to correct it. Let us consider how materialism
and attitudes toward children run together:

With increasing frequency - and plaintiveness - we hear how children
endanger the "life-style" of those who must care for them. This
protectiveness toward something so seemingly ephemeral as a "life-style" may
at first glance seem bizarre - or narcissistic - yet when the term
"life-style" is recognized as code, its significance begins to make sense.
What the expression refers to is in fact something closer to the bone:
standard of living. Lifestyles almost invariably cost money, and the more
"imaginative" the life-style, the more "daring," the more it is likely to
cost . . . .

Thus, underlying the degeneration of our romance with childhood is the
pervasive idea - half grounded and half hallucinatory - that children can no
longer be afforded . . . .

But the dread of children isn't limited to the rich man's view of the poor.
Even those with rather large sums of discretionary income wonder in all
seriousness if they can afford to have children . . .In this sense, parents
who say that their children are draining the life out of them are really
saying something much less mystical: It is their ability to buy things for
themselves that is being drained by the child. And since the accouterments
of the single or childless life are the most ephemeral and the most
discretional, they must be glamorized and injected with importance. Once you
have been removed from the possibility of wasting your money on a lot of
self-enhancing junk, you can feel isolated and irrelevant: the familiar
voices are no longer speaking to you. Your diminished ability to participate
in the market-place is felt unconsciously as life itself passing you by.
Those who do not spend and live well are irrelevant, and if the children are
responsible, then, in fact, they have ruined your life.(8)

I have witnessed this kind of over-emphasis on the accumulation of things.
Couples who are afraid that they will not have as much money to spend on
themselves voluntarily decide not to have children; others deprive
themselves of the joy of additional children for the same reasons. Frankly,
I am not convinced that a new car, stereo, house, curtains, etc. will give
one much joy in his old age; certainly the joy which these things can give
cannot compare to a hug around the neck from a youngster who calls you
"Grandpa."

This inordinate emphasis on the accumulation of things relates to suicide
when children are made to feel guilty because their parents do not have as
much money to spend on themselves as do those who have no children. When
children are constantly reminded of how much trouble they are, how much they
hamper the ability of their parents to go to places of entertainment, and
how much they cost, they soon begin to feel as wanted and loved as a
deflated spare tire.

What Can Be Done About Suicides?

In recent years, we have witnessed the proliferation of suicide-prevention
centers all over this country. These centers operate phones manned by
counselors twenty-four hours a day. The counselors (usually volunteers) try
to talk the potential suicide victim out of committing suicide. They can
send medical help to the person who has already taken an overdose of pills,
cut his wrist or shot himself. But, how effective have these things been?
According to what reports I have read, they have not been very effective in
reducing the number of suicides and attempted suicides. Typical of such
reports is the following:

In the United States, a network of suicide-prevention centers based on that
approach grew up, with the public expectation that they would reduce the
incidence of suicide. Those centers have had no demonstrable effect on the
suicide rate in their communities.(9)

Hence, some other solutions are going to have to be found to suicide
prevention other than the erection and maintenance of suicide-prevention
centers. In my next article, I will suggest some ideas relative to suicide
prevention.

Endnotes:

1. Scott Spencer, "Childhood's End," Harpers Magazine (May, 1979), p. 17.

2. Carol Greenberg Felsenthal, "Teen Suicide: What To Do When A Friend Is In
Trouble," Seventeen (April, 1979), p. 184.

3. Reina Gross as quoted in "Teen-Age Suicide," Newsweek (August 28, 1978),
p. 76.

4. Spencer, op. cit., p. 18.

5. U.S. News and World Report (July 10, 1978), p. 49.

6. Janet Chase-Marshall, "Teenage Suicides," Good Housekeeping (May, 1979),
p. 98.

7. "Children Who Want To Die," Time (September 25, 1978), p. 82.

8. Spencer, op. cit., pp. 18-19.

9. Herbert Hendin, Psychology Today (May, 1979), p. 115.

[Truth Magazine XXIV: 8 (February 21, 1980), pp. 131-133]
+++++++++++++++++++++++++

Suicide: The Wrong Answer To Life's Problems (By Mike Willis)

Every man is faced with problems in life. Some of us face more difficult
problems than others do, yet we all face problems. The manner in which we
cope with the problems of life reflects one's moral fiber. Indeed, the
manner in which a man handles the problems which he faces in life is a
commentary about the man; he is a good man or a sorry man, an honest man or
a dishonest man, a happy man or a sad man on the basis of how he handles
life's problems.

The potential suicide victim handles his problems by running from them.
Indeed, he runs from life's problems in a special manner - by taking his
life - but he is, nevertheless, running from his problems. In addition to
this, such a person usually has a concept regarding suffering which is
incorrect. Let us consider some of the things which Christianity has to say
regarding dealing with the problems which face us in life.

1. Problems have a purpose in life. James wrote, "Count it all joy when ye
fall into divers temptations; knowing this, that the trying of your faith
worketh patience." Temptations are the means through which one develops
patience. The word patience is translated from hupomone. In A New Testament
Wordbook, William Barclay made the following comments regarding this word:

. . . there is no single English word which transmits all the fulness of its
meaning. In classical Greek it is not a very common word, it is used of the
endurance of toil that has come upon a man all against his will, of
endurance of the sting of grief, the shock of battle, and the coming of
death. It has one very interesting use - it is used of the ability of a
plant to live under hard and unfavorable circumstances . . . .

. . . It is not the patience which can sit down and bow its head and let
things descend upon it and passively endure until the storm is past . . . .
It is the spirit which can bear things, not simply with resignation, but
with blazing hope; it is not the spirit which sits statically enduring in
the one place, but the spirit which bears things because it knows that these
things are leading to a goal of glory; it is not the patience which grimly
waits for the end, but the patience which radiantly hopes for the dawn. It
has been called `a masculine constancy under trial' . . . . It is the
quality which keeps a man on his feet with his face to the wind. It is the
virtue which can transmute the hardest trial into glory because beyond the
pain it sees the goal (pp. 59-61).

Problems in life have the purpose of developing the Christian spirit. They
chasten us, causing our spirit to become stronger (Heb. 12:6-I1).

There are several biblical examples of men who manifested this spirit. James
wrote, "Behold, we count them happy which endure. He have heard of the
patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord . . ." (5:11). Hence, Job
is cited as a man who passively accepted the problems of life; he complained
to the point of being guilty of sinning with his mouth (Job 34:35; 38:2;
42:3). However, despite his inability to understand what was happening in
his life, he refused to renounce faith in God. Repeatedly, he stated his
confidence in God. Here are some samples of his steadfast adherence to faith
in God:

Naked can I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the
Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord
(1:21).

Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him (13:15).

The characteristic of Job's faith which commends itself to us is that it
persevered through all of the trials which it faced. It was not the kind of
faith which praised God during the good times and renounced God in bad
times; rather, it was the kind of faith which weathered the storms of life.

Another example of this kind of faith is that manifested by the apostle
Paul. The persecutions which he suffered were numerous, including these
which he listed: "in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in
prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. Of the Jews five times received I
forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beat with rods, once was I stoned,
thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and day I have been in the deep; in
journeyings often, in perils of water, in perils of robbers, in perils by
mine own countrymen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in
perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and
painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in
cold and nakedness" (2 Cor. 11:23-27). Yet, not once did he renounce his
faith in God or even hint at giving up. Instead, he wrote such things as the
following: ". . . in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness,
as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be
by life, or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain"
(Phil. 1:20-21).

If any two men ever had reason to escape the sufferings of this life through
suicide, these two did. Yet, they did not ever attempt to take their own
lives. Why? Because both of them had developed hupomone - the ability to be
unswerved from one's deliberate purpose and his loyalty to faith and piety
by even the greatest trials and sufferings. Rather than considering these
trials as reasons to commit suicide, these men of faith considered them as
means of strengthening their faith. The person who commits suicide has no
concept trials as a means of making steadfastness.

2. There is a place of refuge. The Psalms are particularly helpful in
forming the correct concept of how God helps us through the problems of
life. In them, God is constantly portrayed as the source of strength and
help in the problems of life. For example, notice the following comments
taken from the Psalms:

a. When man rise up as enemies against a person: "I cried unto the Lord with
my voice, and he heard me out of his holy hill . . . . I will not be afraid
of ten thousands of people, that have set themselves against me round about"
(3:4, 6).

b. In distress: "Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness: thou hast
enlarged me when I was in distress; . . . But know that the Lord hath set
apart him that is godly for himself; the Lord will hear when I call unto
him" (Psa. 4:1,3).

c. When slandered: "O Lord my God, in thee do I put my trust: save me from
all them that persecute me, and deliver me . . . My defense is of God, which
saveth the upright of heart" (Psa. 7:1, 10).

Space will fail me to list all the different kinds of problems faced by the
psalmist in which he found God as a source of refuge and strength in
overcoming the problems of life. The man who has made the Psalms his daily
companion knows that they repeatedly teach the child of God to walk with God
day-by-day so that when trouble comes, he can run to God for refuge.

The man who is a potential suicide victim confesses openly that he has not
been walking hand-in-hand with God. He is openly acknowledging that he has
not built patience or steadfastness into his moral fiber. Rather, when
problems in life come for him, he finds nothing which will sustain him
through the storms of life. Consequently, he attempts to take his own life.

3. You are worth something to God. One of the problems faced by suicide
victims is a feeling of worthlessness. What can the philosophies of atheism
and agnosticism offer such a man? They can tell him that he is more highly
developed animal than the dog or cat. They tell him that man is inherently
good (man's inhumanity to man negates this affirmation). They can tell him
that they wish he would not take his life. But, they cannot make him feel
that he is worth something.

The Christian religion can help this man. The Christian fells him that he is
worth something because he is created in the image of God (Gen. 1:26, 27).
The soul of man which is given to him by God (Ecc. 12:7) is more precious
than all of the wealth of this world combined (Matt. 16:26). Furthermore,
that soul was so precious in God's eyes that He willingly sacrificed His
only begotten Son to save it (Jn. 3:16). Hence, he has to understand that
man is worth something to God. Regarding God's creation of man in His own
image, the psalmist wrote, "For thou hast made him a little lower than the
angels, and hast crowned him with glory and dominion. Thou madest him to
have dominion over the works of thy hands . . . ." (Psa. 8:5-6). Yes, man is
worth something. There is no reason for a person acquainted with the
Christian religion to feel worthless.

4. You are loved. Even as the creature which bears the image of God is
precious in the eyes of God, so also is he loved by God. The Scriptures
repeatedly emphasize God's love for mankind.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life (Jn.
3:16).

For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the
ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for
a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward
us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Rom. 5:6-8).

There is no reason for a man who is acquainted with the Christian revelation
to feel unloved. Perhaps other men might not love him, but God does. The
love which God has for us should sustain us through periods when mere men
hate us.

5. You belong. Those who attempt suicide sometimes feel as if they do not
belong. The Christian undersands that he belongs. The New Testament compares
the church to the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:14-26). In this comparison,
every member of Christ has a function to perform, a place to fill. Even as
there are no useless parts in the human body, there are no useless parts in
the body of Christ. Some of us have more outwardly important places to fill
than others have (compare the function of the hand to the liver); however,
the mere fact that our function might be more public in nature makes it no
more important. Some parts of the body which are the least conspicuous are
the most essential (e.g., a man can live without a hand but not without his
lungs). Hence, every member of the body of Christ belongs, he has a place to
fill and an important job to do. He is needed. Hence, he should not feel
empty and unneeded.

Conclusion

Suicide is, from my point of view, the by-product of the influences of
atheism, secularism, agnosticism, materialism, and any other "ism" which
features "life without God." The Scriptures teach that the fruits of
refusing to have God in one's knowledge are that God gives man up (Rom.
1:24, 26). The things which happen to us in this life are frequently the
result of failing to mature spiritually as we should. I am thoroughly
convinced that suicide, when done by those who are sane and sometimes by
those who are insane (e.g., the end result of a life in disobedience to God
- See the comments regarding King Zimri in 1 Kgs. 16:18-19), comes as a
result of failing to learn to handle the problems in life in the manner in
which God revealed that we should. When men handle their problems in ways
that displease God, they are unable to cope with them. Some resort to pills,
others go insane, and other commit suicide. However, all of them have
handled the problems of life in the wrong way.

I am constantly reminded of the statements of Paul that godliness is
profitable for this life as well as that which is to come (1 Tim. 4:8).
Hence, let us exercise ourselves unto godliness. Though I may not understand
why God wants me to conduct myself in a certain way, I trust that His way is
best and will resolve to be like what he commanded. This is what God means
when He commands us to walk by faith (2 Cor. 5:7). The walk of faith is the
best preventive to suicide.

[Truth Magazine XXIV: 9 (February 28, 1980), pp. 147-149]

Posted by: Men Mark Tumandan
marktumandan@yahoo.com
marktumandan121992@gmail.com