Saturday, September 20, 2014

A Biblical Perspective of Suicide

Doug Kutilek is a gentleman that I have the up most respect for. Brother Doug was one of my professors when I attended Baptist Bible College in Springfield, MO back in the early 1980's, he is an awesome Bible Scholar and Teacher.

He recently shared this message in his online newsletter “As I See It”

A Biblical Perspective on Suicide
by Doug Kutilek

Outline of a lesson taught August 17, 2014

Introduction

The recent suicide of comedian/actor/entertainer Robin Williams has given prominence to this often hushed-up topic.

In our day, suicide is all-too-common, among teens, military veterans, older adults, and even among professing evangelical Christians. Just about everyone has a relative, friend or acquaintance who has tried (or succeeded) in ending his own life.

(Suicide is not a new issue that has arisen in our high-stress modern age; Hamlet’s famous “To be or not to be” soliloquy is about possible suicide)

Though Williams had great talent, great fame, a large fortune, the praise of his peers, and more, yet these things (which the world craves) did not bring him peace, contentment, or satisfaction. He also had a recurring long-term drug problem, chronically abused alcohol (such practices usually aggravate any existing mental disorder), had two failed marriages (which cost him $20 million), and repeated bouts with crushing mental depression.

He was raised Episcopalian (which he called “Catholic Lite--with half the guilt”), but showed no evidence of a personal relationship with Christ. He was reportedly recently deeply depressed. So, in hope of ending the mental pain, he took his own life. But, it was an escape, but not a release. He “escaped” from what he perceived as a terrible (but temporary and fixable) present reality for a far worse permanent and unalterable reality.

Why do people attempt suicide--and too often succeed in the process?
--Some who kill themselves are truly insane. They are to be pitied.
--Some commit accidental suicide, through stupid or ill-considered actions.
This includes those who engage in dangerous or destructive activity which results in unintended death, such as binge drinking or use of illicit drugs.

Examples that come to my mind include comedian John Belushi, college basketball great Len Bias [d. 1986], Elvis and others, who essentially committed suicide through drug abuse.

--Some commit “suicide by cop” by provoking a lethal response from police.
--Some are deeply troubled by life events (death of a loved one, divorce, job loss, public shame, relentless ridicule via social media (particularly among teens), or personal guilt) and hope to escape from their circumstances--or from themselves.

Definition--Suicide is the deliberate termination of one’s own life, or soliciting such from another (facilitating such suicides was the “life mission”--or should that be “death mission”?--of the now-dead pathologist-turned-suicide-enabler Jack “the Dripper” Kevorkian)

Bible examples of suicide--seven cases

--Abimelech (son of Gideon)--Judges 9:50-57
--Samson--Judges 16:25-31
--Saul and his armor bearer--I Samuel 31:1-6
--Ahithophel--2 Samuel 17:23
--Zimri, king of Israel--1 Kings 16:15-20
--Judas--Matthew 27:3-5

Suicide is to be distinguished from self-sacrifice for the sake of others (John 15:13).

There are more than a few accounts from Iraq and Afghanistan (and other earlier wars) of soldiers or marines covering a live grenade (or doing something similar) with their own bodies to spare the lives of their comrades in arms. Perhaps most famous of such accounts took place in 480 B. C., at Thermopylae in Greece, when Leonidas and his 300 Spartans assisted by others, undertook what was essentially a “suicide mission” by holding a narrow pass literally at all costs and to the last man against the massive invading Persian army under Xerxes, so that the rest of the Greek army could stage a tactical retreat and regroup for later battle.

Why people commit suicide

First among causes is a fallen, irrational state of mind--

We must never forget that all of man’s being, body as well as soul, is corrupted by sin. As a consequence of the fall and corruption of man, none of us is entirely “rational” and “sane,” though most of us are “functionally sane,” the “walking wounded,” as it were.

Dementia (in varying degrees) is real.

Sometimes there is a genetic pre-disposition toward mental disorders--manic/depression [a.k.a. bi-polar], paranoia, schizophrenia (just as there is a genetic pre-disposition to diabetes, heart disease, breast cancer, etc.).

Sometimes dementia is biological--caused by chemical imbalances, brain tumors.

Sometimes it is caused by drug use, whether legal (prescribed mood- and behavior-altering drugs) or illegal (cocaine, LSD, etc.). One famous-in-its day case involved James Forrestal, Secretary of the Navy and then Secretary of Defense in the 1940s. He suffered deep depression and mental imbalance, which were treated by doctors (who were pledged to “first do no harm”!) with experimental drugs and electric shock, greatly aggravating his condition and eventuating in Forrestal’s suicide by a leaping from an upper floor window of a tall building.

Sometimes there is cultural pressure to deliberately end one’s life.

The Hindu religion taught and practiced “sati” (widow burning--women were actually expected to kill themselves by leaping into the flames of their husbands’ funeral pyres). This utterly appalled English Baptist missionary William Carey who relentlessly worked to end this horrible practice, and ultimately succeeded.

And the Japanese practice of hari-kiri /seppuku to escape “shame” for failure at some task or responsibility is well known. It is all too common for Japanese youth who have done below expectations on standardized exams to kill themselves to escape the shame of their perceived failure.

Misguided religious beliefs can encourage suicide.

I remember the vivid television images from the 1960s of the self-incineration of Buddhist priests in Vietnam and China as an act of protest against government actions.

And then in our own day, we regularly are presented with cases of Moslem suicide bombers, who are led to hope that they will attain heaven and endless sensual pleasures by murdering innocent people in the name of Allah; such are not “martyrs” at all, but first-degree murderers, including murderers of themselves, who are inspired to their evil acts by their Satanic religion.

Some people take their own lives to escape present terrible circumstances (real or imagined) which seem (and may in fact be) unalterable.

Stalin’s wife killed herself in the early 1930s rather than continue to live with that brutal monster from whom she could not otherwise escape.

And some kill themselves to try to escape from guilt (real or imagined).

Judas, filled with regret when he witnessed the evil reality of his betrayal of Jesus for a handful of silver coins, was overwhelmed with the guilt of his actions, and took the “easy” way out.

Bible objections to suicide

1. Self-murder violates the 6th command. God alone gives life; He alone can take it away, or prescribe the circumstances--such as capital punishment for crime, or in self-defense--under which it can be terminated by man.

2. Self-murder defies God’s plan for the individual’s life. It in essence denies that God is in charge of the circumstances of my life.

Suicide is an entirely selfish act; it takes no thought for the pain, grief, sorrow, regret and agony that it causes to others, whether parents, children, spouses, or friends.

Often, suicide is cowardly. Hitler’s suicide by poison and gun (with orders that his body be subsequently burned to ashes) was to escape accountability (and probable torture by Russians) for his dozen year reign of evil. Leader of the German Luftwaffe (air force) Herman Goering, condemned to death during the trials at Nuremberg, took poison the night before his scheduled public execution.

Suicide, as has been well said, is a permanent solution to a temporary problem.
For an unsaved person, it permanently destroys the possibility of repentance and forgiveness. It can never be “undone.” There is no reset button after suicide.

Suicide and salvation

In Ukraine, I was once asked by a student whether a person who commits suicide can go to heaven (the consensus of students was “no.”)

The Roman Catholic Church holds that suicide is a mortal (soul-condemning) sin, one that in the nature of the case cannot be subsequently confessed to a priest and be forgiven. It thereby excludes a person from heaven (and from burial in “hallowed ground”). Of course, this view is premised on the false belief in salvation by works.

According to the Bible, if a person has ever truly repented of his sin and committed his soul to Christ for salvation, nothing can break that bond of salvation, since salvation is solely by God’s unmerited favor. We cannot earn or deserve salvation under any circumstances. God gives it freely, and He keeps us saved, in spite of ourselves, Romans 8:31-39; John 10:27-29.

And just as a Christian, still possessing a sin-nature, has the capacity to commit sins of every other sort (theft, lying, greed, blasphemy, drunkenness, adultery), so, too, he has the capacity to commit murder, including self-murder. Such is a sin, a very serious and grievous sin, and one for which he will give an account at the judgment seat of Christ.

Suicide prevention

Of course, the first step in guarding ourselves against this sin is maintaining a Biblical perspective on life, its Giver, its sacredness, its purpose, its end.

Then, we should avoid the things that often culminate in suicide or are major contributing factors: drugs, alcohol, wrong behavior that creates guilt, being the object of social media abuse (a plague among teens), and such.

Then, what should we do to prevent it in others? Among other things, train your children that this is a sin to be avoided, and that our earthly circumstances are safely in God’s hands. But what should we do if we think someone is depressed, or possibly contemplating suicide? Get involved even if they don’t want you to, intervene, get them immediate help (medical or spiritual) if you cannot provide it personally or don’t know what else to do.
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Friday, February 14, 2014



A pastor friend and connection on LinkedIn sent this to me, and I asked his permission to share it here ~ Thank you so much for your ministry Bishop Frank Ogagba ~   Presiding Bishop Of Ever-increasing Faith Family Churches, SOUTH AFRICA.

The 23rd Psalm

 This is an eye opener; some probably never thought nor looked at this Psalm in this way, even though they say it over and over again.


  •  The Lord is my Shepherd - That's Relationship!
  •  I shall not want - That's Supply!
  •  He maketh me to lie down in green pastures - That's Rest!
  •  He leadeth me beside the still waters - That's Refreshment!
  •  He restoreth my soul - That's Healing!
  •  He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness - That's Guidance!
  •  For His name sake - That's Purpose!
  •  Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death - That's Testing!
  •  I will fear no evil - That's Protection!
  •  For Thou art with me - That's Faithfulness!
  •  Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me - That's Discipline!
  •  Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies - That's Hope!
  •  Thou annointest my head with oil - That's Consecration!
  •  My cup runneth over - That's Abundance!
  •  Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life - That's Blessing!
  •  And I will dwell in the house of the Lord - That's Security!
  •  Forever - That's Eternity!
  •  Face it, the Lord is crazy about you!