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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