Suicide
Class notes
-there is nothing easy about this subject, and yes I have preached the funerals of suicides
-Remember what an unidentified young woman who had faced depression and had seriously contemplated suicide told me: we are NOT promised that we will never face more than we can bear: we are promised we will never face more
temptation than we can bear.
1 Corinthians 10:13 13No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.
-what about when the suckage factor of life hits the max?
-Remember what an unidentified family member told me who had contemplated suicide: “I would have missed out on a lot of good times.”
-the background: Earth is cursed, mankind is fallen
Genesis 2:17-19 17 To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’
“Cursed is the ground because of you;
through painful toil you will eat food from it
all the days of your life.
18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field.
19 By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
and to dust you will return.”
-we live in hell, plain and simple
-three causal agents:
-act of God
-act of Satan
-act of Man
-cause and effect
-happenstance
-the result: we live in hell and hell it is
-why did God do all this?
-I don’t know, all I can do is trust and be thankful he’s provided me a way out
-in the meantime, there is suffering sometimes to the point that a person feels that death is the solution and they act on it
-seven suicides in the Bible:
1 Abimelek (really was more like assisted suicide)
-wicked bad guy, had usurped power in a bloody coup, the blood of many innocents was on his hands
-civil war was upon them, Abimelek and his troops defeated a rebel, then laid siege to Shechem the people took refuge in a tower, and Abimelek set fire to the tower and burned them all alive.
-he razed the city and sowed the ground with salt
-however, the next town was a little tougher nut to crack
Judges 9:50-57 50 Next Abimelek went to Thebez and besieged it and captured it. 51 Inside the city, however, was a strong tower, to which all the men and women—all the people of the city—had fled. They had locked themselves in and climbed up on the tower roof. 52 Abimelek went to the tower and attacked it. But as he approached the entrance to the tower to set it on fire, 53 a woman dropped an upper millstone on his head and cracked his skull.
54 Hurriedly he called to his armor-bearer, “Draw your sword and kill me, so that they can’t say, ‘A woman killed him.’” So his servant ran him through, and he died. 55 When the Israelites saw that Abimelek was dead, they went home.
56 Thus God repaid the wickedness that Abimelek had done to his father by murdering his seventy brothers. 57 God also made the people of Shechem pay for all their wickedness. The curse of Jotham son of Jerub-Baal came on them.
-what shame: a woman killed him!
-a little misogynist, dontcha think?
-makes me wonder if he would have survived, since he was still talking but he acted in haste, and his armor bearer completed the deed.
-he was a wicked man, cursed, and I think it is safe to say he didn’t make it to heaven
2 Sampson (often considered more of a sacrifice of self rather than straight suicide, since in his death he took out a bunch of bad guys...)
Judges 16:23-30 23 Now the rulers of the Philistines assembled to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to celebrate, saying, “Our god has delivered Samson, our enemy, into our hands.”
24 When the people saw him, they praised their god, saying,
“Our god has delivered our enemy
into our hands,
the one who laid waste our land
and multiplied our slain.”
25 While they were in high spirits, they shouted, “Bring out Samson to entertain us.” So they called Samson out of the prison, and he performed for them.
When they stood him among the pillars, 26 Samson said to the servant who held his hand, “Put me where I can feel the pillars that support the temple, so that I may lean against them.” 27 Now the temple was crowded with men and women; all the rulers of the Philistines were there, and on the roof were about three thousand men and women watching Samson perform. 28 Then Samson prayed to the Lord, “Sovereign Lord, remember me. Please, God, strengthen me just once more, and let me with one blow get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes.” 29 Then Samson reached toward the two central pillars on which the temple stood. Bracing himself against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other, 30 Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” Then he pushed with all his might, and down came the temple on the rulers and all the people in it. Thus he killed many more when he died than while he lived.
-he was one of the Judges who ruled the Israelites for 20 years
-had taken a Nazarite vow
-razor had never touched his head, it was in 7 dreads
-had some morality problems, and some stupidity problems (Delilah would have tried to trick me only once!)
-the Lord returned to him and he brought down the house
-so was this suicide which happened to take out bad guys, or was this the ancient equivalent of throwing yourself on a hand grenade?
-Samson's case was different.
-notice that while his life was not a model for holy living, Samson was honored among the faithful heroes of Hebrews 11.
-some consider Samson's final act an example of martyrdom, a sacrificial death that allowed him to fulfill his God-assigned mission.
-discuss!
3 and 4: Saul and his armor-bearer
-no question, this is suicide even though it is in battle
1 Samuel 31:1-6 1 Now the Philistines fought against Israel; the Israelites fled before them, and many fell dead on Mount Gilboa. 2 The Philistines were in hot pursuit of Saul and his sons, and they killed his sons Jonathan, Abinadab and Malki-Shua. 3 The fighting grew fierce around Saul, and when the archers overtook him, they wounded him critically.
4 Saul said to his armor-bearer, “Draw your sword and run me through, or these uncircumcised fellows will come and run me through and abuse me.”
But his armor-bearer was terrified and would not do it; so Saul took his own sword and fell on it. 5 When the armor-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he too fell on his sword and died with him. 6 So Saul and his three sons and his armor-bearer and all his men died together that same day.
-Saul started well, but ended up badly
-certainly had abandoned God, safe to say he probably didn’t make it but notice his condemnation was already in play before his suicide
5 Ahithophel
-hari kari before the days of the ninja!
-Ahithophel was a commander in the army of Absalom
-Absalom was the wicked son of David, who rose up in rebellion and tried to dethrone and kill his father and take the crown for himself
-Ahithophel had the plan to catch David and his men by surprise and wipe them out.
-Absalom thought it was a good plan, but just to be on the safe side he wanted to get a second opinion from another commander, Hushai
-Hushai had a different idea about how to do the deed
-Absalom went with Hushai, and of course the whole thing failed
-Ahithopel lost face, the shame was just too much to bear
2 Samuel 17:23 23 When Ahithophel saw that his advice had not been followed, he saddled his donkey and set out for his house in his hometown. He put his house in order and then hanged himself. So he died and was buried in his father’s tomb.
-so he died in the midst of his sins, heaven probably was not waiting for him.
-poor baby, rather than live with embarrassment he chose death
-he is not treated kindly in scripture, except the scripture says that his advice was actually good advice, but was thwarted by God so as to bring disaster onto Absalom
6 Zimri
-number six also comes in a time of war
-Zimri commanded half the chariots of the army of the nation of Israel, in the period of the divided Kingdom
-but the lust for power overcame him, and one night King Elah was at someone’s house getting drunk when Zimri walked in and killed him, taking the throne for himself, killing a lot of other people while he was at it
-the problem was apparently he didn’t ask the army what they thought about all this, and their response was massive.
-to the text:
1 Kings 16:15-19 15 In the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah, Zimri reigned in Tirzah seven days. The army was encamped near Gibbethon, a Philistine town. 16 When the Israelites in the camp heard that Zimri had plotted against the king and murdered him, they proclaimed Omri, the commander of the army, king over Israel that very day there in the camp. 17 Then Omri and all the Israelites with him withdrew from Gibbethon and laid siege to Tirzah. 18 When Zimri saw that the city was taken, he went into the citadel of the royal palace and set the palace on fire around him. So he died, 19 because of the sins he had committed, doing evil in the eyes of the Lord and following the ways of Jeroboam and committing the same sin Jeroboam had caused Israel to commit.
-so he was caught, he wasn’t going to escape, so he took the easy way out.
-heaven was not awaiting him, again his fate was already sealed before he committed suicide by burning down the house.
-now we come to the most famous suicide in the Bible: Judas
7 Judas
Matthew 27:3-7 3 When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders. 4 “I have sinned,” he said, “for I have betrayed innocent blood.”
“What is that to us?” they replied. “That’s your responsibility.”
5 So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself.
6 The chief priests picked up the coins and said, “It is against the law to put this into the treasury, since it is blood money.” 7 So they decided to use the money to buy the potter’s field as a burial
place for foreigners.
Acts 1:18-20 18 (With the payment he received for his wickedness, Judas bought a field; there he fell headlong, his body burst open and all his intestines spilled out. 19 Everyone in Jerusalem heard about this, so they called that field in their language Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.)
20 “For,” said Peter, “it is written in the Book of Psalms:
“‘May his place be deserted;
let there be no one to dwell in it,’[e]
and,
“‘May another take his place of leadership.’
-Judas does a terrible thing, nothing good is ever said about him
-he finds himself in a dark, dark place realizing he has sinned horribly and so he hangs himself
(a point from the Grammar Nazi: you aren’t hung...you are hanged)
-Judas apparently does not avail himself of God’s forgiveness
-so there are the seven, now what about the subject at hand: are there circumstances where a suicide can go to heaven?
-none of our Biblical suicides (not sure if Sampson is a suicide) look to me like they’re heaven bound: but the actions of their life had already brought about their condemnation even more suicide
-the question is: what happens when a Christian commits suicide?
-a couple of Christian author’s perspectives:
Mary Fairchild, writing in about.com/christianity:
God's Perspective on Suicide
A few years ago, I attended the funeral of a Christian man who had committed suicide. The experience gave me a new perspective on the issue of Christians and suicide.
The man who had killed himself was the son of one our church staff members. In the short time he had been a believer, he touched many lives for Jesus Christ. His funeral was one of the most moving memorials I had ever attended.
With more than 500 mourners gathered, for nearly two hours, person after person testified of how this man had been used by God. He had pointed countless lives to faith in Christ and shown them the way to the Father's love. I left the service convinced that what had driven him to commit suicide had been his inability to shake his addiction to drugs and the failure he felt as a husband, father, and son.
Although it was a sad and tragic ending, nevertheless, his life testified undeniably of Christ's redemptive power in an amazing way. I do not believe this man went to hell.
His funeral made me realize that no one can truly understand the depth of someone else's suffering, or the reasons that could drive a soul to such desperation. Only God knows what is in a person's heart (Psalm 139:1-2). Only he knows the extent of pain which might bring a person to the point of suicide.
In conclusion, it bears repeating—suicide is a terrible tragedy, but it does not negate the Lord's act of redemption. Our salvation rests securely in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross. So then, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." (Romans 10:13, NIV)
Shawna Morrissey, in her blog Eat, Think and Be Merry writes:
Twelve years ago this month, I lost my Uncle Jay to suicide.
At his funeral, Jay’s bishop addressed us. The words he spoke are burned into my mind. He said, “I feel impressed to tell you that Jay spent his life struggling to survive. Suicide was not a choice he made, but rather a choice he happened onto when his pain was greater than his ability to cope.”
She goes on to list the struggles in his life, which were very significant. He suffered from physical ailments that were significant and lost two wives to cancer.
When I was living in Alexandria, Virginia, with my husband and children, Jay and his boys came to visit. I knew something was wrong when we picked them up from the airport. Jay was not himself. We discovered later that his doctor had taken him off Lortab (a painkiller upon which he was dependent) and put him on methadone (a strong drug used to wean addicts from heroine).
When he went down into the underground Metro station, Jay snapped. He paced frantically and tore off his shirt. He was visibly covered in sweat.
After fleeing the station, Jay refused to get into a vehicle, but rather ran the few miles to the hospital. He was not aware of what was happening or why. That day he went into pulmonary failure due to drug withdrawal. He was hospitalized for the better part of a week and released only to fly home.
Jay got back home, tried three times to get himself admitted into the hospital, was sent home each time, and after the third time shot himself .
The bishop’s words at Jay’s funeral gave me comfort at the time. Jay had not been accountable, but I sensed there was deeper significance in his words, “Suicide was not a choice he made, but rather a choice he happened onto when his pain was greater than his ability to cope.”
Just last year, I had a clarifying experience—an experience that helped me to understand suicide a little better and led me to believe that it is really an expression of the deepest human desire to survive.
My family was watching a documentary on the 9/11 terrorist attacks and for the first time, I saw footage of someone jumping from the window of one of the twin towers. All at once, I understood what Jay’s bishop had meant. The person was not jumping from the building to die, but rather to escape the intense and consuming flames. Nobody would accuse that person of being selfish or of giving up on life.
Jay was inside a figurative burning building and he happened upon an exit.
-so do we agree or disagree that someone’s mental anguish can be compared to jumping from a burning building?
-discuss!
-caveat: both of these were written to find comfort for friends and family of suicides
-the case of one caught in mental illness is easy: cancer is not a sin, neither is mental illness
-Jay’s meds were messed up, it messed up his head
-I’m not sure about the gentleman before
-discuss!
-time to get down to it:
-do we agree or disagree that suicide most likely is a sin?
-life, and the ending of it, is the Lord’s to give and take:
Job 1:21 “Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
and naked I will depart.
The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away;
may the name of the Lord be praised.”
-the Bible expresses the sanctity of human life in the Ten Commandments, and throughout from there
Luke 12:6-7 6 Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. 7 Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
Luke 9:25 25What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self?
Mark 8:36-37 36 What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? 37 Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?
-as Moses said in his instructions to the Hebrew nation:
Deuteronomy 30:19-20 19 This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live 20 and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
-the nature of salvation of those who come to Christ has a firm nature about it:
Ephesians 2:8-9 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
-writers on this topic also quote this:
Romans 8:38-39 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 5:8-9 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!
-at the end of the day, it would be difficult to argue that suicide is not a sin, suicide is not pleasing unto the Lord
-most people who commit suicide are not rational, but sometimes they are
-the cases of falling on a grenade or leaping from the flames of a burning building are easy
-self sacrifice to save others is easy
-the wicked person who, in the midst of their sins, commits suicide that case is easy
-what about the person who learns they have a terrible disease, and rather than take themselves and their loved ones through it simply ends it?
-and it is possible for a Christian to slide down a terrible slope of despair, hopelessness, uselessness,
-they look at themselves and hate what they see
-the world becomes dark
-so we ask why?
-the answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind
-every person is different, and that’s why we trust God’s wisdom
-people commit suicide because they cannot believe their lives are precious enough to make them worth living.
-despair, depression, hopelessness, self loathing are the killers.
-so for those who have taken this path, we have no choice but to trust God for him to do the right thing, and we know he will
-trust God, trust also in me Jesus said
-do that!
-our mandate, I believe, is we must seek out those who are slipping down the terrible slope and impart to them: trust
-perfect example: Ruth vs Carolyn
-when she was in her right mind, Ruth gave Carolyn a set of instructions.
-now, in the depths of Ruth’s illness, of dementia, there is incredible opposition and there is heartache you can’t know about as folks are rent asunder
-the emotional toll is tremendous
-but hear me well: Ruth is a Christian, she’s going to Heaven, and some day we all will have a happy reunion, and she will know her daughter was faithful and cared for her well.
-and that is why we hang on
-life is like that: we hang on because we know it will be made right in eternity
-our mission right now is the hurting: find them, reach out to them, and let them know that because of Jesus it is all going to be ok
-when someone commits suicide their eternal destination is already set before they act
-my conclusion is that yes, the blood of Jesus is more powerful than your sins, but I think it is too dangerous to risk.
-only God truly knows the heart, and God will do right and yes I believe there are suicides in heaven
-in the meantime, find the hurting, and give them trust and strength and love.
-because for the household of faith, it will all be made right we must
take seriously these words:
Romans 8:18-30 18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19 For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that[h] the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.
22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? 25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.
28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who[i] have been called according to his purpose. 29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
