INSTITUTE OF LOVE

Suicide
Text Box: Why should you destroy yourself? Do not be overly wicked, Nor be foolish: Why should you die before your time? Ecclesiastes 7:17 NKJV In the United States, (and statistics are similar in countries around the world) the rate of those who commit suicide or kill themselves has tripled among teens and young adults in the past 40 years. Also, there is a dramatic increase of murder–suicide, an act in which an individual kills one or more other persons immediately before or at the same time as killing him or herself. Often you see that this act of murder-suicide is being committed by fathers who murder their entire family before killing themselves. Many of these killings have been blamed on economic hardships. These fathers, with their distorted and depressive perceptions, feel that they are actually doing their family a favor by taking them with them as they end their own life, rather than having their children going hungry. Certain groups within the population are much more at risk for suicide. These include people who suffer from various mental disorders, and homosexuals. The despair the homosexuals feel, especially the youth, when they are told that they are trapped forever in the homosexual "lifestyle" contributes to this. Those who are transgendered and transsexuals may be at the highest risk to commit suicide. Studies show a high incidence of mental illnesses in suicide victims at the time of their death; such as clinical depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, postpartum depression, extreme mood swings, or something similar. Depression is often anger, and a host of other emotions like hatred, resentment, bitterness, unforgiveness, frustration, jealousy, despair, worthlessness, hopelessness, fear and anxiety, vengeance, and/or self-pity that has been bottled up on the inside, without coming to expression. Here is an example of a suicide note expressing self-hatred, left behind by someone who killed himself. This person seemed to be a very nice individual from the outside, living a carefree life. “Ask a guy who is gonna OD (again) tonight anything To Whom It May Concern, I am going to leave this for whoever stumbles across my bookmarks later on. I hate myself and I hate living. I think that if someone who knows me reads this they will know who I am. So I will leave this unsigned. I am an a@#hole. I have let everyone down and I feel as though I will never change or never improve. I am in love with a girl and I know that I am not good enough for her. I have come to believe that my life has all been meaningless. I keep trying and I keep failing. I have thought about and attempted suicide many times in the past. I used to think of my failure as some mystical way of telling me that I was really meant for something meaningful. The only thing I dread, besides the pain, is the way my family will suffer. I do not want my mother or father to think that it was anything they did that lead me to kill myself. I never really had any plans of leaving a note. I thought that I would not be able to describe why I want to do this and I am right. There is no way to tell you or anyone else why I dread every new day. My father had such high expectations for me and tried to give me every opportunity to improve upon myself. I let him down. I think that I am a major disappointment to him. I have a job but I’m always broke and I am in college but barely, I show up to class but that’s about it. I want my life to end. I am tired of f@#$ing up everything. I am tired of people always telling me that they do not like me. I am tired of trying to be decent. I hope that someone finds this post and I hope that my parents know that I f@#$ed up not them. It is my fault I screwed up my own life. The hate that rages within me, rages not for those I love so dearly or those who have crossed my path. This hate rages full force towards me and only me. I have long forgiven those who've hurt me, but I have not and cannot come to terms to forgive myself for the things I have done to myself, and the things I've done to hurt those in my life. You have all touched my life in one way or another, especially those whom I call family. I cannot tell you how sorry I am for ending my life the way I did. I hope that you can all find it in your heart to see it as way for me not suffering anymore and that I am finally at rest with myself, for being at rest with the guilt that constantly ate at me for so long. Please forgive me all for taking my own life so early. I tried so hard to fight against this strong battle. I have reached out for help so many times, and yet I believe, I was turned away because of the things I did, that it is a punishment I am willing to take, for I know that being who I am has only brought myself and others pain. I love you all and will forever live within the memories we created. Forgive me. Love always and forever,” Suicide seriously hurts those who loved the deceased. The pain of losing a loved one who took their own life is not easily healed. According to the Bible, suicide is murder, inspired by the devil, and therefore it is sin against God. You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. John 8:44 NKJV Jesus said: "You have heard that the law of Moses says, 'Do not murder. If you commit murder, you are subject to judgment.' " Matthew 5:21 NLT But when people keep on sinning, it shows they belong to the Devil, who has been sinning since the beginning. But the Son of God came to destroy these works of the Devil. 1. John 3:8-9 NLT There is no circumstance that can justify someone, especially a Christian, taking his/her own life. Christians are called to live their lives for God, and the decision on when to die, is up to God and God alone. Many of the great men of God in the Bible faced overwhelming depression and sometimes wrote that they wished they had never even been born, or merely wished to die. King David, for instance, said this to God: “How long must I struggle with anguish in my soul, with sorrow in my heart every day? How long will my enemy have the upper hand? Turn and answer me, O LORD my God! Restore the light to my eyes, or I will die.” Psalm 13:2-3 NLT The prophet Jeremiah, reached a low point in his life when he said: “Yet I curse the day I was born! May the day of my birth not be blessed. I curse the messenger who told my father, "Good news — you have a son!" Let him be destroyed like the cities of old that the LORD overthrew without mercy. Terrify him all day long with battle shouts, for he did not kill me at birth. Oh, that I had died in my mother's womb, that her body had been my grave! Why was I ever born? My entire life has been filled with trouble, sorrow, and shame.” Jeremiah 20:14-18 NLT And Job, who lost all his children and himself was hit by sickness, desperately said the following: “I would rather die of strangulation than go on and on like this. I hate my life. I do not want to go on living.” Job 7:15-16 NLT Even though these men faced great suffering and injustice, they kept their faith in God and His goodness, and in so doing, they were sustained and blessed by God. We may get depressed from time to time, but we believe that the act of suicide never takes place apart from demonic influences driving one to take their own life. We are all in a spiritual battle. The problem is, many of us are not aware of it, and do not know how to protect ourselves against the attacks of Satan, who is also called the “thief” and whose sole purpose is to “steal and kill and destroy.” John 10:10 NLT That is why suicide is directly contrary to the will of God, as Jesus Christ the Savior said: “His purpose is to give life in all its fullness.” John 10:10 NLT Whether you are contemplating suicide or know someone who killed themselves, God wants you to know there is hope and life for you if you choose to live for Him, because He is the master of life and death, the great healer and restorer of what has been lost or stolen. For we are not our own masters when we live or when we die. While we live, we live to please the Lord. And when we die, we go to be with the Lord. So in life and in death, we belong to the Lord. Christ died and rose again for this very purpose, so that he might be Lord of those who are alive and of those who have died. Romans 14:7-9 NLT Copyright©2009 Sophia & Edwin Christiaan Text Box: By Edwin Christiaan