Gabe Lindblom
September 29th, 2015
New Testament Survey
Suicide in the Bible Is There Still Hope?
There is one death by suicide in the United States every 13 minutes. Suicide is the tenth leading cause of death in the United States and depression affects 25% of our population. When someone commits suicide, it’s not only affecting to the individual him or herself, but it also affects the lives of the many people that knew them. There are many different views on suicide, but when it comes to the Bible’s, there is a large controversy on whether or not there is still hope for those who choose to end their life prematurely. There were a number of suicides in the Bible’s Old and New Testament. Abimelech, (Judges 9:54) to avoid the
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There is no doubt that the act of killing oneself is a sin. The Sixth Commandment from God himself commands us that we "Shall not murder." (Exodus 20:13) and suicide is considered to be murdering one 's self. This verse is a tough pill to swallow because the Bible clearly commands us not to murder, and in the act of suicide, you are murdering yourself and the plans that God had and has in store for you. Would God condemn someone because their last act in their life was a sin? The truth is, we can 't assume whether or not the person passes final judgment or not. The choice is God 's, and is completely out of our judgment. The only being that has the authority to deem such judgments can be found in John 5:22. "The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son" The one with the name Jesus is the only to cast judgment unto those who have passed, whether that is through natural or unnatural causes. It is very important for us to realize the value of our lives. Genesis 1:26-27 states “God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. . . God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” This means that God made us in his own likeness and image. We are perfect in his eyes even though we make mistakes. Since we are God’s perfect creation it means that if we end our lives, we are erasing his creation. We are all made perfect by our perfect
suicide are both gods power over out life and death. a person who insists that they have the
The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) has published a fact sheet of statistics on suicide in the United States. In 2007, it is reported that suicide was the tenth leading cause of death. Furthermore, for every suicide committed, eleven were attempted. A total of 34,598 deaths occurred from suicide with an overall rate of 11.3 suicide deaths per 100,000 people. (NIMH, 2010). Risk factors were also noted on this report and listed “depression and other mental disorders, or a substance abuse disorder (often in combination with other mental disorders). More than ninety percent of people who die by suicide have these risk factors (NIMH, 2010).”
Hamlet's to be or not to be soliloquy, illuminates something that crosses every human's mind, even if only for a split second; to live or die, fight or cry. Sometimes the world can get to a person, and when allowed to manifest, it can be hurtful. Suicide is a choice when things get tough, but a cowardly act. Life is precious and the only way to succeed must be to be in it; therefore, living. Suicide doesn't terminate a problem, but hides it. People will be judged sooner or later by the powers that be.
In the modern Catholic Catechism, suicide is described as “contrary to love for the living god” (Catechism 2281). If a person in a Catholic family commits suicide, they are not commemorated with a traditional ceremony or Christian funeral. The Inferno’s
Suicide, throughout history and literature, has been seen in a variety of different lights. For centuries, suicide was strictly treated as a complete and total condemnation to Hell. As time has progressed, people have tried to understand and reconcile with the idea of self-inflicted death; they have tried to romanticize the act, painting it as a “noble escape.” This dichotomy between ideas piqued during the Protestant Reformation — a period of great religious criticism and upheaval in Europe. As people challenged and repudiated the ancient power of the Roman Catholic Church, they also began to question the legitimacy of many Church teachings, such as those on suicide. Thus, this confusion between life, death, God and dignity is poignantly captured in many of the tragedies of that era — specifically, Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Macbeth. Shakespeare’s use of suicide in these two plays appeals to religious criticisms within Elizabethan society; it creates sympathy for female
such as bullying, so it results in mental illness? Finally comes the question of the person who wants to die with dignity due to terminal physical illness. That person might then decide to end their life through a medical procedure. Should this decision be looked at as an act of defiance against God? What does the Bible have to say about it? Does it say anything at all or does it come down to someone’s own interpretation? This begins the search to find the answer Can Someone Who Commits Suicide Still Enter Heaven?
Suicide is contemplated by many people who are mourning the loss of loved ones or people who are having a hard time dealing with the problems that life throw at you. Hamlet stated: “Oh that is too, too sullied flesh would melt, thaw, and resolve itself into a dew, or that the everlasting had not fixed his canon against self-slaughter! O God, O God! How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable seem to me all the uses of this world! Fie on't, ah fie! '
Hamlet includes thoughts on mortality, the afterlife, suicide, and the consequences of an individual's actions. Hamlet mulls over the idea of suicide in his “To be or not to be” soliloquy. As he cannot be certain what will happen to his spirit after death, he does not follow through with this thought. In the Christian religion it is understood only God can give and take life. “And said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord taketh away: blessed be the name of the Lord.”
Further down the river, Aeneis encounters souls that have brought punishment unto themselves. First those who "Dealt death unguilty, and threw away their lives" (109). Suicide has often been called the most selfish of human acts; selfish to the ones who care and love for the victim, and selfish to the God that gave the victim life. The fate for suicide is constant drowning, like the constant drowning into the self that a person contemplating suicide must feel. This punishment suggests that suicide will not stop agony, but only prolong it. After the self-inflicted deaths, there are the heart broken "whom Love's unpitying wound / Wasted; in death itself their pain remains"
Truly, the truest meaning of suicide is turning against the Level Above Human when leaving is offered. They felt they were focused on two tasks. First to make a last attempt to tell the truth about how to graduate into the Next Level so some humans could avoid "suicide" by remaining for the recycling of the civilization and of the spirits and souls who went against the Next Level or ignored Them. The second task they had was to take advantage of each day to work on overcoming and changing to be ready to become a member of the Kingdom of
Blame is something we toss around so much in any situation let alone in suicide. Blame is a natural response it comes easy and fast, “It has to be someone’s fault,” God asked Adam “Who told you thee that thou was naked” and Adam blamed Eve, “The woman whom thou gavest to be with me” (Genesis 3:11-12) Blame now enters
According to Online Etymology, the word suicide comes from “the Latin root sui, which means oneself, and cidium meaning to kill” (Harper). The word as it is now was first used in Europe in 1651. Before this date, the only word similar to suicide was suicida from Europe during the 1200’s. Suicida was rarely ever used because the majority of those living in Europe at the time felt that it was too horrific to talk about. Those who spoke about suicide earlier than those times used a word that would loosely translate to self-murder. Even though many thought that suicide was a terrible action, there still was discussion about it.
Whatever a religion may offer as it's belief about suicide, the followers of that religion do not always uphold that belief. At Masada, for example, a sect of fervently religious Jews known as Zealots held off Roman invaders for two years. When it became apparent that defeat was inevitable, their leader convinced the remaining nine hundred and sixty of them to commit suicide (Flanders 5). And Michel de Montaigne, a Christian writer living in France in the mid sixteenth century wrote five essays arguing that suicide is a matter of personal choice, and it is a viable option under some circumstances (OCRT 1).
The Holy Bible is found to be by far the most outsold book than any book ever written. It is the most read manuscript in the world. The Bible is comprised of sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments. It is the foundation for Christianity in that the Bible contains the words of God. This Holy Book has many and different types of passages that include laws, poetry, prophecy, parables and letters all to create vivid interpretations of how to apply God’s word to everyday life. While there are many people who question the contents of this Book, one of the most controversial subjects remains to be that of suicide.
Today one of the biggest social problems is suicide. The definition of suicide is the act of killing one’s self. The main reason why people commit suicide is that they believe they don’t have any hope and cannot overcome their negative situation. In the play “Othello” by William