My soul is consumed with sorrow to the point of death. —Jesus Christ
Why is light given to the miserable, and life to the bitter of soul, who long for death that does not come, and search for it like hidden treasure. (Job 3)
In this fallen world, we all suffer to some degree, but we should never contemplate suicide.
When we die, we enter into eternity where we’ll get the best thing imaginable or the worst thing imaginable. Suicide is a mortal sin. There is no forgiveness. Here’s Jesus Christ speaking:
He said to them again, “I am going away and you will look for me, but you will die in your sin. Where I am going you cannot come.” So, the Jews said, “He is not going to kill himself, is he, because he said, ‘Where I am going you cannot come’?” (John 8:21-22)
People who kill themselves can’t go with Jesus. In these verses from John 8, Jesus tells us that if we kill ourselves, we’ll die in our sin, and that where he’s going (heaven), we cannot come. Suicide is so bad that Jesus won’t even mention it. He lets the Jews speak for him.
“He is not going to kill himself, is he, because he said, ‘Where I am going you cannot come’?”.
Satan wants people with depression to believe they can kill themselves and be forgiven by God. Family members left behind are tested to an enormous degree. They might want to hear that their loved ones are forgiven, and priests, pastors, and overly sympathetic and well-meaning people simply tell them what they want to hear. This could lead others to destruction by believing they can kill themselves and be forgiven by God. Some suicidal people even ask about forgiveness. This in itself proves that suicide is wrong.
Many from the Catholic Church teach forgiveness for suicides.
Catechism of the Catholic Church 2282: Grave psychological disturbances, anguish, or grave fear of hardship, suffering, or torture can diminish the responsibility of the one committing suicide. We should not despair of the eternal salvation of persons who have taken their own lives. By ways known to him alone, God can provide the opportunity for salutary repentance. The Church prays for persons who have taken their own lives.
The Catholic Church says that a person’s responsibility is diminished if they suffer from the things listed in this quote, making them unaccountable or exempt for their decision to kill themselves. This is not biblical and only fits with the legal definition, in which a person would be regarded as unfit to assume legal responsibility for their own actions on the grounds of mental illness, disease of the brain, or intellectual disability (which is an “unsound mind”). A person would have to be of sound mind to make such a decision to end their own life, even if they suffer from a mental illness, such as depression. A person with an unsound mind could not make a conscious decision to end their life but might engage in nonfatal self-harm or accidentally kill themselves. So, the Catholic Church goes by the legal definition of suicide, and when given the words of Jesus Christ, they say, “This is not Church doctrine.” We’re all going to have to face our Creator and give an account. Sadly, suicides are on the rise:
Suicide, a major public health concern, takes around 800,000 lives globally every year and is the second leading cause of death among adolescents and young adults. Despite substantial prevention efforts, between 1999 and 2017, suicide and nonfatal self-injury rates have experienced unprecedented increases across the United States – as well as in many other countries in the world. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8699163/
Suicide has eternal consequences for the person who commits suicide, and for those who tell them God will forgive them. God will hold them accountable for their blood. People who commit this mortal sin will have an eternity to think about it. Jesus says that hell is where the worm never dies. The worm represents our conscience eating at us for eternity, possibly saying, “Why didn’t I listen” or “Why did I do this?” If we choose death, how can we have life? If we choose life, how can we have death? Let’s choose life and good, and let’s help others by telling the truth: there’s no forgiveness for suicide, so don’t even think about it. Telling the truth will lead people to stop thinking about this unforgivable act.
My soul is consumed with sorrow the point of death.
There’s no pain that Jesus hasn’t suffered that we might suffer. When we suffer trials, we can go to him as our Shepherd and High Priest. Jesus has been through it all, and he carried his cross to the very end. His example tells us that we too can carry our cross, no matter what we’re going through, and that’s exactly what we have to do. So, let’s keep looking up.
Now self-murder is a crime most remote from the common nature of all animals, and an instance of impiety against God our Creator; nor indeed is there any animal that dies by its own contrivance, or by its own means, for the desire of life is a law engraven in them all; on which account we deem those that openly take it away from us to be our enemies, and those that do it by treachery are punished for so doing. And do not you think that God is very angry when a man does injury to what he hath bestowed on him?…The souls of those whose hands have acted madly against themselves are received by the darkest place in Hades. —Josephus (The Wars of the Jews, Book 3, Chapter 8, Paragraph 5)
The only way to receive God’s promise of eternal life and avoid the terrible fate of hell is through Jesus Christ our savior. When we accept Christ as Lord, we turn from wrongdoing and do the right thing. We stay in prayer, we stay thankful, and we continue to live our lives, obeying God’s commandments, doing our best in a fallen world.
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Futile World 