This week, one of the topics Worldview Warriors is addressing is suicide. The taking of one’s own life is a great tragedy and happens for a variety of reasons. Some would suggest in certain circumstances, such as being about to be taken as a prisoner of war, that suicide rather than humiliation is a good thing. However, the vast majority of suicides come at a place of hopelessness and a lack of purpose. According to Wikipedia, in 2014 teen suicide was the #2 killer of young adults and #11 of all people age 10 and up. This is not including those who have attempted suicide and survived, let alone those who have thought about it.
There are many offered solutions to help stem the suicide rates. There is the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline among other resources. Suicide is absolutely no laughing matter, and to make things worse, most who are struggling with the thoughts of suicide don’t have the courage to cry for help. If you who are reading this are facing thoughts of suicide, GET HELP! Do not face it alone. There is no shame in calling for help when you are in trouble, yet there is a fear of a social stigma for those who cry out for help, and often that stigma is truly there.
While counseling centers and suicide hotlines are good answers to the suicide problem, these are mostly for dealing with the problem after it has rooted. I would like to tackle just one of the reasons that brings up suicidal thoughts before it can take root. There are many others so please do not read what I am not saying, nor consider me the “expert” on all these issues. I am not a trained counselor, nor am I any professional in this field, however, I am not oblivious to the issues either. One of the reasons why suicide is considered is due to a culture of death.
We here in the U.S. live in a culture of death. Death is celebrated and encouraged in many different ways and it forms a cycle which grows more and more until it arrives. “Death is celebrated?” Yes, it is celebrated, either death itself or choices which lead to death. How so? Take a look at what our youth listens to: the rock bands, the rappers, “death metal.” The lyrics are horrific. They have “good beats,” but they lyrics are full of death, sex, murder, rage, and language. Look at the violent video games, where the players shoot and kill anything that moves and then everything “respawns.” Kids are not being taught the value of life nor the severity or permanency of death.
When I first really started to engage the issue about abortion, at that time, most people who had abortions have regretted doing so. Many still do. However, many are celebrating abortion, giving clinics awards for “saving women’s lives,” by killing fully functioning, perfectly healthy babies for the sake of convenience. Only 1.5% deal with rape or incest, according to the article linked. The extreme majority are out of pure convenience or deceptive counseling. Young mothers, especially of minority ethnic backgrounds where poverty levels are high, are highly encouraged to get abortions under many circumstances. Look at the abortion rates by ethnic groups here.
Abortion brought forth one major thing: life is determined only by whether it is wanted or not. If your parent decides they don’t want you and you are not yet born, your life is forfeited today. Families today in general do not talk about producing life, nor do they talk about their kids being their precious offspring. Many do, but by and large this culture does not do this. How can I say that? School is getting out and many parents are dreading it. The attitude for many parents, especially come August, is that school is a place to get the kid out of the house to give mom and dad some peace. Parents treat school as glorified day care, and public schools in particular have been happy to oblige. That’s not a compliment. Children are being treated as an inconvenience for our enjoyment and are raised to only be necessary to provide for society for the next generation.
Society as a whole treats each person as only as valuable as they are producing for that society. If society does not see the potential the person can bring to them, he is discarded. Once the person’s use is exhausted, then society would prefer to “euthanize” the elderly because they are consuming so many resources which could be sent elsewhere.
The value of life has been reduced to monetary value and level of pleasure in the immediate here and now. What other ways are there to measure the value? According to this world, they have nothing else. Why does the world have no other answers? Because it rejects the Word of God and how God values life. Evolution has played a very subtle yet major role in this transition from valuing of life to devaluing life. Under Evolution, you have no value, because you are nothing more than just another highly evolved animal where any purpose or reason for your existence is determined by what you make out of it. And many are searching and searching and not finding it. Under Creation, each person is uniquely created in the image of God and each person has value, including the handicapped.
It’s not just abortion or Evolution. Look at the lifestyles being offered and praised. The U.S. is the most drug-crazed nation in the world. Drug cartels are so lucrative because we have the money and we are demanding these drugs, yet it’s killing us. Drunk driving deaths each year are comparable to major wars. Sex choices are being made completely on a pleasure basis, yet what abortion centers, sex ed classes, and “safe sex” tips do not tell people is that sexual immorality is often lethal, via STDS, cancer, or other issues. The world wants to live in paradise without God and all that is going to result in is death.
What is the solution? The only solution that is even remotely capable of working is the Gospel. Surrender yourself and let God be God in our lives. God is able to take this culture of death, kill it without killing us, and bring life in and out of it. When we let God do his job in our lives, he will give us the hope and the purpose to go through our difficult times. He will give us the strength to hold on to the very end and not give up. God never lets a single drop of his saints’ blood go to waste.
God is able to get out of the messes we put ourselves into. He is able to rescue us to the utmost. He can take the mainline drug addict and deliver him from the demand of the drug. He can take murderer and rescue him from the lust for blood. He can take the sex pervert and restore his sex drive to its original function. However, to be freed from sin requires renouncing it. God will not save if we have a continual desire to go back to our sin.
Suicide is a terrible tragedy. Between the social, familiar, political, emotional, let alone spiritual pressures of life, those who do not know Christ can find it easy to give up. Satan goes after the precious life. When David Wilkerson preached this sermon, “The Hunter from Hell,” I got a whole new perspective on how to see the downtrodden. The kid who is the “black sheep” is frequently the one God is able to use the most. He became the “black sheep” because the enemy went after him to keep him from being used. If you are down and weak and feeling suicide may be your only out, God not only can rescue you, but he has something specially planned for how to use you. The enemy has been out to mess you up so that you cannot reach your true potential if God were to use you. There is hope, there is a purpose, even if you cannot see it now. Don’t quit. Don’t give up. There is a way out. Don’t listen to this culture of death. Choose life. Last year, Ray Comfort put out a video called Exit, and it is one of the very few sources I have seen which addresses the issue of suicide, provides more than just coping skills, and actually provides an answer. It is a MUST see if you are contemplating suicide or if you know someone who is.
This culture wants you to be independent of authorities and to sever ties with parents, preachers, and anyone who can help steer you on the correct path. They know if you are alone and unprotected, you are easy prey, easy to use and abuse and easy to discard. Just look at how the world treats the broken; it’s never good. Yet, if you turn to God, even if you don’t have parents who protect you and guide you or a church to help you, he is sufficient. You are not meant to be alone. No man is an island. Get with God and if you have a bond with Jesus Christ, you will be hard to take down. Build that relationship with him because he will not let you down as long as you trust him and obey him. He will NEVER let you down and will always be with you. Don’t quit. Don’t give up. Choose life.
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