Suicide Today!

Richard Hollerman

We all know what “suicide” means but what are the attitudes surrounding this sin? We learn that about 800,000 people die by suicide in the world each year. It is the second leading cause of death in the world, for those age 15-24 years of age. (Save.org)

The incidence of suicide varies from country to country. We wonder why this might be the case, for nearly everyone knows that those who take their life will go to Hades and thence to Hell. And this will not be for a short period of time but forever. Yet, people find that their lives are so out of control, or unbearable, that they choose to kill themselves. This would be in the various nations of the world and the various ages involved.

In America we may think of Marilyn Monroe who took her life some years ago, Then there was Judy Garland, who sang, “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” (which became something of a theme song for the sodomites in the country). Then I think of the head of the shipping department where I worked. He also took his life. According to Wikipedia, there would be 71 pages of people who have taken their life just in this century!

Think of the executions of Adolph Hitler a few years ago. There were millions of them. Also we might think of the killings of Stalin from Russia, and the other countries around the world. We think of the murders committed in Rwanda, in Cambodia, and elsewhere. And, as we have noticed above, the nearly one million who have killed themselves in the world on a yearly basis! Killings are everywhere (seemingly)—including suicide (that we may call “self-murder”).

We may think that some of these self-murders come from people who have debilitating sicknesses, or those who have mental or spiritual issues, or other illnesses that are difficult to bear. And surely they don’t know God and thus assume that they will just cease to exist. How sad and how wrong.

Some years ago I wrote a booklet that had suicide as its theme. A well-known preacher wanted copies. Although he is now gone, it did show that there was a need for this sort of material. We do know that there are sad hearts who either don’t know about God’s will, or don’t know about the future after they take their lives, or in some way they think that this is an acceptable “way out” of their problems. Sadly, instead of leaving their problems, they only experience eternal problems as a result.

We know that traditional Catholics do think that this would be a mortal sin that should be shunned. And Muslims have traditionally held that suicide is a sin with severe consequences. Christians likewise have traditionally avoided this sin and its consequences. We know that this reaction is changing and with the psychological  context of today, many think that this sin is not really a sin or that it will be forgiven by a loving God.

Most of us know that the trials of life, severe though they may be, will one day pass and the future can still be rosy even for those caught up in this malady. God will come to our rescue when we need Him and in the midst of severe trails. Men are more likely to take their lives but women also do this as well. Men may be three or three and a half more likely to kill themselves than women. But any suicide is too many!

I was just reading a long article on the number of suicides in the various nations of the world. The statistics also pointed out the number of self-killings, the gender involved, the total number of suicides, and the date of this information. We do find it amazing as we think of the number who have taken their lives in the past and present. Perhaps there are a million people who do this—and surely they all are cast off by God in the afterlife. We find this so sad. Yet, we also are aware that most of those who are left will go to Hades and hence to Hell when they die! How sad, how very sad.

Let us trust in God and do His will, and thus lay aside our burdens. Jesus will be with us and support us if we trust in Him and do His will, without succumbing to this sin. He is a God of grace and power, and He knows best in all circumstances.

See also Wikipedia.