Death by Suicide
“Suicide is defined as death caused by self-directed injurious behavior with intent to die as a result of the behavior.” From the CDC, the statistics of death by suicide (2020) in the United States can be seen:
- Suicide was the 12th leading cause of death overall in the United States…
- Suicide was the 2nd leading cause of death among individuals between the ages of 10-14 and 25-34 , the third leading cause of death among individuals between the ages of 15-24, and the fourth leading cause of death among individuals between the ages of 35 and 44.
- There were nearly two times as many suicides (45,979) in the United States as there were homicides (24,576).
The numbers regarding this topic are horrifying. The reality behind them is far worse. Husbands and wives, widowed. Fathers and mothers, heart broken and shell shocked. Families weeping over their loss. Children alone or left with only a single parent. While communities attempt to do their best to pick up the pieces, the wounds left upon the living from those who commit death by suicide often persist for a lifetime.
God created life in His image (Genesis 1:26). He created mankind desiring that they be fruitful and multiply (Genesis 1:28). His direction to mankind is that they be kind, loving, comforting, and walk in a righteous manner serving one another. He called upon mankind to avoid that which was not good. His desire was that the union between man and woman that He created would create godly offspring (Malachi 2:15). To be godly, one works to mold oneself in the image of the creator which I John 4:8 defines as “love” itself.
What leads most individuals to suicide is a lack of loving righteousness. The individual suffers at the hand of that which is not godly. They are introduced to that which harms their physical person and their soul. Mental and physical abuse, mind altering substances, violence, teachings causing the individual to rely upon the judgment of mankind rather than God, jealousy, selfishness, immorality, greed, self-loathing, and a countless parade of influences introduced by the world create chaos within the mind and life of the individual. The sources are wide ranging, but all have a commonality – ungodly influence – which causes damage to all who encounter it.
As a final thought regarding death by suicide, consider the religious body that you attend. Are the individual members causing pain and suffering upon one another or are they working together to strengthen and build up? (I Corinthians 12:12-27) Many congregations today have figuratively slit their wrists and are slowly bleeding to death. Their actions are those of suicide. They show up to appointed times, but their actions are political, backbiting, selfish, jealous, uncaring, unsupportive, unloving, and ungodly. Rather than support one another and give life to other congregations trying to serve God, they demean one another and become a hindrance to righteousness. Their time is spent fighting and being divisive within the expressed brotherhood of saints, rather than doing good to the household of faith. If those claiming Christ are engaged in this behavior, they will only find destruction. Let each one of us honestly examine ourselves, work to strengthen that which remains, and then reach out to the world with a proper shine of a chosen people. Let us be a people who desire to be fruitful and see godly offspring born into Christ. If the many do not turn from their ways, their death can only be attributed to their own “self-directed injurious behavior”.