Automatic Transcript Generated:
Speaker 2
Alright.
Speaker 3
So the next question Roland is asking, is suicide a sin? I think that there are suicides in the Bible.
Speaker 1
So Roland, first, I surely hope you have not lost anybody to suicide or that you’re contemplating it. I mean, obviously there’s I think few things more sad and tragic than someone to hit the point where they just don’t want to live anymore. They feel so hopeless. Just what are suffering so much that they feel that’s the only way out, our heart goes out to you if that’s the case. But it’s a good question and lots of people struggle with this. Let’s start first with is it a sin? And that could be answered with Exodus 20, verse 13. Maybe we could put that up. And Wendy, you can read that. It would be a doozy of a verse.
Speaker 3
You shall not murder.
Speaker 1
So as we’ve been talking about, even in prior weeks, the Ten Commandments are illustrative of larger points. So even if you think murder doesn’t apply to yourself, what’s the greater point? I mean, life is precious. Even your own life is precious. And to take that is a sin. Because if you love God and you’re saying God loves you, you will want to let him to continue to love you and you will want to be in his presence and you will want to continue loving everybody around you. So that’s sort of where love falls into why murder of self is a sin. And honestly, though, all of us are probably guilty of this. We’re all doing things that are taking tolls on our body. We’re not exercising like we should. We’re letting ourselves be more stressed than we should. We’re not eating like we should. So again, this is not necessarily something that only people commit suicide necessarily are guilty of.
Speaker 3
But yeah, as we talked earlier, we’re all guilty of sins. We don’t even know half the sins we’re guilty of. Most likely the Bible says we’re born into sin.
Right.
Speaker 3
So I think we have to be careful how we treat the word sin and understand that, yes, sin is bad, but doesn’t mean that we can’t have a relationship with God.
Speaker 1
Yeah, exactly. And God understands our circumstances. I mean, Jesus came in human flesh, experienced everything, we experienced all the temptations. So that means he was even tempted to commit suicide. I mean, think about it. One of the temptations from Satan was just jump off this cliff. I mean, God will protect you. But that would have been presumptuous suicide, which then goes into the next point. Not all suicides are the same. And the Bible has some examples which he asked for. Roland asked for. So first, Judges 1630. Let’s take a look there. Judges 1630. I think this is one of the first suicides, one of the most famous suicides, I would say in the Bible.
Speaker 3
Do we have that?
Speaker 1
First, maybe our director is occupied. He’s juggling a lot here.
Speaker 3
It is all right. So then Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines, and he pushed with all his might and the temple fell on the Lords and all the people who were in it. The dead that he killed at his death were more than he had killed in his life.
Speaker 1
Did Samson kill himself?
Speaker 2
Sort of.
Speaker 1
Did he cause himself to die?
Speaker 2
Yeah. His action led to his death. But was it for the purpose of just robbing himself of life because he didn’t want to feel pain anymore more? No.
Speaker 1
Yeah, exactly. So that gets into our old suicide the same. Let’s contrast that now to one Samuel 31, starting at verse four. And this is now talking about King Saul or flash report to the future a little bit after Samson first Samuel 31, 45. And a little bit background. Saul is in this battle against the Philistines. He’s losing horribly. The day before, he was also prophesied by the witch that he was going to die. Go ahead, put it back up.
Speaker 3
Then Saul said to his armor bearer, Draw your sword and thrust me through with it. Let these uncircumcised men come and thrust me through and abuse me. But his armor bearer would not, for he was greatly afraid. Therefore, Saul took a sword and fell on it.
Speaker 1
And if you read the next verse, the armor bearer also.
Speaker 3
And when his armor bear saw that Saul was dead, he also fell on his sword and died with him.
Speaker 1
So we have two suicides here. And are these commendable in any way? Or would we say these were probably simple suicides, but even more so is it? I don’t know how firm the question, but I just made the point, really. This suicide seemed to be just the culmination of a life that went down to a trajectory of sin. That’s what’s so fascinating about the story of Saul, because it almost shows you where he starts going wrong. And it’s always when he chooses not to obey, he wants to go his own way, do his own thing. And it just has this trickle effect, ending with him becoming unhappy, turning to spirits for guidance, and feeling like God has rejected him. And then he takes his own life when he feels hopeless.
Speaker 3
And I think what’s important to point out here is the question says, I think that there are suicides in the Bible. And I think it’s really important to understand that just because something is in the Bible doesn’t mean it’s a recommendation. A lot of things in the Bible are there to teach us lessons and, of course, what to stay away from also.
Speaker 1
And that’s the point of sale. Exactly. Because he kept going down the wrong path, doing his own thing. And look where he ended up.
Speaker 3
And it ended up where he couldn’t face the world anymore, was too afraid to face the world.
Speaker 1
What was about to happen.
Speaker 3
And it’s tragic because that’s not, you know, God doesn’t want people to take their own life. He wants us to turn from our separation from him and turn to him.
Speaker 1
And that’s why Paul’s story is so tragic, because God tried so hard so many times, and Paul was still so insistent of going his own way. Sorry, Saul. Yeah. And I’m not trying to say this is the case for everybody who’s committed suicide. I mean, there might be people who have never heard the gospel the right way, never known there’s a God they can turn to. Wendy and I have done a documentary on mental health where we filmed over 100 interviews for it. And we saw consistently time and time and time again, people testifying about how they would have voices in their head telling them to just kill themselves. It was incredible. I think we had five people at least tell us that happened to them. His voice, tell him, just end it all. And that voice, I would say, is none other than Satan, because he wants people to feel hopeless, despair, that there’s no hope and take it.
Speaker 3
And that’s not God’s voice. That’s the most important thing to understand is that wherever that comes from, it is not God’s voice that’s telling people to do that.
Speaker 1
And does God understand when someone’s heard that voice, they’re hopeless, that there’s no way out and ends their life? Yeah. God understands that God knows all things. So does that mean that a person who committed suicide will never, ever make into heaven? I don’t buy that. I don’t think there’s anything there that really says that will always be the case. Maybe you disagree, Tina, but I don’t think we can judge people and say, oh, this person’s last act was murder of themselves and their sinner and not going to make it to heaven. I don’t believe that.
Speaker 2
No, I just want to reiterate what you guys are saying is there’s always two voices and it’s always Jesus and the devil. And it says in John 1010, but the thief comes. But to kill, steal and destroy, the devil only wants to kill you, steal your joy and destroy you. That is the Devil’s purpose. And he might do it in a sneaky way, but Jesus. But I have come that they might have life and might have it more abundantly. And so I just want to share if anybody out there is feeling hopeless or feeling suicidal or feeling like there’s just no purpose and they’re hearing these voices that are telling them just end it all. There’s no purpose. Horrible things. And believe me, I’m somebody who struggles with depression in my life, and God has shown me a better way. And it’s been God’s love that’s changed my heart and changed my life in such a dramatic way. Honestly, if you knew me so many years ago, you wouldn’t recognize me. I was never happy. I never smiled. I never laughed. I had no joy. But God has given me joy because Jesus came into my life and he’s given me a life more abundant.
Speaker 2
I know that voice of the devil that’s telling you, you’re worthless, you’re stupid, you’re nothing. But Jesus says, no, I died for you. You have value my eternal life. I’ve given up for you because I love you. And no matter what the devil says, Jesus ‘truth definitely wants to speak through those lies and give you hope and give you a hope in the future, which he promises you through his blood. And I know we have some comments, I think, from our viewers. Yeah.
Speaker 1
And then has a comment. I’ll start with those, Olivia.
Speaker 3
So God is the answer to all our problems. There is hope in him.
Speaker 1
Amen.
Speaker 3
And Landa is saying, Ecclesiastes 717, be not overly wicked, neither be a fool. Why should you die before your time?
Speaker 2
And I think sometimes we get just to go with that verse. Sometimes we get so confused about what to do with our lives, and we just kind of need someone to be like, hey, you still have life. You still have hope. You still have some things don’t go before there could be good in the future. You don’t know what tomorrow holds. I think so many times we just get so focused on the negative stuff going on today in our lives and we don’t see beyond that darkness. But God has something beyond that. I’m sorry, was there another comment from Landon?
Speaker 1
Yeah, Landon. I really like his next one.
Speaker 3
My two favorite verses for suicide are these Psalms 30, 417 to 20. When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.
Speaker 1
And this part right there, we were just talking about how does God appear in people’s lives here? When you’re brokenhearted, when you’re feeling most hopeless, that’s probably when God is the closest to you.
Speaker 3
Yeah, that’s true. Many are the afflictions of the righteous. But the Lord delivers him out of them all. He keeps all his bones. Not one of them is broken.
Amen.
Speaker 1
The next one is your favorite first, Wendy, one of my favorites.
Speaker 3
Jeremiah 20, 911. For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord plans for welfare and not for people to give you a future and a hope. Yes, that is one of the most important verses, I think, to hang on to when we feel like life is hopeless, life is useless. It has no merit. That is a lie, because God’s promise is that he has plans to give us a future and hope and he is faithful. And sometimes we hit those rock bottom points. And I’ve been there myself. I was there at a young age and I’ve had time trials in more recent years. But no matter what we go through, God’s promise is that he has a plan for us. And if we hang on to that, then we can make it through those deepest of trials. I know what it’s like to feel like you can’t function in life and you can’t be of use. But God has a plan to get us through, and he does. And he’s done that for me. And I’ve seen him do it for so many other people. And that is such an important thing to hang on to.
Speaker 3
Just wait it out. Just wait it out. And the time will come.
Speaker 1
And then Fatty says, that is good.
Speaker 3
Let us give him a chance. Amen to that.
Speaker 1
There’s actually, I think one more suicide, and it’s actually a good well, we talked about the suicide for others, which actually Jesus did himself also. He says, I lay down my life and there’s no greater love than this. And then that a man lay down his life for his friends.
Speaker 3
But why did he do it? To save?
Speaker 1
Yes, exactly.
Speaker 3
Everyone else.
Speaker 1
A suicide mission for the benefit of others can be a good thing. Right. And you’re not valuing yourself over others, but there actually is another suicide that is good. And in fact, we’re all called to do as Paul says, I die daily. And Romans six, three to nine, he talks about, how do you not know that as many of us who were baptized into Christ were baptized into his death, therefore we were buried with him through baptism into death. That just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father. Even so, we also should walk in the newness of life. For if we have been United together in the lightness of his death, certainly we shall be in the likeness of his resurrection. Knowing this, that the old man was crucified with him with Christ, that the body of sin might be put away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin. For if he who has died has been set free from sin, sorry, for he who has died has been free from sin. Now, if we die with Christ, we shall believe that we shall also live with him.
Speaker 1
Knowing that Christ has been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has Dominion over him. So I think it’s natural for us to want to die. We want to kill ourselves. Sin is so horrible. We made so many mistakes. And guess what? Bible says you have a way out. You can’t commit suicide. You should, in a sense, spiritually through Christ, die on the cross. Just imagine your old self dead, especially when you go through the act of baptism. God has given us a ceremony to go through where you could say, I have died to my old self, that person is gone. I now am a new person, starting with a clean slate. And just contrast God to modern day cancel culture where someone made one mistake or said one bad thing, even a few years ago and now we’re told this person has to be shunned and never forgiven. That’s totally contrary to God. God says, I want you to always start with a new slate. You can do it on a daily basis. You’re past. You can be a new creation in Christ today.
Speaker 3
Yeah. And I think the important thing to understand is that this isn’t a death of our physical body. This is a death of our old way of inappropriate desire attitude.
Speaker 1
Your desire is exactly. But also, I think it is just mentally accepting that old you, your decisions the way you were in the past, you can detach from that. Yes, your past.
Speaker 3
And it’s like when you face something that you know you shouldn’t be doing, you have that strong temptation that, you know, this isn’t good for me, but I’m used to doing it right. And just to resist that, to say I’m not going to go down that route anymore. I want something different. I want God’s fast when you’re facing that and you’re making that choice, like it can make you physically sick. You can feel like you’re going to die in that process. But that’s the process that we’re supposed to die in. That’s the process where we’re supposed to hold on and fight that. Resist that even to the point that it kills that way of thinking. It makes it so painful that we don’t ever want to go back there again. And so we have to fight that and resist that and go through that.
Exactly.
Speaker 2
Two promises in that regard. The first is one, John one nine. It says, if we confess our sins, he God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So no matter how far you think you are from God, as long as you come to him, he is more than happy to forgive us and cleanse us and make us new. And it says in Galatians 220 that I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, and yet not I. But Christ lives in me in the life that I now live in the flesh. I live by the Grace of the son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. So don’t forget, God always accepts you with open arms. Jesus says, any man that comes to me, I will no wise cast out. Jesus is always standing there with open arms, ready to embrace you. He loves you and he’s got a purpose for your life. And he has a new life that he wants to live in you. And there’s beautiful things you.
For full episode:
https://youtu.be/776A1sFy1pc
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