[Congratulations to Shaun Sells. His post was selected for our "Friday Night is Yours" blog post. -CMP]

Suicide from a Biblical Perspective for the Surviving Family Member.

Introduction.

The purpose of this is to bring comfort to the surviving family members of one who has commited suicide by bringing to light God’s perspective from the scriptures. It is my hope that any who read this will recognize three things:

1. Godly people in scripture were tempted by suicide, and some committed suicide.
2. Suicide is not an unforgivable sin.
3. You are not responsible for the actions of this person. Continue Reading »

This post was submitted by Shaun Sells.

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During my sister Angie’s sickness I began to chronicle some of the events that were taking place. The following is the account I wrote after her first attempt on her life. It picks up after a series of her physical problems. She had just gotten out of the hospital having been there for two weeks after having her gall bladder removed and a subsequent battle with pancreatitis. She originally went into the hospital complaining of back pain. She was 32 at the time.

I wrote this in 2003, while she was still alive. Continue Reading »

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 First Things 8 [31:55m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (2770)

Your eyes are not deceiving you! First Things is back! (Although we may change the name.)

I invited my sister Lindsey to join us this afternoon to discuss the issues related to my sister’s death and the problems since. We discuss, in particular, God’s sovereignty in troubles and pain and how it helps us to make it through.

While were were live on Paltalk, we did not announce it as Lindsey was very nervous. We will do the same next week and I will announce it ahead of time.

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I have been reading Sam Storms Sign’s of the Spirit in preparation for this Thursday’s Converse with Scholars. Signs of the Spirit is an interpretation of Jonathan Edwards’ Religious Affections. Considering my last post on the often devastating legacy that suicide leaves, I found it interesting to read about Edwards’ account of the first wave of the First Great Awakening, the eighteenth century revival, and its ensuing end.

While it is hard to explain exactly what, from a human standpoint, caused the revival to begin, it is just as difficult to give reasons for its demise. Edwards gives his own account. From Dr. Storms’ book:

Although the history of revival reveals that no two outpourings were precisely the same, they do share one thing in common: they all came to an end. Edwards noted that “in the latter part of May, it began to be very sensible that the Spirit of God was gradually withdrawing from us, and after this time Satan seemed to be more let loose, and raged in a dreadful manner. ” One event seemed to Edwards to hasten the demise of religion: a man, from a family prone to depression (what Edwards called “melancholy”), committed suicide by cutting his throat. “The devil took the advantage, and drove him into despairing thoughts. ” [The man was in fact Joseph Hawley, Edwards' uncle.] The impact of this on the community was devastating:

    

“After this,” Edwards tells, ”multitudes in this and other towns seemed to have it strongly suggested to them, and pressed upon them, to do as this person had done. And many who seemed to be under no melancholy, some pious persons who had no special darkness or doubts about the goodness of their state . . . had it urged upon them as if somebody had spoke to them, Cut you throat, now is a good opportunity. Now! Now!“

I found it interesting that Edwards tells that this man came from a family prone toward depression. This was Edwards’ family. Edwards himself, what most would call “the greatest theologian America has produced to date,” struggled with depression. Continue Reading »

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(I am sorry that I continue to write about this so often lately, it has just been a particularly hard week.) 

There have been few times when I feared for my life—I mean really feared for my life. I remember one time more than any other. It was the day that I found Angie, my sister, with a gun in a hotel room. It was a miracle that I found her before she had a chance to use it on herself. On the way home in my car, I drove as my sister cried. It was not a sad cry of repentance but a cry of anger and despondence. Her dejection and frantic embitterment caused me to lock the doors so that she would not jump out of the car while driving. “Why did you come?” She screamed at me. ”Don’t you understand? I have to die!” I tried to stay silent and concentrate on the road. It was not safe on I-35 that day. I imagined her reaching over and pulling the steering wheel sending us both into an overpass. I really thought that she would. I tried to fight back the tears as her pain created great empathy for her death. By this time in the story, I almost wished that I had not found her. I almost wished that I let her take her life. Continue Reading »

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Following my sister Angie’s first attempt at her life four years ago, she felt great shame. The shame itself seemed to be enough motivation for her to try again. “I tried to kill myself, Michael,” she said when I tried to encourage her. ”Everyone is always going to think I am crazy. I am crazy!” ”You are not crazy Angie,” I responded, not really knowing what to say. She quickly answered, “Yes, but you have never tried to kill yourself.” I was not sure what this meant, but it was obvious that her definition of “crazy” was based upon a comparison of herself to those who, in her mind, were sane. “You are right,” I said, “I have not ever tried to kill myself. But there are circumstances where I might.”

Hang with me as I change the page for a moment.

I doubt there is anyone who has ever escaped the subject of divine hiddenness. Maybe you have not termed it as such, but you have often wondered why God does not reveal himself in a way that is more satisfactory to our longings for experiential intimacy with him. “With him” may not be the right way to put it. A better way would be to say that we long for experiential intimacy with “the other side.” As someone has once said, one out of every one people die. This is pretty good odds. We know that one day we will die and experience that which awaits us beyond death. Yet this life is virtually void of signs from the other side. In a way, all we have to work from is what Phillip Yancey terms “rumors” of another world.

Of course, as Christians, we do have faith that this “other world” is real, that heaven is an actual place where God awaits us. We also have faith that God, from this “other world,” has spoken to us through Scripture. Yet we long for an experiential intimacy that parallels the norms of our lives today. We want to hear the voice of God. We have questions for him. We desire sense experience. We want to see vivid signs of the other side that will solidify our faith and alleviate any residue of doubt that might does exist. Continue Reading »

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My sister Angie and her son Drew in 2002

I often tell the story during my Introduction to Theology class of an experience that I had that deeply implicated me and has affected the way that I “listen” to God’s movements in my life. It concerns an event that happened in the summer of 2003 with my sister Angie. It has to do with how experience can seem to say one thing, but be very misleading. Continue Reading »

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As many of you know, my sister took her life on Jan 4 2004, alone, in a cold dark hotel room in Denton, TX. It has been almost three years and the pain is still very real and close. Her death is still more like a dream than a reality. In many ways she was my greatest encouragement for teaching through seminary and in my early years at Stonebriar Community Church. She was an active member and attended every class that I taught and every sermon I preached. Continue Reading »