Suicide

[This post has two parts, both about the topic of suicide. The first part is a brief poem I wrote when thinking about death and religious imagery.]

 

BLOOD OF THE LAMB

at the edge

with blade in hand

the weight of guilt—heavy sin

—lightens in crimson

flow

the warm baptism

my redemption 

[The second part of this post is a rehash from my first blog about Christian spirituality, the now defunct realspirituality.org. Although I no longer have the same faith as I did at the time, I hope this entry will bring comfort to those who need it.]

I have known two people who have taken their own lives. One was a family friend. The other I knew from ministry. Suicide is death on steroids.

Some people think of death as natural, a part of life, the culmination of the organic process of living. I have been at deathbeds many times. It can be peaceful. It can be a relief for beleaguered families. When faced with the potential a painful, prolonged, meaningless suffering, death may be a release, a lesser of two evils.

But death is still an evil

Suicide adds to the badness of death a level of malevolent intentionality. Not only is death accepted, it is embraced. Someone has come to the point where life seems more evil than death. Surely this is a glimpse of hell.

When I have talked with people about the suicide of a loved one, I am sure to dispel the false notion that someone who commits suicide is necessarily condemned to hell. It is strange, but this notion of necessary damnation rears its head too often.

If God can save a murderer, why can’t he save a self-murderer? Grace has to be bigger than murder, even bigger than suicide, or it is too small to really meet all of us at our deepest need.

Not to mention that so many people who commit suicide are emotionally damaged. God has always had a heart for the hurting.

Death is evil. Suicide is worse. But God is greater than either.

As Christians, we rejoice in life, for it is a gift from God. We also long for the death of death. May Christ come quickly, and extinguish suicide forever!

Where, O suicide, is your victory?

Where, O suicide, is your sting?

Thanks be to God, 

who gives us the victory

through our Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 15:55, 57 (paraphrase)