I Wish I Were Dead

1
I Wish I Were Dead

• The Christian Suicide

2
Astonishing Statistics

• In 1998 suicide accounted for 30,575 deaths.
• More people die from suicide than from homicide,
  (fewer than 19,000) and from AIDS (13,000).
  www.cdc.gov Feb. 2002

3
Suicide

• 1. What is the first thing you think about when
  you hear the word Suicide?

2. If a friend said to you, I wish I were
dead!, how would you respond?
4
Astonishing Statistics

• In 1998, white males accounted for 73 of all
  suicides.
• In fact, males are actually four times as likely
  to die from suicide than females--but females are
  more likely to attempt suicide. In both males and
  females, suicide rates increase with age and are
  highest among Americans age 65 and older.

5
Suicide

• 3. Listed below are 5 things that might cause a
  young person to want to take his or her life.
  Which one do you think is most common and how
  would you suggest handling the problem other than
  suicide?
• a. Parents divorcing
• b. Thinking no one cares
• c. Breaking up with someone you love
• d. Being abused by a parent
• e. Feeling worthless

6
Astonishing Statistics

• Persons under age 25 accounted for 15 of all
  suicides in 1998.
• For young people 15-24 years old, suicide is the
  3rd leading cause of death behind unintentional
  injury and homicide.
• In 1998, more teenagers died from suicide than
  from cancer, heart disease, AIDS, birth defects,
  stroke, pneumonia, influenza, and chronic lung
  disease Combined!
• Statistics taken from www.cdc.gov National
  Center for Injury Prevention and Control,
  February 2002

7
Suicide

• 4. One of your friends writes a note during
  class saying they are going to find a way to
  commit suicide but then throws the note away.
  You accidentally found the note and read it.
  What can you do?

8
Suicide

• Take the note to your school counselor.
• Talk to your parents
• Ask advice from your church/youth leader/Pastor
• Laugh it off
• Think your friend doesnt mean it, they only want
  attention.

• Take the note seriously.
• Throw the note away and forget about it.
• Tell your friends parents.
• Call the Police
• Talk to your friend
• Pray that someone else will help them.
• Other ___________

9
Astonishing Statistics

• We are told that every 17 minutes someone in
  America commits suicide.
• And note this tragic feature of American life
  among children between 5 and 14 years of age,
  suicide is the 6th most common cause of death.
• Young people kill themselves mainly for one
  reason they cannot believe their lives are
  precious enough to make them worth living.
  Despair, depression, hopelessness,
  self-loathing-- these are the killers.
• Statistics taken from www.cdc.gov National
  Center for Injury Prevention and Control,
  February 2002

10
Is Suicide Unforgivable?

• Some say that suicide cannot be forgiven because
  the person who did it could not have repented of
  doing it. But all of us commit sins that we are
  too spiritually cloddish to recognize for the
  sins they are. And we all die with sins not named
  and repented of.

11
Is Suicide Unforgivable?

• Will God welcome to Heaven a believer who has
  taken their own life?
• The answer is Yes.
• Why?
• Suicide is a sin, just like lying, cheating,
  etc., but a serious sin one which basically
  says, I cant rely on God, so I am going to end
  it.

12
Is Suicide Unforgivable?

• Romans 838 -39
• 38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor
  life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers,
  nor things present, nor things to come, 39 Nor
  height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall
  be able to separate us from the love of God,
  which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

13
Is Suicide Unforgivable?

• I believe that Jesus died not only for the sins
  of us all but for all of our sins, including the
  forgotten ones, including suicide.

14
Biblical Examples of Suicide

• There are 6 accounts of suicide in the Bible, the
  most notorious being those of King Saul (1 Sam.
  312-5) and Judas (Matt. 273-5).
• Others are Abimelech (Judg. 950-54), Ahithophel
  (2 Sam. 1723), and Zimri (1 Kings 1615-20).
• As far as I can tell, none of the six is
  explicitly condemned for taking his life.
• They may not be in heaven, but it wasnt because
  of the suicide.

15
Is Suicide Unforgivable?

• Though People of sound mind have made rational
  decisions to end their lives, it is ultimately
  their faithlessness towards God at a particular
  moment in their life that causes them to make the
  decision.
• They choose to die rather than endure more pain
  than they think they can bear, or to spare their
  loved ones the pain of watching them die an ugly
  death. And rational people of good intentions
  sometimes help them do it.

16
Help from Scripture

• Hebrews 416
• Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of
  grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace
  to help in time of need.
• Galatians 61-2
• 1 Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye
  which are spiritual, restore such an one in the
  spirit of meekness considering thyself, lest
  thou also be tempted.
• 2 Bear ye one anothers burdens, and so fulfill
  the law of Christ.
• Psalm 234-6
• Yea, though I walk through the valley of the
  shadow of death, I will fear no evil for thou
  art with me

17
Our Help Comes from God

• Everyone goes through trials, some more serious
  than others, but it is many times during those
  trials that we are brought closer to God.
• In fact, God wants you to be at the end of all
  possibilities. For some people thats what it
  takes to get their eyes back on Him.