Why would any depressed Christian kill himself/herself?

[New_Spiritual_Birth]

Believe me, I know what I am talking about. I have been going through major depression for more than last two and half years and before I discovered my spirituality, on several occasions, I had suicidal thoughts. But since I found Christ I know God has a purpose for creating me - however small it might be. I may not understand that purpose yet there must be one - it's maybe just beyond my grasp of comprehension. That's all. Living a good, kind and forgiving life as shown by Christ is the journey through which we find our little purpose and our place in God's creation. So I was wondering why would any Christian kill himself/herself? Is it just a momentary lapse of faith and understanding?

 

[EphesiaNZ]

...So I was wondering why would any Christian kill himself/herself? Is it just a momentary lapse of faith and understanding?

Serious depression leaves the sufferer with little or no feeling of love or being loved. Being a Christian can help, whilst having depression, as it gives you a focus for love and loving - although it's not a certainty that it will cure you. What usually fails those with depression is the person not accepting they are depressed and/or those around them not recognizing the symptoms of depression.

 

[MKJ]

Almost always when someone kills himself, they have come to the conclusion somehow that others will be better off without him - his friends, or family, or community. Depression plays a lot of tricks with the mind, people are not thinking logically and their emotions are not really sensible.

Some people also will make attempts that they don't intend to be successful, but sometimes they are anyway.

 

[artybloke]

Depression is an illness. Sometimes it's a fatal illness.

Mental illness happens to about 1 in 4 people at some point in their lives. Don't blame the depressed person for what is an illness.

 

[TomUK]

This beautiful article in the Yale Daily News this week and I think it's important to share.

THOMAS: After the fall | Yale Daily News

 

[New_Spiritual_Birth]

Depression is an illness. Sometimes it's a fatal illness.

Mental illness happens to about 1 in 4 people at some point in their lives. Don't blame the depressed person for what is an illness.

Believe me artybloke, I am not blaming anyone. I myself happen to take antidepressants regularly. I am just thinking out loud. All I was trying to say is that spirituality may help a lot of people hurting.

 

[PaladinValer]

Serious depression often brings a person to the brink with their faith.

Those Christians who do commit suicide have sadly decided to believe that ending their biological life is either what God wants (simply untrue) or that God doesn't care to preserve him/her (equally untrue).

We must trust in God's mercy when it comes to people who do commit suicide. I personally believe that any requiem for them should be tailored to even more strongly emphasize God's love and to, tastefully, remind all about the sanctity of life and how suicide is not the correct path. Again however, let me stress that such language must be done tastefully, carefully, and reverently.

 

[Amber the Duskbringer]

Since this thread is relevant to my current interests. Does said person have a chance at being with God or do they have to spend a eternity in misery living with people who don't care if they live or die?

 

[PaladinValer]

Since this thread is relevant to my current interests. Does said person have a chance at being with God or do they have to spend a eternity in misery living with people who don't care if they live or die?

We do not make such presumptions. We are not God, and as God is the only competent Judge, we are to leave such matters to Him and Him alone.

We are not worthy to make such decisions. Our own worries should be on our own salvation, working it out with awe and trembling.

 

[artybloke]

Because depression is an illness, if people commit suicide, they tend not to be in their "right minds": as someone who has had to hide the knives from someone who wanted to harm herself, I've seen that in person.

Serious, suicidal depression is not a state in which you're entirely responsible for your own actions. Their minds are playing tricks with them: so they could believe that the world is better off without them, or that they're the devil, or they're in so much distress that the pain is intolerable. That doesn't make them bad; it makes them ill and in need of treatment. I know someone (a Christian) who had even had electric shock treatment for his depression (in fact I think he's bi-polar...)

 

[Finella]

NSB, a close friend of mine blogged about depression and his faith in this great post. While he never was suicidal, I think his points about how one with depression has difficulty escaping it may be relevant.

The Noonday Demon. | elephant journal

 

[HisHomeMaker]

My husband is the one who brought me to church and helped me to become a Christian. Now he has a brain injury and serious depression and he believes Christians are delusional. I wish he could see that God has not forsaken him.

 

[Johnny Todd]

Believe me, I know what I am talking about. I have been going through major depression for more than last two and half years and before I discovered my spirituality, on several occasions, I had suicidal thoughts. But since I found Christ I know God has a purpose for creating me - however small it might be. I may not understand that purpose yet there must be one - it's maybe just beyond my grasp of comprehension. That's all. Living a good, kind and forgiving life as shown by Christ is the journey through which we find our little purpose and our place in God's creation. So I was wondering why would any Christian kill himself/herself? Is it just a momentary lapse of faith and understanding?

well the "once saved always saved" would say its impossible to commit a sin that leads to death so I guess from their standpoint suicide is never committed by a real Christian, God has a purpose for your life somtimes were like Abraham and want to make it happen ourself.......its not easy but the bible says be content in all things, depression is the opposite of being content. It also says love your neighbor, that means your supposed to have an emotion that you don't even feel, you might not even like your neighbor, he or she could be a real pain in the butt, But thats what God's word tells us to do, do things we really don't feel, thats not always easy either, so it kinda comes down to forcing yourself to do these things whether we want to or not, thats just how it is, you have to make yourself love and make yourself be content.......you may say that seems like being a phony and not being truthful to the way you really feel, But we need to remember God didn't say we were to do these things when we felt love or when we had a really good day.......He just said to do it.

 

[dandylion1984]

As has been already stated, depression is a mental illness, a sickness, a disease. And just as it is not the fault of the person who dies of cancer, it is not the fault of the person with depression who takes their own life.

I am a person who gets depressed. I take medication. I try to prevent stress which triggers my depression. I pray. But I still get suicidal thoughts.

Sometimes, I am in such emotional pain, I just want it to stop. When I am in an episode, it feels like my depression will never end, that I will have to endure this torment forever. If I believed in the eternal torment of Hell, that would be it. Wouldn't you do anything to escape?

Some might call me a coward because of my desire to escape this pain but I think I am very couragous. I have gone though many of these episodes, too many to count, and yet I am still here. I have not taken my own life, even though I have had many oppurtunities. I fight my disease even though it continues to come back time after time.

Just like a faithful and righteous person can still die of cancer, no matter how hard they fight and how hard they pray, so to it is with depression.