Of course there is a spectrum, and there are many reasons for suicide, but as one who has been suicidal, known people who were, and known those who have taken their lives, generally speaking, suicide is a selfish act, so I disagree with the premise that if a person knew what suffering their suicide would cause they wouldn't go ahead with it. They do know, but they are too self absorbed to care.
If someone is severely depressed they may not be able to think about anyone else or their pain; it's an illness. If someone broke their leg, was in bed, or in a chair, resting it, and someone else in the family needed a pint of milk, you wouldn't say that the person with the broken leg was too selfish or lazy to walk to the shops to get it. Same with depression; just because you can't see a plaster cast, it doesn't mean it is any less serious.
A person with depression may really believe they are worth nothing and the world would be better without them. Therefore, they wouldn't consider that anyone could miss them or feel pain.
Not all suicide is caused by self-pity, but I think much is.
Or a lack of self worth, or the belief that this is the only way out of their problems.
The pain produced by self-pity is very real, but self-pity has a basis in the idea that one knows better than God how his life should go.
They might not believe in God, or might blame him for their troubles.
Sometimes people take overdoses, not intending to die but planning that they will be found in time. They may just want someone else to know how helpless they feel and how bad things have got.
Suicide is an expression of rage. It's the ultimate temper tantrum. It's one's way of having the last word, or of, in their minds, flipping God "the bird".
Maybe they believe they will be having the last word, but surely our belief is that God gives life and knows how long we will live, Psalms 139. I've known at least one person whose suicide attempt didn't work, and have read about others.
It's counterintuitive, and many can't wrap their heads around this, but people who are suicidal shouldn't be treated as victims and pitied, their sin should be confronted, and they should be encouraged to repent of their idolatry.
Sorry, you may know more about it than me, but I don't believe that to be true.
Tell a deeply depressed, suicidal person that they are sinful, selfish and committing idolatry and you may well tip them over the edge. Although if they don't believe in God, would they be bothered about idolatry?
This idolatry is not always easy to spot, but an example that's easy to see is a young lady who didn't get invited to the prom, at all, or by the wrong guy. Now she holds a bottle of sleeping pills in her hand. . .
Why does she want to kill herself? Because rather than finding her identity in Christ, she seeks to find it in the affection of a young man.
Woah, hold on!
Does this girl even know who Christ is, what he has done for her, that she is loved and adopted as a child of God and that her identity is in him? If not, you can't condemn her for not believing it. Even if she does know that, it's not wrong to want a partner, nor to feel let down when someone promises you something and then doesn't deliver.
Her "god" is the guy that sits in front of her in biology class. She worships him. She places her faith in him to "save"
Or she might have never known love, only approval and abuse. Or be from a home where feelings were not shown. This guy might have been the only person to take an interest in her, tell her she was beautiful and make her feel accepted - and he's just let her down.
Now, we might be quick to excuse her actions, and downplay her idolatry, but if we don't let our emotions rule us, we can see that what his young lady has done is to elevate a good thing, a date to the prom, to an ultimate thing, a place that only God can hold,
How do you know?
It's possible to believe in God and put him first but still be disappointed when someone lets you down.
Rather than conforming her life to God's commands, she conforms her every word and deed to her idol. She figuratively and literally serves her idol, and we have all done similarly. The problem is that idols never deliver on their promises. When you fail to serve them perfectly they kill you. There is no mercy. The guy in biology class went to the prom with the girl with thinner thighs and a bigger chest. . . Now she wants to kill herself because God didn't make her physically attractive enough to have her idol.
Well this is a hypothetical situation, but I still don't agree with your analysis of it. How do you know he didn't take someone else just to make her feel jealous, or to pay her back for some perceived argument. Or that it was all a misunderstanding - lack of communication - and he took someone else because he thought she didn't care?
There is nothing innocent about her suicide. It's sin through and through,
No, it's a tragedy; one that could maybe have been avoided.
Thank God the church no longer regards suicide as a sin.
The God who created all people and sent his Son to die for them, understands that sometimes people are ill, in despair and find the life they have to be unbearable. If the person who killed themselves did not know God, and had not experienced his love, mercy and grace, who has sinned - them, for not knowing something and killing themselves, or we for knowing it but not passing it on and trying to help the person out of their despair?
