To me, suicide is almost an unmentionable word because it’s such a horrible thing. It’s in the news now because of pastor Rick Warren’s son. We can’t ignore it because it does happen and because if we do ignore it, we could miss the signs of someone wanting to kill themselves and not intervene when we might have been able to help. They’re not thinking rationally–which I’ve experienced myself, as have many of you–and we may be able to help them to think more objectively.
At the same time, there are many people who live with a tremendous amount of guilt because they felt that they should have intervened and didn’t. The responsibility goes to the person who ended their life–and who probably hid the signs well–and not the person who felt they could have done something. People who are intent on going through with it aren’t going to let others know about it.
These two links contain a plethora of information. I know that I just posted a page with links on Dealing With Depression (and the last link is very good if you haven’t seen it), but I think it’s important enough to post more that I’ve recently found.
Depression & Suicide Articles, Devotionals & Current Events News at crosswalk.com
Suicide, Mental Illness, Depression, and the Church – Justin Taylor – covers it from all angles with all kinds of resources
Depression is something that affects me on a daily basis, and suffering is something written about here fairly often. For those who want to read more on that topic or if you know someone who does, and would like quotes, Scripture, reading material etc., you can see the old Suffering Christians blog, which has very organized Categories, and also go to the Suffering category here in the right column.
Also see:
- 7 Questions about Suicide and Christians | HeadHeartHand Blog
- Mental Illness & Suicide: The Church Awakes | HeadHeartHand Blog
- Pastoral Thoughts on Depression | HeadHeartHand Blog
- For those considering suicide . . . | Parchment and Pen
- My Take: How churches can respond to mental illness – CNN Belief Blog
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