• For two years spiritual leaders across the island have been sharing insights on their faith by submitting weekly contributions to “Spiritual Leaders Answer.” The column posits a topic inviting response based on their doctrine’s perspective. “Spiritual Leaders Answer” appears on the Religion page in the Lifestyle section Fridays. Today, select contributors respond to the subject of suicide.
Rev. Dr. James Fung, Lihu‘e Christian Church
I’ve talked with a couple of people who subsequently committed suicide. On each of those occasions I’ve wondered if I could have done something different, perhaps prayed more compassionately, extended a more effective lifeline. In both of these situations they were under the care of a doctor. They had people in their lives who cared about them. But still their life was apparently too unbearably lonely, futile and painful for them to go on and to try a different option to their predicament.
How blessed are those who, even in their misery, can call upon God and share the pain and emptiness, the sorrow and their despair with God. I think of the Psalmist who cries out in the darkness of his troubled soul: “My God, my God why hast thou forsaken me? (Psalm 22:1). Everything had gone wrong. Depression weighed heavily upon him. He felt all alone in an uncaring world. And the future seemed as bleak as the present.
He utters his sorrow in the form of a prayer. And that is the key to having a light begin to shine in the darkness of the weary heart of one whose heart hangs heavy in sorrow.
God not only has compassion for those in despair, God wants them to come to him with their burden and share it with Him. And God wants us to know that we are never condemned for being sorrowful even to the point of taking our lives.
The Bible tells us that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, not even death itself (Romans 8: 38-39).
Pastor Wayne Patton, Anahola Baptist Church
From the depths of a concentration camp, Betsie Ten Boom said: “There is no pit so deep that He [God] is not deeper still.”
Suffering is God’s invitation to look to Jesus and look forward to Heaven. God calls us to “endure hardship… like a good soldier of Christ Jesus (2 Timothy 2:3). Suicide is to take one’s own life and to go absent without leave. The answer to the problem of suicide is a person: Jesus. When the purpose of life cannot be grasped, trust God. When life does not seem worth living, value the life God has given.
“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit” (Psalm 34:18).
Hurting people need help from trustworthy people who will help them through dark times (Philippians 2:3-4). Helen Keller, blind and deaf since childhood, wrote, “Although the world is full of suffering it is also full of the overcoming of it. Believe, when you are most unhappy, that there is something for you to do in the world. So long as you can sweeten another’s pain, life is not in vain.”
The Baha’is of Kaua‘i
One of the purposes of life is to develop spiritually. To end one’s life before the unfolding of one’s full potential would, therefore, hinder the soul’s progress. God is the creator of life and He alone determines when the soul is ready to move to the next plane of existence.
Life is never stagnant. During times of sorrow or grief, life may feel unbearable and thoughts of suicide as a means of escape may seem the only way out. We are counseled to turn to God and pray for assistance.
The following Baha’i writings provide comfort and assurance:
“Grieve not, for I am thy true, thy unfailing comforter. Let neither despondency nor despair becloud the serenity of thy life or restrain thy freedom.”
“O God! Refresh and gladden my spirit. Purify my heart. Illumine my powers. I lay all my affairs in Thy hand. Thou art my guide and my refuge. I will no longer be sorrowful and grieved; I will be a happy and joyful being… I will not dwell on the unpleasant things of life. O God! Thou art more friend to me than I am to myself. I dedicate myself to Thee, O Lord.”
