Silent No More: A Christian Response To Suicide

Silent No More:

A Christian Response To Suicide

John Potter

Copyright © 2022 John Potter

All rights reserved.

ISBN: 979-8-9867194-0-5

Contents

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 2: SUICIDE

CHAPTER 3: SCRIPTURE

CHAPTER 4: SPIRITUAL PRACTICES

CHAPTER 5: CONGREGATIONS

CHAPTER 6: REFLECTION AND CONCLUSION

CONCLUSION

REFERENCES

APPENDIX

ENDNOTES

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

Suicide is a destructive force that continues to wreak havoc and calamity in our world. Its impact is felt around the entire globe. Over 800,000 people die by suicide each year, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) (2019). More people are dying from suicide than in all of the armed conflicts, wars, and natural disasters worldwide (Schlein 2014). While these numbers are alarming, suicidal behavior is even worse. For each reported suicide, there are more than twenty suicide attempts (WHO 2019). The United States of America is facing its own suicide crisis. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, suicide claimed the lives of 48,344 people in 2018 (Drapeau 2018, 1). American suicides are now at their highest point in fifty years, and they are now the second-leading cause of death for Americans under the age of thirty-five (Keller 2018). Any way one looks at it, suicide is a major issue that deserves our attention and effort to save people’s lives.

Individuals with suicidal thoughts often report feelings of being helpless, hopeless, and worthless (LivingWorks 2014, 7). They feel isolated and alone. They talk about being a burden to others. They often employ unhealthy coping mechanisms, like alcohol, drug use, or other risk-taking behaviors. They withdraw from friends and family because of the uncontrollable pain they experience. People at risk of suicide often see a future with endless days of pain, sadness, or suffering. This vision for the future looks nothing like the one they want or would enjoy. They consider suicide as the best way or the only way to escape the hurt of their current situation. Too many people see suicide as the answer to making their pain stop.

The problem of suicide is further exacerbated by the societal response. Suicide is still a hidden or taboo topic, making denial, secrecy, and avoidance common. This is problematic because denying or avoiding a person with thoughts of suicide can be just as deadly as an execution. There is often little willingness to engage the topic or the hurting people who hold thoughts of suicide. Others want to avoid any discussion of suicide because of the stigma and pain that surrounds the issue. There is also a growing attitude in our culture that does not want to address suicide because it is viewed as a private matter, one wherein suicide is considered a personal choice that may be right for the individual. This laissez-faire approach has only increased the acceptance and facilitation of suicide as an option for those who consider ending their own lives.

In Dying of Despair (2017), Aaron Kheriaty outlines a multitude of modern issues that increase despair. The retreat from marriage, the rise of broken relationships, greater isolation, the loss of social support, and declining religious participation can all be seen as overarching risk factors toward suicide. Kheriaty says that As a consequence of these changes, many Americans have ‘lost the narratives of their lives’ (23). Social fragmentation is also a key factor in suicide. Those who are disconnected are not seeking help, support, or care. People are more isolated and alone than prior generations, and levels of isolation and loneliness continue to rise. Since the 1980s, reported loneliness among adults in the United States increased from twenty percent to forty percent. The recently retired surgeon general announced last year that social isolation is a major public health crisis, on par with heart disease or cancer (22).

Conditions are ripe for Christian communities to engage this hurting population with compassion and concern. The grim statistics should wake congregations from their slumber and silence on suicide. Churches have not responded sufficiently with the biblical, theological, ethical, or congregational approach that people need. Our world desperately needs a Christian voice and perspective to combat suicide through the life, hope, and example of Jesus. Churches seem to take two approaches to suicide. The first is to regard suicide as an entirely secular issue that requires resources and support outside of the church. Terrain where the church once gave support, comfort, and community is yielded wholly to medical methods and scientific treatments. The perceived superiority of psychiatry, psychology, and pharmacology have displaced the church’s pastoral response and responsibility to care for hurting people in our communities. The second approach is to exclude medical, psychiatric, psychological, and therapeutic methods and treatments. Some churches, embracing a naïve Biblicism wherein scripture alone can resolve any and every illness, view medicine and science as unnecessary or inappropriate. Suicide is strictly a spiritual matter. This approach emphasizes a spiritual necessity and completely ignores the physical. Here, churches have developed a subtle Gnosticism as it relates to caring for people. They treasure the spiritual but consider the physical treatments of today to be an obstacle. This has led many to reject the physiological needs of depressed individuals and champion only spiritual health needs. A third approach is greatly needed, one that is integrative of scripture as well as the sciences. To address suicide, churches need to embrace the physical, mental, and spiritual aspects of our humanity.

In reality, churches should be the first place to address mental health and suicidal concerns in a community. Clergy act as pastoral counselors for millions of Americans. Christian beliefs are especially influential in the United States, with 70.6% of the country identifying as Christian (Cooperman, 2018). Indeed, according to the American Psychiatric Association Foundation (APAF), Religion and spirituality often play a vital role in healing, people experiencing mental health concerns often turn first to a faith leader (2016, 2). Clergy should be viewed as mental health workers on the front line of battle with suicide, because they help people combat suicide every day. The National Institute of Mental Health Epidemiological Catchment Area surveys, reported by Harold Koenig (1998), show that a person with a mental health diagnosis is more likely to seek assistance from clergy than from psychologists and psychiatrists combined. The frequent use of clergy should not be a surprise, given their availability, accessibility, and the high trust that Americans have in them (350). Clergy are in a good place for long-term relationships with individuals and their families. This enables them to observe changes in behavior that may indicate early signs of distress. Due to the high levels of trust and use, pastors and religious leaders can directly benefit communities that engage those with a mental health diagnosis. Clergy are also caring spiritual leaders who focus on humane and thoughtful treatment of others, as the APAF highlights:

They provide for the spiritual development and care of their congregations. Faith leaders encounter individuals with mental health conditions in a number of circumstances that require different approaches. They are always called to see the person rather than the illness first, and to understand their own religious assumptions regarding the role of the divine in their encounters with others. (2016, 15)

Clergy and congregations are perfectly positioned to engage this national crisis.

The church has something to offer hurting people who are prone to suicide. Studies repeatedly show that faith, religion, and spiritual practices are strong protective factors against suicide. People who have faith and practice their faith are less likely to end their life by suicide. They also have stronger coping skills and resiliency and show posttraumatic growth from past trials and difficulties. We now have a sizable body of research that suggests prayer, faith, participation in a religious community, and the practices of cultivating gratitude, forgiveness, and other virtues can reduce the risk of depression, lower the risk of suicide, diminish drug abuse, and aid in recovery (Koenig 1998, 24). Religion and spiritual practices need greater depth and exposure to unleash their powerful healing effects. These practices are able to help people today just as they have in days past. True hope cannot be delivered by a medical prescription or a therapy session. The church must unleash the story of Christ to bring healing and recovery.

Suicide is more than a public health threat; it is a cry for help. The sad, the lonely, and the suffering want something more than what they can find in this world. Jesus can speak to their needs. Loving and compassionate people are now required to stand in the gap and support those at risk of suicide. The Christian faith through scripture, spiritual practices, and congregational care can combat suicide. In addition to these aids, Christians believe that God directly works in and through their lives, providing needed comfort, encouragement, guidance, and strength. Just as Christians believe that God’s grace aids them for salvation, they believe that God’s Holy Spirit aids all who struggle with the prospect of suicide.

Medical and mental health providers seem ready to welcome religion and faith leaders back into a community approach where together they can address suicide. Churches, congregations, and clergy should continue to move in the same direction. Caretakers of the body, mind, and soul can make a huge difference, if they are willing to work together – and they should work together. An integrative approach is needed to combat suicide, bringing the most productive outcome for people who are struggling to stay alive. The church can reflect Jesus by resuming this role. I believe that it is up to the task of providing hope, love, and life in our society. If we will end our silence on suicide, then we can connect hurting people with the Savior and Redeemer of the world.

Mission Statement

This book will examine the role of scripture, spiritual practices, and local congregations as tools with which to address suicide. Although suicide involves multiple physiological, psychological, and cultural factors, Christians can provide holistic help to those at risk of suicide as a way of ministering to their needs.

Focus Questions

1) What factors reduce suicide?

2) What does scripture teach regarding suicide?

3) How have spiritual practices been used among people at risk of suicide?

4) What spiritual practices are most helpful against suicide?

5) How can local congregations support people at risk of suicide?

Methodology

The methodology for this book will incorporate multiple approaches. A textual approach will examine what scripture says about suicide. I will also examine the seven suicides listed in scripture and suicidal statements found in scripture. This is not a biblical studies project per se, but I consider historical and critical issues when they are applicable. Biblical commentaries and other scholarly references will be used to interpret key texts pertaining to suicide. Other Christian texts I will investigate include theological and ministry sources, especially those that contribute insights in aiding those who struggle with the prospect of suicide.

In addition, I will integrate behavioral scientific studies and research from several journals, papers, and articles on suicide. For example, quantitative and qualitative investigations reveal factors that impact suicide, resiliency, and post-traumatic growth.

Finally, a theoretical approach will offer constructive ways that the theological and empirical implications can address suicide. The integration of biblical and behavioral scientific data will help Christians become more empathetic, expert, and effective in how churches minister to those at risk of suicide.

Integration

Since this project will incorporate physiology, psychology, and theology, it is important to discuss how I integrate them. These are three separate and distinct disciplines, but each provides unique knowledge that is beneficial to address suicide. The knowledge of these three fields is important to all human beings because of how we are made. I suggest that scripture advocates an anthropology wherein humans exist in a unity of three parts or aspects.

Scripture describes us as a three-part being, each part affecting the others.[1] God has created humanity with the distinctness of a physical body, a mind, and a spirit (Deut. 6:4-5; Mark 12:30; Rom. 12:1-2; 1 Cor. 14:15; 2 Cor. 5:1-8; 1 Thes. 5:23).[2] Matthew Stanford (2008) concurs that We are complex beings, unlike any other living creature: the union of a physical body with an immaterial mind and spirit. While each aspect is separate, in some sense, they are connected and affect one another (5).[3] The body, mind, and spirit are important because God created us as a unity of these three parts. We exist in a physical body to interact with the world around us. The mind allows us to think, decide, and choose. It controls our actions, mental processes, and behaviors. The spirit is representative of our inmost being. People can be said to consist of the very breath of God placed in a dusty shell (Gen. 2:7). Again, we are not just a sack of cells but, rather, an inbreathed spirit of God’s own unique design. We are a living spirit, much more than a living body. The spirit signifies our true eternal essence and identity, not our outward tent of skin (2 Cor. 5:1). Stanford continues, It is in our spirit that we have the opportunity to be in union with the very God of the universe (Proverbs 20:27; Romans 8:16) (Stanford, 10). Be that as it may, people’s body – their physical, material self – is inextricably bound up with the whole of who they are. Just as God described the creation of people, including their body, as being good (Gen. 1), and just as people’s salvation includes the resurrection of their body (1 Cor. 15) along with everything else, people cannot be wholly understood by considering only one part of them. Stanford illustrates:

It is in our mind that we choose to sin (2 Corinthians 10:5); and it is with our body (Ephesians 2:3), or ‘members’ (Romans 7:23), that we act out our sinful thoughts. This process is altered only in the individual who comes to a saving faith in Christ Jesus, and even then, that believer continues to struggle with a sinfully programmed mind and body (Romans 7:14-25). (13-14)

The unity of our three aspects shows how they interact with each other. In Paul’s letter to the Colossians, he encourages them: Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth (3:2). We have freedom in where we set the mind. Paul declares that the people of God should practice a new way of living and thinking, one that focuses on the new and better way of Jesus. It is here where people can build their life upon the love and example of Jesus. We must practice taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ (2 Cor. 10:5). This allows people to concentrate on the better things of God and avoid common temptations. When we set our minds in a different direction from that of the world, we do not give the devil an opportunity (Eph. 4:27). If we resist wrong thinking, there is no foothold for temptation to establish within us. Paul tells the Roman church to be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect (Rom. 12:2). The renewed mind helps people to live in a better way, the righteous way of Jesus. Scripture advocates a body, mind, and spirit approach for us to follow. All three aspects of the self are connected and require our attention in pursuing wellness.

Figure 1 represents the three-part being of humanity, without denying the holistic nature of who