RM20,000 (USD 5,263.02) doesn’t seem like much money these days. Surely one doesn’t take ones’ life because of a debt of that amount. Yet it was reported on the front page of the Malaysian STAR yesterday that two women jumped to their deaths from the 17th floor of their condominium because they couldn’t repay a debt of RM20,000.
Of course the RM20,000 could have being merely the tip of the iceberg. Their accumulative debts could have been much more since it was believed that the two had massive gambling debts.
Still, one can’t help but wonder as to what sort of despair would drive two people to take their lives in such a horrible way.
The painful fact is the two women were hardly alone. It is reported that about 500,000 people take their own lives yearly.The actual numbers must be much, much higher since many suicides are not reported and some countries do not keep proper records. We have not even begin to compute the numbers of those who attempt suicide and fail.
The Christian community is not spared. A number of those who take their own lives yearly are followers of Jesus Christ. However, suicide in the church is even harder to accept for a number of reasons – the shame involved, uncertainty as to whether suicide is a forgivable sin, guilt as to whether the church could have done more etc., etc.
Hence suicide is hardly discussed in the church, and when one happens, the tragedy is quickly shrouded by a conspiracy of silence and ready answers.
Why do people take their own lives? The motives for suicide are complex and varied. They include:
- avoidance of shame
- avoidance of physical and/or emotional pain as in cases of chronic painful terminal illnesses
- revenge
- desire for oblivion
- loss of a reason for living
It is also very possible that the Destroyer/Accuser will sometimes add his own destructive influence on top of pre-existing human misery.
It is interesting however, that the Bible has no word for suicide. It does record a few famous cases like Saul (1 Sa. 31:4-5) and Judas Iscariot (Mt. 27:5). The church fathers understood that suicide was an act of murder against oneself and therefore a violation of the sixth commandment.
Suicide is sin but to claim that it is an unforgivable sin would be a human limitation on divine grace. After all it is only the sin against the Holy Spirit that is said to be unforgivable (Mt. 12:32).
Is there anyway we can prevent suicide? Since the motives for suicide are many there may be no panacea that would stave off this desperate act.
However if we continue to place the foundational events of Good Friday and Easter before us, we should find the hope we need to fight off any temptation to take one’s own life.
If and when our lives take on the grey of Good Friday or even the black of Holy Saturday, we must remember that there is an Easter Sunday up ahead. It is this hope that will see us through the darkness and give us the inner stamina to go on.
We join Peter in praising God for this hope:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead… (1 Pet. 1:3 NRSV)
We live in a day and age where hope is a rare commodity. The more that humankind trusts in their own cleverness the less they will hope in God. As a result, “hopelessness, anxiety, pessimism, discouragement, dread, and despair are epidemic in our era” (D.W. Gill).
The church must be a community of hope if we are to be in any position to save souls in todays world.
Unfortunately, more and more churches are becoming more concerned to chase measurable ministry goals. As a result, they spend less and less time in helping their members grow in “faith, HOPE and love”.
If we want to be used by God to save the souls that are drowning in despair all around us, we must be securely anchored in the hope that we have in Christ.
Indeed, at the end of the day, we may find that the life we save is our own.