Posted on 04/06/2013 1:57:54 PM PDT by Last of the Mohicans
LAKE FOREST (CBSLA.com) — Pastor Rick and Kay Warren’s youngest son, Matthew, has committed suicide, Saddleback Valley Community Church announced Saturday.
The evangelical megachurch announced the death of the 27-year-old in a statement.
Described as “an incredibly kind, gentle and compassionate young man whose sweet spirit was encouragement and comfort to many,” the statement said Matthew suffered from mental illness that resulted in deep depression and suicidal thoughts. He died Friday night.
(Excerpt) Read more at losangeles.cbslocal.com ...
Are you saying this out of Christian love? Maybe I’ve misunderstood you, because you’re coming across like an a$$hole. Is there such a thing as a Christian a$$hole? A loving a$$hole?
Are you familiar with the very listenable jazz pianist Bill Evans? A fabulous, genius player, mostly trio work with bass and drums, brilliant, classical music of improvisation. For me, as a woman, having too many Bill Evans CDs is like having too many pairs of shoes: neither possible nor sensible! The music is always good, always positive, always engaging, always as complex as any other classical music. (Evans was educated in classical music.) Except it happens to be jazz. He died at the age of 51 of heroin addiction. One of his jazz fellows described his death as "the world's longest suicide."
I don't know. My late, wonderful father assured me that none of us are going to get out of this alive.
Suicide is between the person's soul and Jesus. Seems to me it's better to focus on one's own relationship with The Man than pronounce that some other schlub is going to burn in eternal hell for snubbing the Almighty with suicide. I can only hope not because we're all weak, and hence I pray for the guy who committed suicide, that Jesus got to him before the end.
And prayers are needed for a nation of moral, God-fearing people pressured to fund on-demand abortion with their labor (money) in the name of national health care. Talk about slow suicide.
Oh, man. Deepest sympathies, and prayers. Amen.
Terrible tragedy, yes.
As far as selfish goes, most of what people do is selfish in one way or another.
If you got married, had kids, contributed to a political candidate, go to church every Sunday, give to the poor... if you look deep enough, there's a selfish reason of one kind or another.
A healthy life, in fact, is built on a healthy degree of "selfishness."
Suicide is an effort to escape pain. People who are suicidal just want their pain to stop. They have decided that there's no pain killer on earth that will stop the pain, and the only recourse for stopping the pain is death.
So yes, they're probably thinking about themselves and not so much about other people. But it's hard to think about other people's feelings and needs when your hand is on a red-hot burner.
Jesus didn’t sugarcoat it with false teachers.
You ain’t Jesus friend.
I’m not a jazz fan, but after reading your post I’ll have to check out Bill Evans. Thank goodness for Spotify.
Your point about slow suicide taken. It doesn’t really require heroin addiction, depression and abandonment will do just fine (probably in reverse order.) Those who do it the quick method don’t deserve our condemnation. It is not they who are “selfish” (as if the dead could be selfish!), it is we, poor things (selfish), who blame the suicides for hurting our precious feelings, when it was ultimately we who failed them!
What you say is the absolute truth.
My life was deeply impacted by suicide and forgiveness was a long and torturous road.
At some point, in some people’s lives...the pain out weighs all else.
Several things about medications. First of all the source of the depression needs to be investigated as deep as possible and that included an extensive medical history work up as well as an extensive physical. Depression and Anxiety both can also be caused by numerous physical or neurological issues that antidepressants can actually make worse.
The person that commits suicide never says it's a selfish thing to do, at least none that I know about.
The U.S. government/taxes, the medical establishment, and the family that has to pay the funeral bills etc. might say it's a selfish act under their breath. Other then that I don't see it as a selfish act, I think that is something our medical establishment has come up with so they can keep seeing you and selling you the happy pills.
As for the rest, well said! Except I don't think "we" failed anyone who commits suicide, slow or fast -- that person failed him/herself AND God, and may God have mercy on his/her soul.
Thanks for the Prayers, May God bless you and your family.
Certainly not, but a Christian must be discerning about false teachers. Doesn’t mean I don’t feel bad for his loss.
>>so what’s going on when a child of God loses that hope?
No one can truly know, but I’d like to think that it’s part of God’s plan for our journey. I think there is a lesson in everything, both for the person experiencing it and for those who observe.
I know that going through hellish experiences gives a person compassion and understanding for others who are in difficulty. It also helps a person focus on what’s important and what’s not. Maybe a person who is driven to suicide has a last conscious moment of understanding and repentance, forgiveness for others and forgiveness from God, before his final breath. I pray that is true.
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