Free Republic

It's like a total bummer that the nextgen has no wordage skills at all man....
All kidding aside my daughter reads alot and has an extensive vocab for a 13 yr old and has told me on more than one occasion that she has had to explain the meanings of the words she using to her friends(public school victims)

she thinks its funny - I think it's sad!

from CHRISTIAN APOLOGETICS & RESEARCH MINISTRY www.carm.org

I thought this article might answer some questions posed.

If a Christian Commits Suicide,
Is He Still Forgiven?

This might seem like a perplexing question, but it does have an answer. Though the Christian who has committed suicide has committed a grave sin, he is still forgiven. But, in order to understand why a Christian who commits suicide is forgiven, we first need to understand what salvation is and what it is based upon.
Salvation is the state of being saved from God’s judgment upon the sinner. The only way to be saved is to trust Jesus for the forgiveness of one’s sins (John 14:6, Acts 4:12). All who do not trust Jesus alone, by faith (Rom. 5:1; Rom. 6:23; Eph. 2:8-9) are not forgiven and go to hell when they die (Matt. 25:46; John 3:18). When Jesus forgives someone, He forgives all their sins and gives them eternal life and they shall never perish (John 10:28). He does not give them temporary eternal life — otherwise, it would not be eternal.
Salvation is not based upon what you do. In other words, you don’t have to obey any Law of God in order to become saved. This is because no one is saved by keeping the Law of God (Gal. 2:21; Rom. 3:24-28). But that does not mean that you can go and sin all you want. Rom. 6:1-3 expressly condemns such action. Instead, we are saved for the purpose of purity (1 Thess. 4:7). Our salvation is strictly by God’s: “By grace through faith you have been saved…” (Eph. 2:8). Other than acting by faith in trusting and accepting what Jesus did on the cross, you don’t do a thing (John 1:12-3) in order to become saved. Since you did not get your salvation by what you did, you can not lose it by what you do.
What about the unforgivable sin? Is that suicide? No. Suicide is not the unforgivable sin. Jesus spoke of the unforgivable sin in Matt. 12:22-32. The context is when the Pharisees accused Jesus of casting out demons by the power of the devil. Therefore, suicide is not the unforgivable sin.

Is repentance necessary for salvation?

This is a good question and the answer is yes — and no. Now, before you throw stones, hear me out. Repentance is a necessary result of the saving work of God, not the cause of salvation. If repentance brought salvation, then salvation is by works; or rather, the ceasing of bad works. That isn’t how it works. God grants repentance to the Christian (2 Tim. 2:25). The Christian then turns from his sin; that is, he stops sinning. He is able to repent because he is saved, not to get saved.
In 1 John 1:9 it says, “If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Confession of sin and its natural result of repentance are necessary elements of the Christian’s life. But, what about the sins that we do not know we commit? If we do not confess them and do not repent of them, are we still saved? Of course we are! Otherwise, we would be forced to confess and repent of every single sin we ever commit. In effect, we’d be back under the Law, living by a rule of absolute repentance of every detail lest you be damned. This is bondage, not freedom. Jesus said His yoke was light, not hard (Matt. 11:27-30.
So, repentance is not the cause of salvation, but it is a result of salvation. The believer repents from his sins upon trusting in Christ and thereafter, continues to repent of further sins that the Lord reveals to him.

Back to the suicide issue.

Suicide is, in effect, self-murder. The unfortunate thing about it is that the one who commits it cannot repent of it. The damage is permanently done. We can see in the Bible that murderers have been redeemed (Moses, David, etc.), but they had opportunities to confess their sins and repent. With suicide, the person does not. But that does not mean the person is lost. Jesus bore all that person’s sins, including suicide. If Jesus bore that person’s sins on the cross 2000 years ago, and if suicide was not covered, then the Christian was never saved in the first place and the one sin of suicide is able to undo the entire work of the cross of Christ. This cannot be. Jesus either saves completely or he does not.

Is suicide always wrong?

That I cannot answer because I cannot list every possible situation. But, it seems obvious that suicide is clearly wrong, though forgivable. However, there are general categories of suicide that we could briefly comment on:

Medically Assisted Suicide - I’ve never seen this as being acceptable. The doctor is supposed to save life, not destroy it. But, lately as destroying the lives of the unborn is more common place, destroying the lives of the sick has become the next logical step.
Suicide to prevent prolonged torture - Let’s say that someone was being tortured in an excruciating manner for an unbearably long period of time, is suicide an option? Perhaps. But if it were in this situation, why wouldn’t it be all right in the medically assisted context if the patient were also in excruciating pain for long periods of time? Quite honestly, I’m not sure how to answer that one.
Suicide due to depression - Of course, this is never a good reason for suicide. Seasons pass and so does depression. The one who is depressed needs to look to Jesus and get help. Depression is real and powerful and is best fought with help. Also, severe depression robs the mind of clear thinking. People in such states are in a real way, not in their right mind.
Suicide due to a chemical imbalance in the brain - The human brain is incredibly complex and the medical community is full of accounts of extraordinary behaviors by people whose “circuits got crossed.” I don’t see how a situation like this would make it justifiable. I think it simply would make it more explainable.
Accidental suicide - Sometimes people accidentally kill themselves. This could mean leaning over a balcony too far and falling to one’s death, or actually, purposefully taking a stupid risk like playing with a gun. Of course, with either, stupidity does not remove us from the grace of God. But then again, if it was an accident, it wouldn’t be suicide would it?

Conclusion

Is the Christian forgiven for suicide? Yes. But suicide is not an option. We do not have the right to take our own lives. That belongs to God.

I use dogpile now ever since the google/china thing....

I have heard about myspace.com and it is not a site you want your child frequenting. Lots of problems due to kids posting personal info and pics etc...
it's a pedophile's dream site.
However this is a job for the parents not the school.

Um, I have to beg to differ...
I went to an all girl private catholic high school
and am no worse for it.
I don't have a probelm with Co-Ed classes like
math science etc...
but I would draw the line at PE

prayers for you and your wife.

Yes I know what you mean...
Do you remember high school dances??
Where the guys would hang out on one side of the gym
and girls on the the other side!

I was just surprised to read that the PE class was Co-Ed.
It never was when I was in school - but then I'm probably
dating myself :)

yes, it is a sad day for the pro murder groups...
but what I'm confused about is why everyone
thinks Roe V Wade will be overturned?
I'm mean that would be great....
but I don't see how it can be done.

you beat me to it....
that's exactly what I thought
why not just give them up for adoption

Looks like we will all have to wait for the dust to settle on this one.
I can't believe an air marshal would just fire on someone whom they did not believe to be a legitimate threat....
I have been waiting for the media to jump on this and condemn the air marshals.
I just hope we find out the real truth in all of this
and its tragic that the terrorist have made this our reality....damned if we do damned if we don't....

Not so Fast what do they mean
"would explore intelligent design as a modern American mythology"
doesn't sound like they plan to take it very seriously...
I wouldn't get excited about this at this point.

I meant of course anyone of our intellectual elite
hairbrained college professors etc......

This would not have been a problem for anyone if it was
derogatory of conservatives or the president.

Man - this article is so condescending.....
Like the rest of world would have handled it so
much better.... NOT
They usually sit on their hands until the
USA tells them what to do.

you and your kind are the scum of the earth

What! :)
I had to eat a few last year between
Hurricanes Frances and Jeanine
They have everything you need and a chemical
reaction is used to heat the food product.
Now not 5 star by any means but I've had
worse tasting frozen dinners!

Actually last night I watched a news crew that
was moving about in the ciy via boat stop
and help out a young man - he was just sitting
on a wall - he was so sunburned - poor kid
anyway they picked him up and took him a safer
locale.
However I also watched a reported act like a complete
jerk to a NO Cop - who look so overwelmed and the
reported just kept at him with questions that any idiot
would know that he would not have answers for....
The cop just ignored him.

The ACLU makes me sick......

I never said we need to send them all our money which
is why the UN hates the abstinence program...
really how money does it cost not have sex..
when you as a UN official can skim $$ of the top
of donations that are supposedly used to buy
condoms and for "education" programs.
I can feel sorry for the people of those countries
without feeling the need to feed into the problems
that have caused their current situation