The Evangelical Universalist Forum

Suicide and Christian Universalism

it goes without saying that the likes of suicide bombers are on the opposite end of the spectrum for me ! that being said I once posted a vid. on facebook of a young ‘‘Palestinian’’ [there’s a modern myth] who was on the Israeli boarder with a vest full of tnt
I remember looking at the intensity of his anguish it was almost unbearable and feeling for him [not the evil men who sent him and had brainwashed him all his life ] the look almost said ‘‘what the heck I live in a world of horror and pain I may as well end it all’’

What’s the modern myth?

‘‘palestine’’ it doesn’t exist

That is true – but then, there does remain some part of it? The West Bank and the Gaza strip are still mostly Palestinian :cry:

modern myths are so dull.
back in the olden times, they had PROPER myths, with pegasi, dragons, giants, centaurs and mermaids!

like button !

I hate to burst your bubble we are all brothers but those who call them selves ‘‘Palestinians’’ did so after a certain period of time to advance ‘‘the cause’’ [the total destruction of Israel] they are mostly Jordanians and other Arabs who moved there from neighbouring Arab countries

Oh, I see where this is going :wink: Zionism is profoundly biblical and thoroughly Christian, huh? … I imagine that we’re going to disagree on this discussion, so let’s not hijack this thread :wink:

Yes please don’t have an Israel vs Palestine debate here, as I don’t think it would be edifying to anyone.

I dont know my brothers and sisters, but I am going through a painful torment at this moment. My wife who is also a christian who believes in universal salvation told me last Saturday that she lost her love for me as her husband. We are still together because we have a 3 year old beautiful boy. She says she still loves me as a spritual brothert, but cannot find a love for me as her husband. I do not blame her, as I have been pretty hard on her for the last six months due to worldly problems and work. To say I have not thought about suicide would be a lie. I have, as the pain I feel inside is too much to bear. I know God hears my prayers, I put all my hope in Him to help our marriage. God be with you all.

I am so sorry to hear this brother. I will pray for you right now, and will endeavour to keep you both (and your son) in my prayer. Yes, be assured that God does answer our petitions in due time. I have seen two seemingly hopeless marriages restored by fervent prayer just this year – one of these just this last week. May God grant you the strength you need.

Sword,
You have my prayers! I am convinced that God will bring reconciliation of all – to Himself and to each other.

Sonia

Thank you for your prayers, and thank you for not judging me. I already feel the strength from God and His assurance and faith in me. Some would say that suicide is a cowards way out. Let me assure you, it is not. I have been on this road before, and with God’s help, He has pulled me through everytime. Again thank you and God be with you all.

Thank you for your prayers, and thank you for not judging me. I already feel the strength from God and His assurance and faith in me. Some would say that suicide is a cowards way out. Let me assure you, it is not. I have been on this road before, and with God’s help, He has pulled me through everytime. Again thank you and God be with you all.

Also praying for you Sword.

I am sorry to hear of this. I will pray for you and your family.

sorry to hear this ‘‘sword’’ I shall pray for you also , may I ask if she is open to patching things up [so to speak ?] would she be willing to go and get some counselling ? please don’t end your life ! ,thank-you for your brutal honesty.

Brother, I will not take my life as it is a presciouse gift given to me to know Him more. Because of all your prayers, my wife and I are still together and are building our relationship with God and our own marriage as well. Thank you all again for your prayers. May God be with you all always.

I am new here and have not introduced myself before this thread. I am Phillip in AZ and have been a lost prodigal for years trying to find my way back. I find CU to be hopeful compered to my believe right/work behave past. I just lost my mind at about 26 and am now in lifes darkest times at a56. I am daily suicidal from 2 back surgeries and 24/7 pain, recently lost my Mom/only relative, alone, and lost career. I just don’t want to be here at least in a human way anymore . I am only here now because I am afraid of hell if I take my life. I try to focus on loving God but my brain only feels this pain in my soul and body. I would rather be in the light of God. I don’t know how long I can hang on. appetite is going, caring for daily needs gets harder, lost friends, no physical activity (2 years ago I swam, danced, biked, worked etc, all gone now). I don’t sleep and pills are my primary supplements. Anyway, I hope if I go that God, because of his death on the cross will remember what pain was like and that even he could not endure it for too long. I have been at this 2 .5 years now and am almost done. Drs now are recommending a 3rd procedure to correct the last botch job the MD did. what a mess. I am so tired of people who say we don’t have a right to choose when we go. It seems God/life/nature can choose to beat us up all it wants but if we choose to leave then “we” are the ones with the problem. A lot like the idea of when good things happen we are blessed by god but when bad happens its “nature” or “just the way it is”, or my favorite “it is what it is”. Thanks for listening.

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Sorry to hear about your problems, Priegel. I should note that this is an old thread where the originator of the thread asked for all his or her posts to be deleted (or manually did so), and consequently there are parts missing for context.

I suppose in a way that’s an analogy for suicide, too: parts will be missing in the life of other people for context. :slight_smile:

I’m not as hard against suicide or even euthanasia as some other people are, but I’m very sensitive to people thinking I (or the forum or universalists generally) am giving people permission to commit suicide or otherwise persuading them to do so. So let me be clear: I’m not doing that.

But as long as they aren’t dodging out of personal responsibilities in this life by doing so, neither do I condemn other people for doing so. I know pain drives people crazy and can easily erode our will to live.

But what we need is more life, not more death, in our lives. I hope you’ll strive for that instead and keep doing so.

Phillip, welcome.

About 20 years ago I spent several hours over the course of several days in the company of a Jewish pain-management physician. (I wish I could remember his name.) In other words, his medical specialty is managing pain. He was quite angry at the state of pain management in the United States. He said he couldn’t count the number of poor sufferers that he encountered who had gone through months or even years of unnecessary suffering–all because of the incompetence of the ones supposedly caring for them. He said that in all his years of practice he had never, not even once, encountered a case that he couldn’t fix. Every single one of his patients either had his pain eliminated or reduced to an amount for which the patient said, “I can live a happy and meaningful life with this amount of pain.” He said the spectre of unmanageable pain is a tale told by incompetents in the medical field or by people eager to kill.

Let me hasten to add that this physician did not present himself as some sort of miracle-worker or as some sort of fringe figure with knowledge and techniques known only to him. No. He said that any properly-trained pain-management physician can get any pain under control. The problem is that most hospitals do not think it is very important to manage pain. Doing so is way down on their list of priorities. The “pain management” that sufferers receive is conducted by someone who has not specialized in the field, but rather took a single one-semester class in medical school 15 years ago in order to fill-up his required credit hours. These Dr. Bozos then incompetently treat pain, and then say or imply that that’s as good as modern medicine gets.

My physician acquaintance further emphasized that (wonder of wonders!) people with untreated pain tend to get depressed and suicidal. He got so angry with those voices who say that the answer to these suffering, depressed, and suicidal people is to kill them. (“Those are my patients they’re wanting to kill!”) No. The answer is to get their pain under control, which typically ends the depression and suicidal thoughts. (And in those minority of cases in which depression and suicidal thoughts persist, competent counselling [not capital punishment] is indicated.)

Since my physician acquaintance spent years studying pain management and further years managing pain, I can only accept what he says on authority. Who would better know about pain management than someone who has spent a lifetime studying it and applying it?

I write all of this to give you heart. If you are in unmanaged pain, then you are in the care of incompetents. You have not reached the limit of modern medicine. You have instead met the Peter Principle personified. I hope and pray you can get the care you need from a competent pain management specialist.