Teenage Suicide - From a Christian Perspective

Unfortunately, the reality of the society we live in sees that teenagers are increasingly taking their own lives. In fact, statistics show that an average of 500,000 teenagers will attempt suicide each year. Of that 500,000, about 500 will actually be able to take their own lives. However, this is a scary statistic that we have so many failed attempts, all of them being very serious. I think people simply do not understand God's perspective on suicide. After all, the bible doesn't actually use the term suicide, and it doesn't really say not to commit suicide, right? Wrong!

First off, I think it is important to realize some of the biggest changes we are seeing in society that may be making the difference between teenagers of fifty years ago and those of today. Generally speaking, I think one of the biggest problems we are seeing is the lack of involvement the parents have with their children. I am certainly not saying that it has to be like fifty years ago where the mothers were expected to stay home with the children. However, today, we eat our meals in separate rooms, the children are away from the household for the majority of the day, and generally, a lot of people have other people raising their children for them. This lack of involvement often leads teenagers into believing that others do not care about them and that they are better off being forever separated from their parents and those who love them. In addition, addictions play a big role, and many of today's teenagers that are struggling with an addiction, unfortunately never seek addiction help. Caught up in the vicious cycle of either a drug addiction, or alcohol addiction, many of these struggling teens feel there is little or no way out.

But you know what, as bad as that may sound, the biggest fear I have for any teenager who is enduring that feeling is the fear that they could potentially spend eternity separated from God. This would be the worst case scenario that they would never have the opportunity to understand the saving grace that God freely offers everyone. Perhaps they simply do not have the understanding of how much God cares for them. So what does the bible say on suicide?

Obviously there are a couple of places where we see people take their lives. Saul and Judas are the two that really come to mind. However, I don't think anyone ever really takes a few minutes to think about the Ten Commandments. We all strive to live by them (and all of us fail at it according to Romans 3). What do you think God meant when he said "Thou shalt not kill"? In my personal opinion, I think God was thinking about how much he values human life that he had given. His desire was that we wouldn't feel compelled to take human life and we should leave that up to God. Therefore, this would include suicide. Ezekiel 18:4 reaffirms this as well. God directly says that we have souls and those souls belong to him and him only. Therefore, at what point do we ever have the authority to take any human life, including our own? The answer is that we don't.

Many of today's teenagers are struggling not only with life issues, but addictions that have never been confronted.
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