We all have hard times, and I know that lately some readers have been struggling.
I offer this as a gentle way to start your day. Enjoy.
-
Recent Comments
- The Lord Ben Chung on I Am Thirsty Ministries co-founder, former administrator for Afshin Javid speaks out
- The Lord Ben Chung on I Am Thirsty Ministries co-founder, former administrator for Afshin Javid speaks out
- Bene D on The truth about Afshin Javid
- brano on I Am Thirsty Ministries co-founder, former administrator for Afshin Javid speaks out
- thom on I Am Thirsty Ministries co-founder, former administrator for Afshin Javid speaks out
About
“We Canadians live in a blind spot about our identity. We have very strong feelings about who we aren’t but only weak ones about who we are. We’re passionate about what we don’t want to become but oddly passive about MoreArchives
Blogroll
- 42
- Bartholomew’s Notes on Religion
- Bourque Newswatch
- Call Me Ishmael
- Canadian Liberal Party blogs
- Christian Nightmares
- connexions
- DashHouse.com
- David Hayward
- Dennis Gruending Pulpit and Poltics
- Dr. Dawg
- Dr. John Stackhouse
- Global Voices Online
- God's Politics
- GraceWorks
- Impolitical
- Jordon Cooper
- Mark Byron
- National Newswatch
- Of Course I Could be Wrong – The Mad Priest
- Religion Dispatches
- Religion News Blog
- Religious Right Alert
- slacktivist
- SoConblogs
- Spiritual Misfit
- Talk to Action
- The Amish Jihadist
- The Blogging Tories
- The Galloping Beaver
- The Revealer
- The Writing on the Wall
- Thinking Out Loud
- Those Emergency Blues
- Topix
- Trans/Missions
- Wanderings of a Post-Modern Pilgrim
-
-
-
For blog design, Wordpress themes or blog help, see cre8d design.
good on ya…..
life soon to return to noRmAl maybe
behind in yak….. will catch up need coffee talk
“In the beginning the word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
Thank you Bene D and Godbless.
Sean here. Trying a little experiment with a different e-mail address to see if the same side icon shows up.
Sorry to waste comment space on the icon experiment above.
Regarding the post: It is indeed a great song and great reminder.
Thanks BD and thanks be to Him! He has found a way for me through so many messes. Life is great because of His love for us.
Thanks again!
Thank you so much for this. I was feeling extremely suicidal today. Usually I’m doing very well but some days I really suffer emotionally (hard story). I was really discouraged and looking for a way to end it all, after I saw this post I know God is talking to me.
Karamba: I’ve been there. In hindsight He never left me, never stopped brooding over me, and sent someone or something to help me get through just for each day and time, even when I couldn’t see.
Emotional pain is so difficult for others and for ourselves to understand and walk through. I pray you have tenacious friends with good listening skills, compassionate medical care and that you are given the strength to be fiercely kind to yourself in your pain.
He is awake.
Hi Sean:
I put the icons in because I had two commenters at each other’s throats. Little monsters seemed appropriate and Word Press offers them in the template package.;^) I think the little guys are randomly generated.
I think you can make your own gravatar which Word Press recognizes by your IP.
Try here: http://en.gravatar.com/
Bill: Coffee and a yak sounds like a plan.
Hi BD,
I make comments on another blog which changed icons to the same set that you are using. It was interesting that it gave me the identical one as here. I wondered if it was assigned by IP address or e-mail address. Using the different e-mail address here gave me a different icon.
Nice distraction.
I think the current character is a nice likeness. Thanks.
“Count [lead the way, lead before the mind,] it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete [mature, full grown], lacking in nothing.” James 1:2
Who would have thought we could win the battle with joy? : )
Karamba (or anyone else suicidal)
I was suicidal too at one point in my life but after I got saved and realized what Christ did for me on the Cross, it altered my perspective on everything and the enemy could no longer tempt me in that direction.
I’m so glad I didn’t do it because the quality of my life has increased over the years in countless ways, plus I would have missed out on seeing my neices and nephews born and grow into the beautiful children and teens they are (and too many other reasons to mention).
When you suddenly realize that you have an eternal soul living inside your body that will live on forever in either heaven or hell when you die, suicide no longer becomes an option or solution to anything.
To quote a well known phrase, suicide is a permanent answer to a temporary problem and instead of escaping it all, you will face it all (in hell) with no way of ever getting out. You will be eternally separated from God in thick darkness and ultimately the lake of fire. That alone is reason enough NEVER to do it, much less the impact it would have on your family, friends, co-workers and anyone else that was near and dear to you (or you to them), as it’s a very selfish act when you think about it.
The Lord didn’t promise us a bed of roses in this life (everyone faces challenges at some point, be it medical, financial, difficult people, etc) but everything we suffer here, will pale with the splendor that will greet us in Paradise some day IF we endure to the end (notice the qualifying word IF—meaning you CAN lose your salvation if you deliberately, willfully and continuously choose to disobey Scripture) and just the thought of seeing Jesus face to face some day is enough to personally keep me going if I can find no other concreate reason.
When faced with a challenge, I now pray and ask for God’s help through His Son Jesus, which is a wiser and braver strategy than taking the cowardly route and giving up. Even if He doesn’t necessarily answer my prayers the way I’d like each time, upon reflection, it was often to my benefit that he didn’t (to quote the famous line”Be careful what you pray for because you just might get it”).
Other times, the answers come later and the Lord had to wait for a certain set of circumstances or people to cross my pathway before HE could answer a particular prayer.
In any case, whenever faced with a challenge, just think about the Cross and how Jesus suffered for 6 agonizing hours (slowly suffocating to death–not to mention the nails piercing his hands, feet and side) to redeem your soul from hell. If you committed suicide, it would cause everything he endured on Calvary to be in vain. His entire birth, death and resurrection would have been for nothing, yet he would have endured it all even if for the likes of you because He is no respecter of persons.
He’s the best friend you will ever have, promises to stick closer than a brother, will never betray a confidence, doesn’t charge money for advice or miracles (contrary to what some tv evangelists teach) and offers eternal life in Paradise at the end of the journey. Sounds like a pretty good deal to me.
The Bible says that life is like a vapour (in other words, before you know it, it’s over) and that 70 or 80 years is all we are we’re promised, so we only have a short time in this world to begin with before eternity strikes. None of us are promised a tomorrow, nor unlimited chances to get saved (”the spirit of God will not always strive with us”) so accept Christ and serve Him while you can because tomorrow may be too late.
Dr. Scott Johnson (see Contending For Truth. Com) mentions accounts of people who put off getting saved until their death bed and once there, wanted to get saved but COULDN’T because the Holy Spirit was no longer there to draw them (”No man comes to the father unless the Spirit draws him”), so it’s dangerous to put off getting saved because we are only given so many chances and then the Holy Spirit will withdraw his presence from us permanently.
@Jackie V
just wondering where the idea that suicide automatically sends you to hell comes from.
Huh?
“no MURDERER has eternal life.” Look it up. NB Judas was both accomplice to the murder of Christ, and to himself.
Psa. 116:4 Then called I upon the name of the LORD; O LORD, I beseech thee, deliver my soul.”
Yes God will make a way – been having the worst week + ever. Lots of defeats BUT He gave me a new song “Lord of Glory” : )
I do need prayer as I am in a financial tsunami, need God to provide in response to the prayers of the body! Thank you.
I was led to http://www.harvestwarriors.com (Rebecca Brown, MD) so encouraging: “Have you ever noticed that God delights to bring his people into problems that are impossible for them to deal with? He does this to grow our faith as we learn to rely on Him to take care of our problems.” That is what is so crushing about it!
Volume 8 Issue 3 Warring To Harvest August, 2009 Faith For Every Day Living Written by Daniel Yoder.
When someone has thoughts of suicide, they may have depression, guilt, or think there is no way out of their situation. The person can feel alone and withdraw from everything. These are feelings Jesus never condoned. The feelings are part of an illness that requires solid counseling.
We should never think that telling someone, that taking their life is not a sin. Suicide will not solve a problem. Jesus never taught in this manner. Judas’ suicide confirmed that he felt much guilt, as to what he did to Jesus. Suicide is wrong.
my friend’s brother killed himself. At the funeral, the mega church pastor preached that he was now in heaven. People testified on the platform that they had visions of him now in heaven during the service. I was shocked. A few years later his nephew hung himself too. I hate the fact that most churches teach you cannot lose eternal life. Just as Hebrews 13:4 is never mentioned.
i think we are totally wrong in assuming that someone who kills themselves automatically goes to hell. Its not in the Word. If someone follows the Lord all their life and then has a momentary lapse of judgement or insanity or is afflicted by a strong demonic influence, how can we say that the person will perish because of on selfish act?
im not advocating that suicide isn’t a sin, but I don’t believe that God is so unmerciful that a person who has been a Christian all of their life and suffers from depression resulting in suicide will send them to hell.
Rob
suicide is essentially premeditated murder (of oneself) and the Bible tells us that no murderer will inherit heaven.
It also says that if you so much as hate your brother, you’re considered a murderer, so you don’t even have to physically kill someone (or yourself) to be classified as such.
Even if there are a few one in a million exceptions, I sure wouldn’t care to bet on it because it deals with where you will spend the rest of your days and nights, FOREVER.
Imagine spending them in thick darkness and then being cast into a lake of fire—that is pain worse than ANYTHING someone could possibly endure on earth. The notion that someone can jump off a cliff and then party eternally in hell, is a myth too.
Hell is a place of eternal separation from God and isolation, so imagine never being able to see or speak to anyone ever again; never seeing so much as trees, flowers, animals, your family members, a lamp post…anything…and having all of forever to regret what you did with no chance of redemption (as all your chances were granted on earth).
If you overdose on pills and as you lay dying, regret what you did and ask God’s forgiveness but by the time the paramedics arrive, you die and enter eternity….will that person make it inside the gates? Only God knows but it doesn’t look encouraging and I sure wouldn’t want to take my chances.
I agree with the previous comments by laws that it is deceitful for a pastor to preach at someone’s funeral (who committed suicide) that they’re soul is now in Heaven. Often this is done to appease the grieving family members but whether it’s the truth is questionable and sometimes the truth hurts. Those pastors need to know that lying is also a sin (just like suicide). They should preach that if only ”John Doe” had hung on, the Lord would have made a way out of his problems.
@Jackie
I understand what you are saying and where you are coming from, but let me propose this. When we come to Christ and accept and believe and His work on the cross we become a new creation. I think we can all agree to that. It is no longer ‘I’ who lives but Christ who lives in me. The book of Romans says that we are ‘dead’ to sin. In fact the word ‘dead’ is mentioned some 50 times in regard to our old man. A dead person cannot sin, fundamentally speaking. Romans 6:7. I wish I could say it was impossible for us to sin, but it is not. Paul said that it was “no longer I who did it, but sin that dwells within me.” When we come to Jesus and accept his forgiveness of our sins it is not just for our past since but for future sins. We are no longer slaves to sin, we are dead to it. The cross of Christ is not just a past and present reality, it is a future one. This is not an excuse to sin, but it is comforting to know that our future sins and mistake are still covered under the blood. You say that suicide is ‘self murder’ well what if i actually kill someone else before I die without the chance to repent for it. I am a Christian and in a moment or weakness I kill my brother and then I die. Does this mean I go to hell? I mean really, is our view of God that messed up? Are we so focused on our faults and sins that we become so legalistic about how he deals with us? “Where sin abounds, grace abounds more.” Paul said that this is not a reason to go on sinning, BUT if we do we have an advocate with our father in heaven. I hate when the love of God is so downgraded to our own actions.
I’m sorry but I think sometimes we make God out to be some big dummy who just sits around waiting for us to mess up and send us to hell for it. Do you not think that God knows the heart of one who kills themselves? Do you not think that he understands and emphasizes with what they are going through? Do you not think that it breaks His heart? For one who has known God and has believed on His son Jesus Christ, I cannot believe that killing themselves would result in God sending them to hell.
Rob,
When it comes to wrong and right where is the dividing line? Too often it is blurred. Because it’s difficult to see the hard truth at times, we need good honest spititual leaders, that really help others. Leaders that really understand the foundational principles of biblical scripture, living it out in their lives, that will point others in the direction, which will lead them away from such errors in life.
When you tune something in and find the place where you get a good reception, you’ll be able to enjoy, without the static, how clear things sound. We can tune God in, if we keep a check on the reception.
We really can’t flip God’s judgement on & off like a switch. There are some things that are ment only for His judgements.
all i have to say is “Mercy triumphs over judgement.”
Comments such as “Its not in the Word. ” and “I don’t believe that .. ” or “I cannot believe that (what the Bibles says)” etc …. but to TOP IT OFF:
“I’m sorry but I think sometimes we make God out to be some big dummy.”
That is exactly what is in your own Jer. 17:9 heart, not “we”.
That is blasphemy.
1. You blaspheme the Holy Spirit – God – by belittling the Word which came to the Apostles to inspire the Scriptures. You treat the bible as if it were fallible.
2. You blaspheme the Holy Spirit by putting your OWN fallen opinion over the word of God. John 6:63 “My words are Spirit”. Eph. 6:17 ” the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”
3. You call God “a DUMMY” for telling us thru the Word (which I already spoonfed you which you have no respect for. As usual. naxus pegged you correctly) that hatred and murder are hell-guarantees
—–
plus continual whitewashing NAR apostates. ID= ?
@laws
No the word is not fallible, it is your interpretation which undermines the character of God that is fallible.
funny how u say haters and murderers will not inherit the Kingdom, but you leave out slanderers.
“Go from the presence of a fool when thou perceivest not in him the lips of knowledge.” That is infallible. Blasphemer. Get lost – oh wait you already ARE!
Oh u mean “libel”. I already proved legally from your own words your “belief system”. Which is not a scriptural one.
“Mercy triumphs over judgement” was coined by the KC False Prophets in 1996 bc real theologians were “judging” …. oooo. Typical that you think it’s “bible”.
I’m with Rob, mercy triumphs judgement and I am not going to play the assistant Holy Spirit. To minimize and to spiritualize the loss of the will to live adds another burden to someone suffering.
The bible is full of stories of people who begged God to kill them, killed themselves or asked someone else to kill them. It is a reality of the human condition.
We wrestle with the ethical, moral and spiritual aspects of suicide. We as a society attempt to address neglect, isolation, despair, exclusion, trauma, addicition psycho-social factors medical problems etc. We distinguish between ideation, behavior and completion. I understand there are branches of Christianity which perceive suicide as a mortal sin. The sin is often our failure to provide timely and adequate support to someone suffering.
How is arguing and browbeating supportive? Are we not called to compassion, to come alongside?
This will not be a blog where people risk courageous step of honesty and come back to see discussion deteriorating into argument and face being emotionally overloaded.
This comment thread is closed.