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A Biblical Perspective on SuicideI am sometimes asked what the Bible says about the issue of suicide. Because suicide isa problem in our society, I want to briefly address what the Scriptures say about it.We begin with the recognition that, from a biblical perspective, issues of life anddeath lie in the sovereign hands of God alone. Job said to God, "Man's days aredetermined; you [O God] have decreed the number of his months and have set limits hecannot exceed" (Job 14:5). David said to God, "All the days ordained for me were writtenin your book before one of them came to be" (Psalm 139:16).Moreover, suicide goes against the commandments of God. In fact, the sixthcommandment tells us, "You shall not murder" (Exodus 20:13). This command is basedon the sanctity of human life. We must remember that man was created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26).It is important to understand that the command, "You shall not murder," hasno direct object. That is, it doesn't say, "You shall not murder someoneelse," or "You shall not murder your fellow man." It simply says, "You shallnot murder." The prohibition thus includes not just the murder of one'sfellow man but even the murder of oneself. While suicide is certainly notthe "unforgivable sin," we must never forget that God prohibits murder of any kind.Christian pastors and counselors often point out that a believer who endshis life also forever ends his opportunities to witness and serve the Lordon earth. Furthermore, suicide is one of the greatest acts of selfishness,for in it the individual caters to his own desires and his own will,ignoring the catastrophic effects it has on others.The lives of certain biblical saints are instructive on the issue of suicide. There were times when certain servants of God in biblical timeswere so severely tested and distressed that they wished for their own death(see 1 Kings 19:4; John 4:8). But these individuals did not take mattersinto their own hands and kill themselves. Instead, in these cases, Godalways rescued them. We can learn a lesson here. When we despair, we mustturn to God and not commit suicide. God will see us through.The apostle Paul certainly went through tough times. Indeed, in 2Corinthians 1:8 Paul reflected on his past: "We do not want you to beuninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, sothat we despaired even of life." Nevertheless, Paul did not succumb to breaking God's commandment againstmurder and commit suicide. He depended on God, and God came through and gavehim all the sustenance he needed to make it through his ordeal.Following Paul's example, we must depend on God when life throws us a punch.And just as God sustained Paul through his difficulties, so He will sustainus.
 
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"Black Theology, Black Power, and the Black Experience"Part Two in a Three-Part Series on Liberation Theology by Ron RhodesBetween 1517 and 1840 it is estimated that twenty million blacks werecaptured in Africa, transported to America, and brutally enslaved. Theexperience of these blacks - and their descendants - serves as the backdropfor understanding contemporary black liberation theology.During slave trading days, blacks were crammed into ships like sardines intoa can and brought across the Atlantic. Many died at sea from dysentery,smallpox, and other diseases. "Some starved themselves to death refusing toeat. To prevent this form of suicide, hot coals were applied to the lips toforce the slaves to open their mouths to eat."[1]Upon arriving on American shores, the slaves - men, women, and children -were forced to work from sunrise to sunset. Even old and ailing slaves wereforced to work.The brutality shown to the slaves is among the saddest chapters in Americanhistory. Black theologian Anthony Evans tells us that "black women wereraped at will by their masters at the threat of death while their husbandscould only look on. Families were separated as they were bought and soldlike cattle."[2]For tax purposes, slaves were counted as property - like domestic animals.Eventually, however, a question arose as to how to count slaves in thenation's population. The Congress solved the problem by passing a bill thatauthorized the U.S. Census Bureau to count each slave as three-fifths of a person. This Congressional compromise resulted in what one Negro writer of the 1890s called "the 'Inferior Race Theory,' the placing of the Negrosomewhere between the barnyard animals and human beings."[3]THE CHRISTIANIZATION OF SLAVERYInitially, there was heated resistance to evangelizing among slaves. Black scholar C. Eric Lincoln tells us there were three principal reasons for this: "(1) the hearing of the gospel required time that could beeconomically productive; (2) slaves gathered together in a religiousassembly might become conscious of their own strength and plot insurrectionsunder cover of religious instruction; (3) there was an English tradition of long standing that once a slave became a Christian he could no longer beheld a slave."[4]In addition, many whites were repulsed at the suggestion that blacks could
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