If you are considering suicide, please call a suicide hotline, such as as 1-800-273-TALK. You can also chat online at http://www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org
Suicide can seem like it’s a way out—a way to escape—but it isn’t. Sticking with this life is worth it. Here are five reasons why:
- God loves you, and He has plans for you. He says, “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.” (Jeremiah 1:5). He had something wonderful in mind when He created you. You are a unique child of His, and you can give something to this world that no one else can give.
- You offer more to the people around you than you might think. There’s a saying, “No act of kindness, however small, is ever wasted.” You may not feel like you have much to give, but a smile or a simple act of service can make a difference in someone else’s life. If you leave this world, the world will miss the good that you can bring to it.
- There is potential for tremendous growth and discovery in your future. This may not feel true. You may feel like you’ve hit a dead end. But God says that with Him, all things are possible. You do not have to stay stuck where you are. God wants to heal your heart, and if you stick it out, He’ll find a way.
- Suicide doesn’t end our problems. When we die, we wake up in another world, and we’re exactly the same people there as we are here. Someone who takes their life to escape from the way they feel carries all their feelings with them to the other world, and they have to deal with them there. God helps people in the other world deal with their problems, because He loves them—but He also helps people in this world deal with their problems. The healing you need to find can be found here, and suicide won’t help.
- Suicide only creates pain. When someone commits suicide, they carry all their pain with them to the next life, and they also leave tremendous sadness behind them. The people who love you will be hurt and confused if you take your life. If you’re considering suicide, there’s a good chance that you’re not seeing just how much you are loved, and just how much you’ll be missed if you go.
You are never alone. If you’ve contemplated suicide, you’ve probably felt alone—but there are people on your side. There are always people you can call when thoughts of suicide come to you. There are people who love you who will be willing to listen to you. And above all else, God is with you, and He’s on your side. If you seek Him, He will be there.
When a Loved One Has Committed Suicide
If someone you know has taken their own life, their life is not truly over. They will wake up in the spiritual world, and the healing that they could not find in this world will be offered to them there. The New Church does not teach that suicide condemns a person to hell. A person’s spiritual destiny is never decided by a single act. People who are contemplating suicide often speak of feeling overwhelmed by something they can’t manage—something that comes between them and their better judgment. In the next life, God and His angels can teach us how to deal with these seemingly unmanageable problems, so that the human beings we are beneath these problems can emerge and be made whole.