God and Suicide: "Choose Life!"

 

This week, we received news that no parent wants to hear:  Our daughter, our beloved daughter, is suicidal.

After hearing her speak with the Child, Adolescent and Family Emergency (CAFE) Team, to our horror, we hear that she has attempted it twice already.

A couple of days before, she had taken herself over to our youth leader's home and shared that she wanted to kill herself, and that she had been using a compass to harm herself already.

Alarmed, her youth leader said, she had to confide in someone, and if it was her, they would need to work out a plan together to keep her safe.

While she told her story, she mentioned that she had had thoughts about how her suffering could be ended and the relief of closure could be.

Our dear daughter had been assailed by long COVID eighteen months ago. The symptoms were deeply distressing. It began with photosensitivity, acute and continuous muscle pain, and nervous exhaustion. 

The condition affected her cognitive ability in strange ways. Through tears, she explained how she could read and explain individual words on a page, but she couldn't tell us what the page said as a whole.  For an A-grade student, this was horrifying.  

Social isolation featured in the first year. She did not have the energy to carry on a conversation and sleep seemed the only way to temporarily escape the pain.

As time passed, she made slow but incremental improvements. To the point she was attending school four out of five days a week, and she was likely to complete her university entrance exams this year. But she was still a long way from what she was capable of before she became ill. The muscle pain has so far never completely left her.

Unfortunately, her hope for a complete recovery began to fade as she watched her friends advance through their lives ahead of her, and she became the object of her own pity.

And the thoughts of obtaining closure became more attractive as time passed.

This is uncharted territory for us.  Our first port of call is the Scriptures.

Prophecy can come in many forms. One form can be subvocal thoughts.

God can speak by this means. But so can others (Ephesians 6).

In 1 Thessalonians 5:19-23, Paul commands us not to ignore these thoughts ("Do not quench the spirit, Do not despise prophecy") but instead to be discerning ("test all things"), to retain what is good ("hold fast to what is good"), and to discard what is not good ("abstain from every evil").

Even Jesus experienced suicidal thoughts when he was urged to throw himself from a great height. He immediately recognised them for what they were and rejected them (Matthew 4:6-7).

Suicidal thoughts are easy to discern because they are contrary to God's ways, for across the ages, God's clarion and enduring voice can be heard urging us to "Choose life!" (Deuteronomy 30:19).

In addition to praying for her to gain this insight, we are also praying that God will break down her despair by meeting her directly and rebuilding her hope and joy through encouragement and fellowship.  We know our friends are praying faithfully.

In the meantime, we navigate the processes set out under our health system too, so far she is responding well, and her youth leader is saying our daughter is quite a different person.  It's nice to hear that she is engaging with the other teenagers in the group and she is exchanging banter with her siblings.

Nonetheless, the hospital advisors said that our daughter knows she is strikingly attractive and she can hide a lot behind a winning smile.  Stay vigilent they advised.  We shall.

Preterism: Were most of Jesus' prophecies fulfilled in 70 AD?

An acquaintance introduced me to this theory over the weekend.  Here is the theory in a nutshell:

1. The predictions Jesus made in Luke 21 were fulfilled through the events surrounding the fall of the temple in 70 AD.
2. Jesus said, with evidence to support the Preterist view added:
   a. "A time of wars":  Jewish revolt 66 AD; British revolt led by Queen Boadicea; Germanic revolt; Roman Empire suffered a series of imperial assassinations and coups.
   b. A foreign army would attack and lay siege to Jerusalem.  See Josephus, Wars VI (512-513).
   c. Period of unprecedented suffering; many will die of famine and plague.  See Josephus, Wars VI (512-513).
   d. False prophets would mislead many to their doom.  See Josephus, Wars VI (283-287).
   e. There would be heavenly signs. See Josephus, Wars VI (289-295).
   f. Huge numbers killed and taken away in captivity. See Josephus, Wars VI (259, 271, 275-276, 404, and 420-421)
   g. The city, temple will be completely destroyed. See Josephus, Wars VII (1-4).
   h. The Son of Man will be seen in the clouds.  See Josephus, Wars VI (296-300). See Tacitus, Histories V (513):  "There had been seen hosts joining battle in the skies, the fiery gleam of arms, the temple illuminated by a sudden radiance from the clouds. The doors of the inner shrine were suddenly thrown open, and a voice of more than mortal tone was heard to cry that the Gods were departing."
   i. Before all this, JC's disciples would be hated and persecuted.
   j. When an army approaches Jerusalem, run for the hills, don't tarry. 

There are two forms of Preterism:

1. Partial preterism:  Holds that the destruction of Jerusalem, the Anti-Christ, the Great Tribulation and the advent of the Day of the Lord as a judgement coming of Christ were fulfilled either in 70Ad or during the persecution of Christians under Nero.  
2. Full preterism: Holds that the destruction of Jerusalem fulfilled all "end times" events, including the resurrection of the dead and Jesus' second coming and the final judgement.  

Intriguing.  

Monopolies

Recently I have been considering the problem of monopolies in our society.  New Zealand is a relatively small country (Pop. 4 million) and in a relatively small amount of time, most industries become oligopolies or duopolies.  As a result, monopoly rents become possible on all sorts of products and services. 

In recent weeks there has been a considerable amount of debate on how house pricing can be constrained so that first home buyers can purchase or build their first home.  Even my next door neighbour raised it over New Year's drinks as he worried for his daughter who is going out with a "loser" that has persuaded her to use her savings for an overseas trip instead of a deposit on a house.

His story reminded me of an old Jewish joke where a suitor came to ask her father for her hand in marriage.  When he asked the boy how he was going to provide a home for his daughter, the boy said bravely, that God would provide.  He asked how he would provide for a family, the boy answered in the same way.  Later as his wife asked expectantly about how the interview went, he replied that the boy thought he was God.

As a first step to thinking about this, I thought I would put down a few observations I have noted of the real estate market:

1. In Christchurch 2-3 families have been land banking for decades and tie up quite a large proportion of the undeveloped land within the city limits.  One of them even has their own construction company and a kitchen manufacturing firm.  They only release enough lots to keep their factories busy and to keep the price up.
2. Land zoning puts a collar around the city and as the city population grows, demand for land grows more quickly than supply, ensuring prices continue to rise.
3. With increasing prices, homeowners can further leverage their homes by taking out additional mortgages or increasing existing mortgage loans to purchase or build more homes which they can rent to those who can't afford to purchase their home.
4. Relaxed overseas investment criteria mean that New Zealanders have to compete with well capitalised foreigners who are often absentee landlords.
5. Developers wanting to ensure that they maximise their profits do not build homes intended for first time buyers because smaller homes de-value their neighboring houses.  As a consequence, many developments do not cater for budget buyers.  
6. Even when budget housing is included in a new development well-capitalised existing home owners looking for investment homes outbid first time buyers anyway.
7. It is in the interests of existing landowners, homeowners, real estate agents mortgage lenders and developers to ensure that house and land prices continue to inflate.  If values were to fall then mortgaged owners would see their equity vanish, real estate agents would see their commissions fall, banks would be concerned that their borrowers may default and developers would see margins and demand fall.  
8. Therefore politicians cannot enact laws that create significant downward pressure on land and house prices since that would lose the significant political support of these groups.  Yet all that these groups have done has contribute to the creation of land monopolies which can only lead eventually to civil strife.  
9. In hard times, families would pool their resources to survive.  After 50 years of comparative prosperity, two generations have grown up with very independent mentalities.  The physical, cultural and social distance between individuals is so great that many of the skills needed to negotiate healthy relationships in extended families need to be relearnt.  Instead the generation in their sixties relish the thought of their regular SKI (Spend the Kids Inheritance) holidays, selling their lands and purchasing motorhomes in a glamorous display of conspicuous consumption. 
10. We have plenty of land, we have willing people to work and build their own homes.  But the game of monopoly is disenfranchising people.  We are on the way to rebuilding a stratified feudal society.  
11. In this society, we spend our 20s getting educated and building up student debt, our 30s paying it off and our 40s scrambling to get a deposit for our first home, and having a (small) family, spending the rest of lives paying off the mortgage and retiring in a "rest home" far from our families surrounded by other people who discuss their doctor's and their latest treatments, and going to someone's funeral.

Land is not the only monopoly we have built in Western society.  Why is health care so expensive?  One of the reasons is that we limit the numbers of medical practitioners that can be produced even though there are many people who could sit and pass the theoretical and practical exams.  The same could be said for dentists, lawyers, accountants, engineers and technologists.  We arbitrarily limit class sizes for all these disciplines.

In Christchurch we have young people seeing back street dentists for fillings.  Across the city there are extraordinarily high levels of stress, insomnia, anxiety, depression, eating disorders, self harm and suicide.  These levels cannot be solely attributed to the earthquake.  These problems are high in other urban centres too. 

We've been through a financial crisis and it has become one of unemployment and inflation.  Sure it's been exacerbated by the earthquake, yet I have met few who have heard messages from the pulpit on the Global Financial Crisis, about watching out for neighbours who might have been made redundant, or small business owners who maybe facing ruin.  Instead I have heard many sermons on how triumphant the Christian walk truly is.  Are we so disenfranchised from reality?

Does God not have answers for these problems?  What does His Bible say?  Who knows what's in it?  Why are these issues not being discussed from the pulpit? Why are the believers so disempowered?  How did we get this way? 

Where are the Believers who confidently say that God has set out a way that we should live which solves these societal problems?  What have we done to our people that they can be so silent at a time of such great need?  Who are we that we cannot speak prophetically to our society in such a way that their hearts can be touched and that they will give us license to propagate much-needed change?  It is time we asked ourselves "WHO AM I?" for we are not what we ought to be.

September 28 Christchurch Earthquake Prediction: If in doubt, suppress it!?

Dust rises from Christchurch immediately following the February 22 earthquake

While discussing the September 28 earthquake prophecies I was amazed that some were advocating that such prophecies should be suppressed on the grounds that many people were not well positioned to process them maturely.  Hiding people in a cupboard is no way to deal with the situation.  Besides, talk of the prophecies has reached talkback radio and national radio.  No church can stop its people from watching television.

The right way forward for church leadership to deal with the situation is to train and equip its people on how to maturely process prophecies as they come to hand.  Censorship isn't the answer. 

This is the raison d'etre of leadership in a Christian Church:

(Eph 4:11)  And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers,

(Eph 4:12)  to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,

(Eph 4:13)  until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,

(Eph 4:14)  so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.  (Eph 4:11-14)

This is where church leadership often falls down. 

Instead of training the saints and equipping them for the work of the ministry leaders often attempt to do the work of the Ministry themselves.  Consequently burnout is common.  Often leaders lack the patience to nurture new leaders and step in too early when they judge that they can do the task better themselves.

Leaders with churches that have members with sufficient biblical education and who have the gifting to do so, shouldn't be doing most of the preaching.  Instead, they should be discipling others and training them in that ministry.  The same can be said for each church role be it apostleship, prophecy, evangelism or pastoral care.

The Christian leader faces many temptations that can prevent him or her from taking up this responsibility.

September 28: Another Major Christchurch Earthquake Predicted: How not to assess prophecy

Buildings burn following the September 2010 Christchurch Earthquake

You may not know it but there is quite a buzz going on in some Christian circles as several prophecies are circulating the city, predicting a major earthquake event affecting Christchurch at the end of the month.  Some credence has also been added by other forecasters such as Ken Ring, who bases his theories on the movements of Moon's orbit.

The most widely circulated prophecy can be obtained here.

How should a Christian process such a document?

A written response from a number of prominent Christchurch Protestant church leaders might give us some insight.  Their responses can be found here and here.

All the leaders acknowledge that they cannot definitively rule out that the prophecy is true.  Their call to individual prayer and meditation is also useful and constructive. 

Their causes for doubting it may be summarised as follows:

1. Date and time specific prophecies never come true.
2. We are in an "Age of Grace" so God would never administer judgment like this.
3. God's prophecies are always encouraging and edifying.  This prophecy only promulgates fear and panic.  God wouldn't act like this.
4. Other prominent leaders don't "witness" or feel that God is speaking to them in the same way, confirming it.
5. The source of the prophecy lacks credibility.

It is a useful technique to challenge positions such as these by looking for counter-examples from the bible as a test procedure.  How do these four factors measure up when put through this test?

1. Date and time specific prophecies:  Despite David MacGregor not being able to recall any, in fact there are quite a few prophecies which are date and time specific.  A few biblical examples include: Joseph's prediction of seven years of plentiful harvest, followed by seven years of famine; Moses' prediction that the Firstborn would die from midnight on; Elisha's prediction that the siege of Samaria would be broken within 24 hours (2 Kings 6:24-7:20); Jesus' prediction of his resurrection being 3 days and nights after his death.
2. "Age of Grace": This implies that previous to this era of Grace, we were in an era where Grace was lacking.  In fact, Grace is a recurring theme throughout the bible from Genesis to Revelation.  There is no Age of Grace.  We follow a God who is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.  A God of lovingkindness, tenderness, righteousness, justice and judgment; all in One (Jeremiah 9:24).
3. God's prophecies are always encouraging and edifying:  The corollary to this is that God's authentic prophecies don't cause fear and panic.  Is this true?  When reading the account of the Samarian siege, the King's captain doubts Elisha's prophecy.  Elisha predicts that as confirmation, the captain would not live to see it.  I'm sure the captain found it hardly edifying.  When Jesus predicts the fall of Jerusalem he advises his followers then to flee, warning that pregnant and nursing women would be greatly distressed.  Ananias' sudden death is another NT example.  Hardly "uplifting" stuff.
4. The "witness" of other leaders and credible sources:  MacGregor says he would like to think that God would tell the leaders of a church if he had a message such as this.  Yet God seems to make a point of singling out obscure, and unlikely messengers to bear his communiques.  Joseph was from a family of shepherds.  Moses was a Midianite shepherd.  Egyptians looked on shepherds with disdain.  Jesus was a Galilean carpenter.  Urbane Jews looked on Galileans with disdain.  God might be telling the leaders but through his chosen messengers, whoever they might be, whether they are recognized prophets or not. Even the recognized prophets can get it wrong (1 Kings 22:13-28).  I assume that Christian leaders teach their people to hear from God, then why be surprised if God chooses to speak to them?  Eli Wiesel relates the story of his journey to Auschwitz in his book "Night." During the journey a woman has a nervous breakdown and begins to hallucinate that she can see flames and that they were to burn.  She ranted and raved for hours.  Eventually she was beaten into silence.  When he stepped off the train, he saw the flames leaping from the chimney of the crematorium.  He understood.

It's easy to be dismissive.  There is little or no risk of derision.  1 Thessalonians 5:20-21 tells us not to despise prophecies but we should test all things.  Deuteronomy 18:15-22 says that we can tell a prophet after the date and time of the predicted event has past.  So can we test a prophecy in advance of its predicted occurrence?  Yes, we can.  The biblical tests are there.  What do you think they might be?  I look forward to reading your responses.

In the absence of anything else, no matter which side of the debate one might be, it is good risk management to ensure disaster survival kits are well stocked.  If you decide to leave town for a day or two, then what is the cost if nothing happens, a small amount of embarrassment?