Monday Share: Dealing with Suicide in the Church: A Pastoral Perspective

June is, unbeknownst to me 'til now, Men's Mental Health Awareness month. While I'm not one to govern the calendar around more modern, man-made events, the underlying mental health problems people face (specifically men in this case) are a serious one, and the church should take note, in my opinion.

More to the point for today's share from ACBC is suicide, and how the church ought to approach this difficult topic.

A glance at the statistics shows that men are four times more likely to die by suicide than women, though women are more likely to think about or attempt it.

The stats reveal a lot of things about a lot of groups, but that isn't the topic for the day.

The takeaway is that it is one of the leading causes of death in the U.S.A., not to mention the rest of the world. And with the serious downward spiral of modern man's view of human worth and dignity, resulting in things like MAID in Canada and other assisted suicide programs, combined with a further distancing from the things of God, these numbers are only going to rise.

A.I., I fear, is also going to be a contributing factor, and, in fact, already has been, as this video from Answers in Genesis discusses. I say this not only because of the aforementioned video, but because of potential job loss, unhealthy relationships with artificial intelligence, seeking answers from something other than God, etc.

Christians, we have the answers, so let us lead with love and grace towards those in our community (especially those within our churches; yes, Christians suffer with depression, too).

I know this is a difficult topic, but it's very real, and we need to seek to love those around us who really are hurting.