We at MPI are trying to expose the bogus worldview that somehow convinces people that mental illness (depression,. anxiety, etc.) can magically override people’s free will and make them kill themself. Below is a list of questions that debunk this myth and show with medical journals and objective research the exact opposite.
Mental illness may be a trigger- but it is not the cause. Correlations like family troubles, genetics, mental illnesses are not the same as causation- i.e., “the choice to kill one’s self.” The choice to murder the self is wholly caused by the person’s will- not the things the correlate or surround the decision- the decision alone is responsible. And that is why God holds them, along with all people who do such things responsible for their actions.
(Learn the difference between “correlations” and “causation” here.)
1. Why is there no unifying census in the medical field to prove that depression and suicide are linked with brain chemicals?
Opposite is true: “There is no known unifying underlying pathophysiology for either suicide or depression” – Delhi Psychiatry Journal.”
Link: http://medind.nic.in/daa/t15/i1/daat15i1p142.pdf
2. Why do only 5% of those with depression attempt suicide?
Quote: “According to the prominent psychologist Jesse Bering of the University of Otago in New Zealand, in his authoritative book Suicidal: Why We Kill Ourselves (University of Chicago Press, 2018), “the specific issues leading any given person to become suicidal are as different, of course, as their DNA—involving chains of events that one expert calls ‘dizzying in their variety.’” Indeed, my short list above includes people with a diversity of ages, professions, personality and gender. Depression is commonly fingered in many suicide cases, yet most people suffering from depression do not kill themselves (only about 5 percent Bering says), and not all suicide victims were depressed. “Around 43 percent of the variability in suicidal behavior among the general population can be explained by genetics,” Bering reports, “while the remaining 57 percent is attributable to environmental factors.” Having a genetic predisposition for suicidality, coupled with a particular sequence of environmental assaults on one’s will to live, leads some people to try to make the pain stop.”
Source: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-do-people-kill-themselves/
3. Why are over half the people who commit suicide free from all mental illness?
Quote: “More than half, 54%, of people who died by suicide did not have a known mental health condition.”
4. Why are people who are getting treatment still committing suicide? In other words, why have the people who committed suicide that we all know about like Robin Williams, pastors, etc., were in treatment and it didn’t stop them? Can you stop a cold medicine from working or a antibiotic? How do these people in treatment stop it from working if suicide is simply a product of depression in the brain and taking medicine is all you need?
Quote: “Even among people who have risk factors for suicide, most do not attempt suicide. It remains difficult to predict who will act on suicidal thoughts.”
The bottom line is: Mental anguish and other correlating experiences do not account for the suicide epidemic nor excuse those who do it. The Bible is clear God has given us a freewill, a choice of self-determination and we will be held accountable for our choices.
For example, this Bible verses teach the seriousness of murder whether or others or one’s self:
1. Exodus 20:13, “You shall not murder.”
2. Revelation 21:7-8, “7 Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children. 8 But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”
3. Proverbs 14:12, “There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death.”
4. Proverbs 8:35-36, “35 For those who find me find life and receive favor from the Lord. 36 But those who fail to find me harm themselves; all who hate me love death.”
5. Romans 1:29-32, “29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. 32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.”
6. 1 Corinthians 3:16-17, “16 Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? 17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.”
7. Matthew 5:29-30, “29 If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.”
8. Both Judas (John 13:27 & Matthew 27:5) and Saul (1 Samuel 16:14 & 31:4)- who murdered themselves- are looked at as being cursed by God; under the influence of the devil.
Sermon Link on the Subject: https://mpichurch.net/2018/09/02/suicide-a-disease-or-a-damnable-sin/?fbclid=IwAR0qzjqjYD_I8Eu1TafnzJNzxqwdwqMQaVI-ASNTAG7h5XpqvJQnbPBKowg
