Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 163 ｜ Depression & Suicide

00:00:00.000 Hey guys, welcome to Relatable.

00:00:01.840 Happy Monday.

00:00:02.480 I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend.

00:00:04.440 So there is really no graceful way to shift gears here, but I'm going to try my best.

00:00:10.280 Let us get into the topic at hand today.

00:00:13.780 Last week on Instagram, I asked you guys what you would like me to talk about on this Theology

00:00:19.220 Monday, and the vast majority of you, like a crazy number of you, asked that I talk about

00:00:25.900 depression and suicide.

00:00:27.640 It came along with the question, do Christians who commit suicide still go to heaven?

00:00:34.500 We are going to discuss how to view depression from a biblical perspective that's going to

00:00:39.960 be tied in with encouragement for those of you who might be experiencing that or suffering

00:00:44.920 from that right now.

00:00:46.260 The reason why I think many of you asked me this is because of something tragic that happened

00:00:50.900 last week.

00:00:51.860 There is a pastor out of California.

00:00:53.740 There was a pastor out of California named Jared Wilson.

00:00:56.660 He committed suicide.

00:00:58.260 He left behind two little boys and his wife.

00:01:02.000 He had been openly struggling with depression for a while, and he actually worked to help

00:01:07.760 other people who were having suicidal thoughts or who were kind of stuck in a rut of a depressive

00:01:13.640 state.

00:01:14.840 I did not know him at all.

00:01:17.120 The only connection that I have to him is that he followed me on Twitter.

00:01:20.120 I know of a lot of the people that he knew.

00:01:23.160 That was the only reason I knew his name.

00:01:25.440 And after seeing the number of lives that he touched that have spoken out about the impact

00:01:30.660 that he had on them, after looking at pictures of his beautiful family, it just kind of broke

00:01:38.080 my heart.

00:01:38.540 Of course, any suicide, no matter who it is, is absolutely heartbreaking.

00:01:43.040 But just seeing the influence and the profound impact that he had on so many people in the

00:01:47.860 name of Christ, to see someone like that take his own life, there's just another layer,

00:01:52.920 at least for me, of sadness that I feel.

00:01:55.160 I think the feeling that some people with depression may have seen an incident like this with Jared

00:02:03.360 Wilson is, well, if a pastor, if a godly pastor could not withstand his depression, if someone

00:02:09.960 so close to God who supposedly prayed, knew God's word, supposedly just because we don't

00:02:17.160 know him personally, knew God's word, had accountability and community and family and purpose, someone

00:02:22.420 who knew the truth and was sensitive to the Holy Spirit, if that person committed suicide,

00:02:27.780 then is there any hope for me?

00:02:30.160 Am I going to be able to withstand my depression?

00:02:33.740 Am I going to be able to persevere?

00:02:35.340 Am I going to be able to get through this?

00:02:38.660 Maybe you're someone saying, my faith is weak.

00:02:40.980 It is small.

00:02:42.000 I don't have community.

00:02:43.040 I don't have friends, you might be saying.

00:02:44.900 I don't always feel like I have a purpose on this earth.

00:02:47.300 I don't have a beautiful family.

00:02:49.200 How am I expected to hang on if someone like that couldn't?

00:02:54.140 And we are going to address those questions.

00:02:57.120 If that is you, know that I see you and I hear you and I'm with you in this episode.

00:03:05.960 We are going to talk through this from, of course, a biblical Christian perspective.

00:03:11.320 First, what is depression?

00:03:12.960 We use the phrase depressed a lot.

00:03:15.620 We like to say, oh, I'm so depressed about this or I'm so depressed right now when we

00:03:20.980 are like mildly disappointed about something or temporarily discouraged.

00:03:25.420 But depression is something that is much deeper, much longer lasting than that.

00:03:29.820 I personally have not struggled with depression.

00:03:32.560 So if at any point in this episode you would like to point something out to me, if you have

00:03:37.060 struggled with it that you feel is inaccurate or is unfair, please, I welcome that.

00:03:42.380 I would love for you to email me.

00:03:43.620 I have been around people with depression.

00:03:45.920 I have sat across from a friend who was very seriously committing suicide.

00:03:50.700 And I remember the feeling that I had is an outsider looking in of just, uh, just how dark

00:03:57.820 and how, uh, deeply she was into this state of absolute desperation and hopelessness.

00:04:06.040 So I know from, again, um, an outside perspective, what a horrifying and dark place this is for

00:04:13.200 people to be, even though I myself haven't personally experienced it.

00:04:17.140 Uh, depression can be something that is circumstantial or it can have nothing to do with their circumstances

00:04:22.780 at all.

00:04:23.220 So it can be because of trauma or tragedy or difficulty, something that has happened to you,

00:04:28.380 like abuse in your life, either recently or a long time ago when you were a child, some kind

00:04:33.120 of dire diagnosis that you've gotten or something that happened in your life, like the death

00:04:38.000 of a loved one or a lost job.

00:04:40.180 Uh, it can also seem to have nothing to do with what's going on, nothing to do with anything

00:04:45.660 that has happened to you.

00:04:46.680 It can just be this dark cloud that kind of comes over your mind when maybe you least expect

00:04:51.660 it, that you desperately want to push away, but you don't know how, and you don't feel

00:04:55.860 like you have the power to do it.

00:04:57.300 You try everything you can, you repeat the positive mantras, you rationalize yourself

00:05:02.820 out of it, or you try to, and it's still, you feel like overtakes you.

00:05:07.360 Sometimes, uh, you really feel like you just can't get out.

00:05:11.340 Uh, this is the description that I have heard from those who have suffered in our suffering

00:05:16.480 from depression.

00:05:17.420 There are a lot of different Christian thoughts on depression.

00:05:21.780 I certainly am not the sole arbiter of this.

00:05:24.160 I am not the end all be all, or the foremost expert on this from a Christian perspective.

00:05:29.400 All I know is what God's word says, what the gospel says, and I do feel that that is sufficient

00:05:33.740 to inform us on this.

00:05:35.800 Uh, but some Christians are completely against medication.

00:05:39.480 Some are for medication.

00:05:40.880 Some believers believe that a depression is somehow indicative of a spiritual sickness

00:05:46.740 or a lack of faith.

00:05:48.340 Some believe it has nothing to do with spirituality whatsoever.

00:05:51.800 The truth, I think, is somewhere in between, depending on the person.

00:05:56.660 What we know for sure as Christians is that there is always, there is always going to be

00:06:01.320 a spiritual aspect to depression and anxiety.

00:06:05.460 Always.

00:06:06.060 It can be a physical problem.

00:06:07.840 So a lack of serotonin in the brain, for example.

00:06:10.940 But because we are human beings with souls, and these two things cannot be separated, we are

00:06:15.720 made in the image of God, we can never separate the spiritual from the physical.

00:06:20.880 Uh, God made us so that they are intertwined.

00:06:24.300 So that means that there will be both physical and spiritual aspects to coping with and healing

00:06:30.400 from depression for the Christian.

00:06:32.240 That may mean taking medicine, which I believe can be or is a gift of common grace when used

00:06:38.200 correctly.

00:06:39.360 Uh, a gift of common grace means something that God has given everyone, regardless of whether

00:06:43.400 they are a believer or not.

00:06:44.620 So good food, nature, uh, medicine, it might mean, uh, a healing mechanism might mean exercise.

00:06:51.820 It may mean changing how you eat, what you drink, your daily routine.

00:06:55.580 Uh, all of these are known to affect our mental state.

00:06:58.600 Um, but it will, without a doubt, this healing coping process with depression will also mean

00:07:05.520 prayer.

00:07:06.160 It will also mean steeping yourself in the word of God, uh, taking every thought captive and

00:07:11.240 surrendering it to Christ, plugging into your church, finding a mentor, having accountability

00:07:15.520 within a Christian community, uh, filling your mind and your time, uh, with coming up

00:07:20.700 with ways to serve other people, outdoing one another and showing honor.

00:07:24.720 Uh, why will it require such spiritual discipline?

00:07:28.240 Because as we have said, even though there are physical aspects to depression, uh, it is ultimately

00:07:34.300 a spiritual war because whether it is because of circumstances or because of chemistry, uh,

00:07:41.340 Satan will use depression as an opening to feed you lies.

00:07:46.340 He can use happiness too, by the way, he can use any mental state whatsoever to tempt you

00:07:51.060 into idolatry or fear or control or lust or envy or worry.

00:07:55.720 And depression is certainly no different.

00:07:58.440 Uh, depression, because it can feel so dominant in someone's mind, uh, makes the sufferer vulnerable

00:08:04.880 to all kinds of very misleading thoughts.

00:08:08.080 So if you are depressed, you feel hopeless, you feel purposeless, you might feel misunderstood,

00:08:13.300 alone, uh, and Satan will do all he can to convince you, believer, that these lies are

00:08:20.580 a reality.

00:08:21.200 Uh, he will ask you the same deceptive question that he asked Eve in the garden of Eden, because

00:08:27.700 even though Satan is cunning, he is not creative.

00:08:31.040 He will ask you, did God really say, uh, did God really say that he will never leave you

00:08:36.840 or forsake you?

00:08:37.700 Did God really say that he is your ever present help in time of need?

00:08:41.400 Did God really promise hope?

00:08:43.980 Does God really understand what you're going through?

00:08:46.980 Uh, does God really offer you purpose?

00:08:50.260 I mean, if God were really caring, if he were really loving, you might find yourself start

00:08:54.580 thinking if he really sees me, if he really hears me, if he really hears me, if he

00:08:57.680 is really all powerful and also good and compassionate and all of these things that the Bible says

00:09:01.860 that he is, if he is who he says he is, why wouldn't he heal me?

00:09:06.420 Uh, why wouldn't he, why wouldn't he let me escape from this?

00:09:10.500 Why would he let this happen to me?

00:09:12.180 If he can take this away and he loves me, why wouldn't he?

00:09:17.860 He's healed other people.

00:09:19.560 Uh, everyone else seems to have it together.

00:09:21.360 So why doesn't he heal me?

00:09:23.480 Doesn't he know how badly this hurts?

00:09:25.940 Doesn't he know all the good that I've done?

00:09:28.320 Uh, there's no good that's going to come out of this, out of me being depressed.

00:09:32.040 There is no glory for him to be had in this, you might be thinking.

00:09:36.040 Um, and Satan is there telling us, yes, you're absolutely right.

00:09:40.600 He has forgotten about you.

00:09:42.260 He has forsaken you.

00:09:43.520 He has abandoned you.

00:09:44.900 He doesn't really care.

00:09:46.060 And you might think, okay, well, maybe he's not who I thought.

00:09:50.140 Maybe, maybe he's not real at all.

00:09:52.480 A good God certainly wouldn't do something like this or let something like this linger.

00:09:56.840 So maybe the good God that I read about in the Bible doesn't even exist.

00:10:01.580 And then suddenly, in a matter of minutes, maybe you have found yourself on the precipice

00:10:07.360 of abandoning all your faith, wondering what life is about, wondering if there is any reason

00:10:13.040 at all for you to even be on this earth.

00:10:15.360 And you are right where Satan wants you to be, where he has worked very hard for you to be.

00:10:20.680 Uh, Satan may not be able to read your mind, but he can push you down a spiral of desperation

00:10:26.420 so deep.

00:10:27.880 You don't even know how you got there.

00:10:29.760 He will warp and manipulate and obscure the promises of God and the character of God until

00:10:35.340 you no longer know what you believe until you no longer know what you have faith in.

00:10:40.320 Uh, whether your depression, again, is circumstantial or chemical or both, this is Satan's goal.

00:10:47.560 So when you are depressed and you are told to pray more, you are told to read your Bible

00:10:52.440 more, you are told to take your thoughts captive more, to hand them over to the King of the

00:10:57.120 universe so he can exchange them for truth, know that this is not meant to shame you.

00:11:02.060 This is meant to equip you.

00:11:04.400 Uh, yes, there may be people who tell you that your depression is just because you're not

00:11:09.200 trying hard enough and maybe, uh, they are trying to make you feel even worse about yourself.

00:11:13.780 But when most of your fellow Christians give you a spiritual prescription, a biblical prescription 0.97

00:11:19.480 for internal pain, when they encourage you in the word, try not to take offense.

00:11:24.880 Try not.

00:11:25.720 I know, I know it's hard.

00:11:26.860 I do try not to get defensive.

00:11:29.200 Uh, while medicine and counseling, I believe do have their place.

00:11:33.120 And in certain cases can be extremely necessary and beneficial.

00:11:37.260 These will never, ever produce any lasting good without Christ.

00:11:42.260 Satan is powerful and he is not going to bow down to antidepressants.

00:11:47.280 Ultimately we do, whether we struggle with depression or not, need the healing power of

00:11:52.060 Jesus Christ to give us any real peace.

00:11:54.780 Uh, we can try to keep the symptoms at bay with certain mechanisms, but only Jesus heals the

00:12:01.020 wounds of the heart and the soul, only Jesus and his word can stay our anxious thoughts and

00:12:06.080 combat, uh, lies with truth.

00:12:08.300 Only Jesus can do that.

00:12:10.120 And now we need to know who this Jesus is, what his character actually is, what his power

00:12:14.680 actually is.

00:12:15.680 Is he this on high, untouchable magistrate?

00:12:18.660 Uh, is he looking down from his throne, wondering when you're going to get it together?

00:12:23.000 Uh, is he this unsympathetic, uh, schoolmarm chastising us when we just don't get it?

00:12:28.480 Uh, is he a gal pal telling you exactly what you need to hear, stroking your ego and making

00:12:33.700 you feel better about yourself?

00:12:35.300 No, this is who Jesus is.

00:12:37.400 Hebrews 4, 14 through 16.

00:12:39.680 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens.

00:12:43.460 Jesus, the son of God, let us hold fast to our confession for we do not have a high priest

00:12:49.020 who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted

00:12:54.600 as we are yet without sin.

00:12:57.780 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and

00:13:03.660 find grace to help in time of need.

00:13:06.720 So Jesus is neither a buddy who tells you what you want to hear to feel better, or nor is

00:13:13.160 he a ruler disconnected from the needs of his servants.

00:13:16.820 He is a great high priest.

00:13:19.020 So that means he is holy.

00:13:20.160 He is clean.

00:13:20.960 He is an intercessor between God and sinful man by offering himself as a sacrifice on

00:13:26.220 our behalf.

00:13:27.300 He is able to sympathize with us.

00:13:29.420 So to understand, to comprehend, to fully grasp, to feel for himself our weaknesses and

00:13:35.420 our temptations.

00:13:36.620 And yet he overcame them because he was without sin.

00:13:40.680 He who knew no sin became sin so that we could become the righteousness of God.

00:13:45.920 He never gave into that temptation.

00:13:48.000 He claimed victory over those temptations.

00:13:50.960 And this empathetic intercessor has made it possible for us through him to approach the

00:13:56.100 eternal God of the universe with confidence, with assurance, with boldness to do what?

00:14:01.580 To receive mercy and grace and help in time of need.

00:14:06.700 So how good is God?

00:14:08.980 Instead of thinking, God, why would you do this to me?

00:14:12.380 Maybe we think, wow, how undeserving am I to receive this kind of confidence and boldness

00:14:18.760 and grace and mercy when I need it most?

00:14:20.740 How compassionate is our Father in heaven that he would give us such a gift in Christ when

00:14:26.620 we were yet sinners?

00:14:27.900 How merciful of him, not just to grant us salvation in Christ, which he never had to do, but to help

00:14:34.580 us fight through our trials.

00:14:35.960 How miraculous that Jesus left his throne, that he became flesh so that he could feel

00:14:42.040 what we feel, so that he could be tempted the way that we are tempted, so he could be

00:14:46.100 able to say to us, I understand.

00:14:48.680 I get it.

00:14:49.740 I know how you feel.

00:14:51.020 I know what you're going through.

00:14:52.540 Been there, done that.

00:14:54.380 This is why 1 John 4 says, greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world, because

00:15:01.040 that he already outsmarted all of Satan's schemes, because he resides in you, we have

00:15:07.160 every reason to hope, every reason to stand strong.

00:15:11.640 Ephesians 6 makes clear that Christians are not in a merely physical battle, no matter what

00:15:16.760 it is, whether it's depression or whether it's persecution.

00:15:19.720 We are battling against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over

00:15:24.840 this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

00:15:29.480 And because of that, we are to put on the full armor of God that is characterized by

00:15:34.220 truth, by righteousness, by readiness, by faith, by salvation, the Holy Spirit, prayer.

00:15:39.780 Yes, this goes for those who are depressed, and this goes for those who are not.

00:15:44.560 The Bible is very clear that you are not alone, that you are not misunderstood, that you are

00:15:50.660 not purposeless, that you are not hopeless, that you have a Savior who knows every single

00:15:56.280 part of you, every single nook and cranny of your heart, nothing is hidden from him.

00:16:00.860 The Bible says that darkness is as light to him.

00:16:03.380 There is no secret, no secret that you can keep from him.

00:16:08.160 When he died on the cross for your sins, he knew every single transgression, every single

00:16:12.820 slip up, every single mistake, every single word of blasphemy, every doubt, every worry,

00:16:18.260 every thought of suicide, and he said to you, mine, this is mine, your struggle is mine, you

00:16:25.620 are mine, you are mine forever. He said, I want all of your heart, all of your soul for all of

00:16:31.480 eternity, no compromises, not because you are good or worthy or deserving, but because I am good and

00:16:38.940 merciful and gracious. God is not spiting you with your depression. He is not punishing you. He's not

00:16:45.980 playing a trick on you. God does not lie. He is not deceptive. He has not left you. He is not

00:16:52.640 impatient with you. If you are in Christ, you are a child of God, and it is impossible, impossible

00:16:58.660 for God to forsake you because it is not in his character. I do not have to have experienced

00:17:04.800 thoughts of suicide or depression myself to know the character of God that I read in his word and to

00:17:09.960 tell you these things for sure. We all need people who are in a different place than we are to tell us

00:17:15.340 what God's word says. And if you forget these things, here is my encouragement to you. If you

00:17:21.060 find yourself in that place of not believing this, don't let yourself sit in your doubt. There is this

00:17:27.600 almost morbid gratification that all of us get from building on our worries. I understand because I will

00:17:34.780 lay in bed at night and think about all of the conflicts and potential conflicts that I have in my

00:17:39.180 life, all of the reasons to worry. It's almost like whack-a-mole. I rationalize myself out of one anxiety and

00:17:45.040 then something else comes up. It's almost like my flesh is addicted to worry. And so instead, I mean,

00:17:51.380 this happened actually just a couple of nights ago. I was building on all of my worries and finally I

00:17:57.620 just had to let it go. And I just had to say, I am not giving my thoughts to Christ right now. I am not

00:18:03.540 taking my thoughts captive and surrendering them to the God of the universe. Instead, I am gratifying my

00:18:09.260 flesh by building on this anxiety and hoping that I will be able to control these situations how I want

00:18:15.400 to. And that is sinful. That is wrong. So while I might not know exactly what you're going through,

00:18:20.000 exactly what you feel, I can tell you that it does no good to sit in your doubt. It does no good to sit

00:18:27.020 in that desperation. I have to tell myself, do not go to the next thought. Do not go down this spiral.

00:18:35.680 Do not build on the foundation of fear that you have just laid for yourself in your own mind. Stop.

00:18:41.220 Do not give credence to your paranoia. Instead, you have to preach the gospel to yourself.

00:18:47.340 You have to preach it to yourself until you fall asleep at night. You have to preach it to yourself

00:18:51.720 until it's all you can think about. You have to preach it to yourself relentlessly until you can't

00:18:56.620 anymore. And when you can't, you call your friends. And when you can't, you call your pastor. And when

00:19:01.320 you can't, you call your counselor or you listen to this podcast episode, if you have to, and you

00:19:05.940 fill your mind with the gospel, which is that you were bought with a price by a good God who loves

00:19:11.240 you. And if that was all that God ever did, if everything else were taken away from us,

00:19:17.320 if we were depressed in a dark state of depression that we couldn't get out of for the rest of our

00:19:24.380 lives, God would still be good because he sent his son to die for us and he didn't have to do that.

00:19:28.880 The gospel is enough. The gospel is enough for you. That doesn't mean that all of a sudden you'll

00:19:33.800 feel happy. It doesn't mean that all of a sudden you'll be in a good mood, but it does mean that it

00:19:38.580 is sufficient to stay you and to help you persevere. Do not stay dwelling on your desperation.

00:19:46.280 Do not get obsessed with self-help, with self-betterment. You will be frustrated. Instead, focus on Christ,

00:19:53.640 on being obedient to him with your whole life, loving others when you feel like you can't.

00:19:59.440 Because one thing that might sound harsh, but I think is important to say that we all who are

00:20:04.820 biblical Christians know is true, is that depression does not excuse us from living a life of holiness.

00:20:11.200 It doesn't excuse us from the need for repentance. It doesn't excuse selfishness or complacency.

00:20:17.540 The fight might be a little bit harder, but it's not an excuse to give up. The world certainly will

00:20:24.240 not tell you this. It will tell you the opposite. The world has garbage answers for every single

00:20:30.180 problem that you have. It will tell you that healing is found in indulging in whatever you want, 0.79

00:20:35.840 whatever will give you gratification right now. And I'm not saying that happiness is bad and things

00:20:41.620 that make you happy right now are necessarily bad, but the world will tell you to go wherever you can

00:20:46.980 to find that gratification, even if it will end up hurting you in the long run. What the world will

00:20:52.480 offer you in terms of healing from depression is self-love. That's all it's got is self-love,

00:20:58.820 which is of course, some kind of circular argument that will end in torture, which is why you should

00:21:06.740 not buy it. You will end up frustrated and even deeper in your depression because you will wonder

00:21:12.640 why, even though all of these awesome people are telling you to love yourself more, why you can't

00:21:20.600 muster up the strength to do that. You have followed the five steps to a happier life. You have read every

00:21:28.820 self-help book. You have toned your arms. You have cleaned your room. You have washed your face and you

00:21:33.780 still can't love yourself. You still don't look in the mirror and see Beyonce. That is because we were not

00:21:39.700 created to be healed by self-love and self-care. We were created to be healed by Jesus and his provision

00:21:45.500 for us. You were not made to rely on yourself. None of us were. We are interdependent creatures.

00:21:53.240 We are made to rely on our creator. We were made to rely on relationships as well. So don't beat yourself

00:22:00.700 up if you can't repeat that positive mantra and feel better right away. Don't get mad at yourself when

00:22:06.120 the self-empowerment talks that you give yourself in the morning don't make you feel any better. That

00:22:10.760 is not the fuel our souls were meant to run on. It's like putting diesel in a car that doesn't take

00:22:16.160 diesel. You are going to run for a little bit. You'll be okay for a few miles, but ultimately you're

00:22:21.300 going to stall out. So shifting just a little bit, what of pastors who commit suicide? What does this mean?

00:22:30.120 Does this mean that there's not hope for the rest of us? Does this mean that there's no hope for

00:22:34.920 lay people who are struggling with depression? Unfortunately, pastors committing suicide happens

00:22:41.860 often. I assume, I assume, I don't know every person's story, of course, but I assume part of

00:22:47.400 it has to do with isolation. I think a lot of pastors also feel the pressure to put up a facade of

00:22:53.860 happiness and kind of got it togetherness and end up crippling under that weight, which I think most of

00:22:59.500 us probably would. I think it's important to remember that pastors are human beings, that they are

00:23:05.260 vulnerable to Satan's attacks. They are susceptible to illness. I do believe that pastors who are going

00:23:11.320 through seasons of depression and anxiety need reprieve. They need to take a step back. They need

00:23:17.560 rest. They need elders who step in and say, hey, look, it's time for you to take a break, to allow us to

00:23:24.560 help you. Pastors have to set an example for their churches in this because this is the right

00:23:30.200 thing to do. And teachers have different pressures and different responsibilities than the rest of us

00:23:35.060 do. I know that's not always easy for elders to do because depression likes to hide behind a smile

00:23:40.500 sometimes. That's why church leaders and the rest of us, just friends and family members, need to pry,

00:23:47.380 for lack of a better word. We need to nag. We need to ask questions. We need to check in. I'm speaking to 0.62

00:23:52.780 myself as I'm saying this because Lord knows I'm imperfect in this arena. We need to be the body

00:23:58.260 of Christ. If your right hand is hurt, what do you do? You let your right hand rest and you let your

00:24:04.800 left hand take over. And that's what we have to do for members of the body, our brothers and sisters

00:24:10.920 in Christ who are hurt. We take over. We carry the weight. We do the work. We share their burdens.

00:24:17.020 This is another reason. I know we talk about this so much, the culture of self-love, because it's so

00:24:22.060 pervasive and toxic. This is another reason why the culture of self-love will end in nothing but

00:24:28.720 narcissism and further depression and suicide. Because if all of us are only concerned with

00:24:34.400 loving and serving ourselves, there is no one to shoulder our burdens with us. There is no empathy

00:24:40.020 for the pain of others. No one willing to inconvenience themselves, sacrifice their time and energy on your

00:24:45.820 behalf because they were told that they shouldn't have to worry about that. Then we are truly alone. 1.00

00:24:50.660 That's not how God created human beings to work. That's not how he created us to live and to flourish.

00:24:57.980 I do want to answer this question that so many people have asked. Is a Christian who commits suicide 0.81

00:25:05.960 going to heaven? And I was really confused by this question at first. I was like, where did this,

00:25:12.480 where did this come from? I don't, I don't understand where people are even getting this idea. I've never

00:25:17.560 heard that before, but then I thought about it and I kind of understand the reasoning I think that

00:25:23.520 people have behind it. Suicide is a sin. It is a sin because murder is a sin and suicide is self

00:25:29.480 murder. God values human beings much higher than that. So would a true Christian, I think probably 1.00

00:25:36.400 the reasoning goes, would a true Christian who has the Holy Spirit inside of them commit murder and that 0.59

00:25:41.740 be the last thing they do. They're unable to repent from that. I just don't believe, according to what

00:25:49.240 I read in God's word, my opinion doesn't really matter. God's word matters. And so if you feel that

00:25:53.560 I'm wrong on this, according to scripture, please let me know. But I don't feel, according to what I've

00:25:58.120 read in God's word, that in the case of suicide, that giving into this temptation as you are clouded by

00:26:03.820 depression means that you are condemned to eternal damnation. I just don't, I don't see that in

00:26:11.400 scripture. It's a dark moment. It is the wrong thing to do in every case. And yet for the Christian, 0.94

00:26:15.760 I do see in God's word that this is still covered by the blood of Christ, that there is still grace

00:26:22.680 and forgiveness. Is it a tragedy? Is there, are there going to be negative and terrible consequences,

00:26:28.980 is not just for his kids, but probably for generations to come because of the trauma that

00:26:33.420 his family has been, um, has, has experienced because of this? Yes, of course there are earthly

00:26:38.740 consequences for things that God forgives us for and gives us grace for. But I simply don't see any

00:26:45.300 scriptural support for saying that this is the sin that causes people who proclaimed Christ, who called

00:26:51.080 upon the name of the Lord, who were saved, uh, to go to hell. I just don't see any scriptural support for

00:26:56.260 that. Again, if you want to send me an email with a contra opinion, you can, you can do that. Uh, but

00:27:02.400 please bring scripture to support that. I, I just don't, I just don't have any understanding of how

00:27:09.360 God's grace could work that way. So I hope that this was an encouragement to you. There's so much more

00:27:16.060 that we could talk about and no doubt that there are people out there who know a lot more about this

00:27:21.440 subject than I do. But the beautiful thing about being a Christian is that we know the answer to

00:27:27.400 everything. It's not easy, but it is very simple that the gospel is sufficient for whatever circumstance

00:27:33.720 that we are in. And that is not meant to say that if you are struggling, that you just don't

00:27:40.060 believe enough, but there is a place for encouragement from people who aren't in your situation,

00:27:46.620 uh, to preach to you, to tell you what's true, to just remind you, because our, our minds can play

00:27:53.320 tricks on us. The Bible says that our hearts are desperately wicked. Who can understand it? So when

00:27:58.100 you hear people say, just follow your heart, um, well, that's going to lead you into some really dark,

00:28:03.800 into some really bad places. We shouldn't be following our hearts. The Bible also says Proverbs,

00:28:08.960 I think it's three, five through six is to lean not on your own understanding, but in all of your ways,

00:28:13.520 acknowledge him and he will make your path straight. We are not able to make our path straight on our

00:28:18.800 own. We're not even supposed to rely on our own understanding because it is so faulty. And when

00:28:23.960 you are in a dark, depressive, vulnerable, desperate state, uh, Satan has, has no regard for that. He is not

00:28:33.240 a respecter of persons. He has no respecter of persons in that he is willing to trap anyone in lies.

00:28:39.460 He wants to deceive anyone. And gosh, if he can get someone to the point of believing that their

00:28:44.380 life is completely purposeless, that their existence doesn't bring any glory to God. If he can stop

00:28:50.580 someone from sharing the gospel, if he can stop someone temporarily from believing, uh, the gospel

00:28:56.440 for themselves, and that's what he's going to do, that brings him, um, I, I won't say joy, but that

00:29:02.480 brings him glee. That is what he, um, is set to do is to deceive. Uh, Jesus said that that is in his

00:29:09.820 nature to lie. He is in the father of law. He is the father of lies. He can't do anything except for

00:29:15.140 deceived. So if you find yourself believing something that you know is not supported by God's word, you

00:29:20.100 need to ask yourself, is this a lie from Satan? And if so, you need to stop thinking it. Don't build

00:29:24.940 upon it. Don't go down the spiral of believing it because it's going to get you nowhere and is not

00:29:31.340 going to heal you. As always, if you have, uh, questions, if you have comments, please email me

00:29:38.140 ally at the conservative millennial blog.com. Uh, you can message me on Instagram as well. I would

00:29:44.400 love to hear from you. I would love to hear also what is encouraging to you when you are in the States,

00:29:50.620 if you have struggled with this before, if there are verses or passages or quotes based on scripture

00:29:57.140 that have helped pull you through and kind of shown you the light at the end of the tunnel,

00:30:01.380 I would love to hear that. And maybe I can share it so that other people, uh, can benefit from it as

00:30:06.840 well. Thank you guys so much for listening. You guys mean so much to me. I love hearing from you

00:30:12.680 and just kind of having this friendship with you guys. You have no idea how much I value this and

00:30:18.360 value the time that we get to spend together. I hope that you guys have a great rest of your

00:30:21.480 Monday and I will see you back here on Wednesday.

Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - September 16, 2019

Ep 163 ｜ Depression & Suicide

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