Tag: "suicide"

An Open Discussion About Suicide Might Save Someone's Life
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An Open Discussion About Suicide Might Save Someone’s Life

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Funny, talented, wealthy, generous, admired people aren’t supposed to want to die. People are supposed to live beyond the age of 63, Robin Williams’ age when he died August 11. People aren’t supposed to die by suicide. Yet, Williams is no different from thousands of other Americans who die that way. More than 39,000 people […]

How Does the Church Respond to Suicide?
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How Does the Church Respond to Suicide?

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The news of Robin Williams’ death is heartbreaking, as is any news of the death of one of our heroes. Just as was the news of mega-church pastor Rick Warren’s son’s suicide. I can understand Williams and I feel pity and sorrow for those souls. I really can and do. Between the time I was 14-17 I tried on […]

Unbearable Loss
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Unbearable Loss

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My earliest recollection of Caitlin was in her mother’s womb. Her mom and I were both pregnant with daughters. Information we did not know at the time, but would later bring great delight. This “wasn’t our first rodeo” as they say, I was on child number four and Caitlin made six. The girls were born […]

One Third of Evangelicals Believe Suicide is Moral for the Incurably Ill?
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One Third of Evangelicals Believe Suicide is Moral for the Incurably Ill?

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In the January/February edition of Christianity Today (they called themselves CT now) a small article caught my eye. It was entitled  “More evangelicals see suicide as moral.” Really? According to the Pew Research Center, 1 in 3 evangelicals who worship weekly think that “a person has a “moral right” to suicide if, they are “in […]

Five Ways to Maintain Hope
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Five Ways to Maintain Hope

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Sadly, a priest recently committed suicide in the rectory a block down the street from my house. In my view, this priest (and anyone else who has committed suicide) must have lost all hope. To me, a person can only take his or her own life if steeped in utter hopelessness. That got me thinking […]

'Exit International' Founder Briefly Detained Before Holding UK Suicide Workshops
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‘Exit International’ Founder Briefly Detained Before Holding UK Suicide Workshops

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Australia’s leading euthanasia advocate, Dr. Philip Nitschke, was detained on Sunday night at London’s Gatwick Airport as he was attempting to enter the UK. He was held for over two hours overnight but eventually allowed to proceed. Dr. Nitschke has arrived to conduct his European “Nitro & Nembutal” workshops and speaking tour teaching people how […]

Are You Suffering from Depression?
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Are You Suffering from Depression?

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If you are in crisis, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).  They also have a “Click to Chat” option on the website. For anyone who has struggled with depression, it’s likely they’ve been told to “Suck it up and move on,” or “Get over it,” or “Don’t be so gloomy.”  Easier […]

Adding a Stitch in the Seamless Garment of Life
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Adding a Stitch in the Seamless Garment of Life

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Many of you probably read the recent heartbreaking news of Marc and Eddy, deaf twins who requested, and were granted, euthanization in Belgium after discovering they were going blind.Later this year, Belgium’s ruling party is set to consider allowing the euthanasia of children and Alzheimer’s sufferers. This news was on my mind recently when I read about Robert Gleason, […]

Loving the Forgotten Ones
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Loving the Forgotten Ones

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This week, M expressed a very clear desire to commit suicide, including the method of ending life.  Racked with pain, deteriorating health, loneliness and a lack of familial, spiritual and friendly support, M has had enough of living. Statistics in Canada estimate that the number of depressed, suicidal elderly people is 14%.  (Canadian Mental Health […]

The Fall of Icons
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The Fall of Icons

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A writer who practices his art at home does not want to turn his place of residence into a library warehouse. And so, every so often, in order to maintain a dynamic equilibrium between acquisitions and dispersals, he must sift through his material and separate the transitory from the enduring. It is a practice akin […]

Double-Standard for the Demented
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Double-Standard for the Demented

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The late medical essayist Lewis Thomas once described Alzheimer’s as “the worst of all diseases, not just for what it does to the patient, but for its devastating effects on family and friends.” For anyone who has witnessed the ravages of Alzheimer’s firsthand, as I did during the dozen-plus years that my father battled it, […]