I Shall Not Be Headless (Part 1) Series

2. My name is Brandy. I’m 13 years old and I’ve tried to kill myself 6 times. I had some problems with my mom and I felt I couldn’t live anymore.

3. Lori was 14 years old when she was baptized at the local church - Blue Springs Community Church. Few months later, she dropped out church. The pastor and his wife visited her several times, but failed to persuade Lori to return to church. Everyone was concerned for her, but no one suspected the real reason for her absence. Lori was pregnant. About a month before she was to deliver, Lori tidied her room, emptied her school locker, and wrote a note to her mother: “You kept asking me if I was OK and I kept telling you I was, but I wasn’t OK. I’m sorry, Mom. I’ve got too many problems. I am taking the easy way out.” Lori left that day before her mother arrived home from work. She walked to the railroad tracks near her house, knelt between the rails, and folded her hands over her little round belly as Amtrak 168 barreled down upon her. The train engineer, a man who had a fourteen-year-old daughter of his own, later said that when he saw Lori, it was too late to stop the train. She was killed.

Statistics On Suicide: People every day consider “ending it all.” Suicide is the 3rd leading cause of death among 15-24 year olds. According to statistics, 18 teenagers per day kill themselves in the United States. Every 80 minutes a teenager commits suicide. Over a hundred teens per week, and 6,500 per year. Not only that, but over 1000 teens per day attempt to take their own lives. That’s almost 1 teen per minute. Suicide Is Not A New Idea.

THE BIBLE RECORDS SEVEN SUICIDES.

1. Samson (Judges 16:25-30): Samson died for a cause he believed in and for revenge.

2. Ahithophel (2 Samuel 17:23): Ahithophel was bitter because his advice was not followed.

After arranging his worldly affairs, he hanged himself.

3. Zimri (1 Kings 16:15-20): He was the chariot commander who murdered King Elah and all his family members and succeeded him. However, Zimri reigned only 7 days, because the army elected Omri as king. Finding his position untenable, Zimri set fire to the palace and killed himself.

4. Judas (Matthew 27:3-5): Depressed, Judas felt trapped by materialism, greed, and guilt.

5. Saul’s Armor-Bearer (1 Samuel 31:5): He wanted to die with his boss. 40% of teenage suicide is impulse. (fell on own sword).

6. Saul (1 Samuel 31:4): Saul was stressed out, felt rejected and a failure (fell on own sword).

HERE ARE FOUR PRINCIPLES THAT THIS PASSAGE GIVES US TO PONDER.

1. Suicide Is Not What God Wants For Us: Saul was concerned that the enemy not humiliate him by torturing him, so he took it upon himself to end it all. Hitler was the same. Rather than praying for forgiveness, Saul was worried about image - what the enemy would do to him.

2. Cremation Is Not Condemned By Scripture: When the Philistines found the bodies of Saul and his sons they did what Saul had feared most - made a side show of them. They paraded all 4 decapitated bodies and made sport of them. Beth Shan is a stone’s throw away from the very spot where Saul had been inaugurated King. Some Israelite warriors heard of the desecration, stole into the city, took down the bodies of the King and his sons and burned them. Some wonder about cremation and some condemn it. We cannot argue on an issue in which the Bible is silent.