Sui-cide

                                   

Sui-cide: The act of taking one's own life voluntarily and intentionally by a person of years of discretion and of sound mind.  
 

Is there anyone out there who has a dark cloud hanging over them? Is that dark cloud in the form of lonely life, being bullied, or any negative situation or circumstance going on right now? I know how you feel.....I went through the same feelings, both as a teenager and as an adult.

 

I was a very lonely teenager....had a large family; lots of cousins, but no real friends. I grew up ina very small mountain community, and that did not help. Seven times in my early teenage years my sister took a butcher knife out of my hands. To me, a stab in the heart would do the job. She never told my parents, and of course, neither did I.

 

I made it through high school, then married soon after. Leaving the little mountain community was a temporary solution to the depression. I went on with my life~had children, divorced, worked two jobs, and entered into another abusive relationship. In March, 2004, I decided I'd had enough of the abuse, and 144 pills-2 days in ICU-7 days in the psych ward later, I felt much better. The doctors said I should have died, but God had a bigger purpose.

 

Ultimately, all I was looking for was love and acceptance, none of which I got growing up except from my paternal grandparents. All this time~since I was 14 years old~I knew who my Savior was....but I was searching for 'my purpose' in the wrong places. After this attempt, my life changed drastically....and has continued to improve in leaps and bounds. All I had to do was put Him first.

 

My challenge to any who are thinking about or considering this permanent solution to a temporary problem to seek help. Not just the help that will put you on medicines that will 'regulate' you. Seek the Great Physician that can repair ALL the damage, no matter where it comes from. Whether it is from child molestation (which I suffered) unloving parents (me again) no positive role models in my peer group (ditto), a change will come if you sincerely seek it from Him. You can be alive again, in a way that you never thought or imagined.

 

Before you consider taking your own life, give Him a chance.

 



To Tattoo or Not To Tattoo?

They shall grow not old,

as we that are left grow old.

Age shall not weary them,

nor the years condemn.

As the going down of the sun

and in the morning

we will remember them.

Lest We Forget.

The tattoo above is on my younger  daughter's  right side. It is remembrance of a fellow National Guard that was killed in battle just weeks after graduating from boot camp. My daughter was among those that graduated with him. This man was married, and left behind two small children. All those that graduated with him got the same tattoo in memorial to this soldier. 

There are those in a lot of religious denominations that frown upon, and are vocally against, any tattoo or other bodily marking. They will quote Romans 12:1-2 (Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.) in their 'righteous' condemnation.  But, yet, God says He looks at the heart of a man, and not at the outward appearance 1 Samuel 16:7 (But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.”) So, which is it? Or are they both right? The following excerpt from a blog on tattoos will shed some light on the subject:

Here are my thoughts on the subject, for whatever they may be worth.Leviticus 19 includes the following: 27 You shall not round off the hair on your temples or mar the edges of your beard. 28 You shall not make any cuts on your body for the dead or tattoo yourselves: I am the Lord. (all Bible quotes are ESV. The NIV also uses "tattoo.") Anything in the Bible should be taken seriously, of course. However, we can divide the commandments in the Old Testament (OT) into three types:
Cultural and Civic -- commandments for the OT Israelite culture, like commands on how to divide the land among the tribes.Ceremonial -- commandments concerning the worship of the Israelites, like commands about feasts. Most of the OT commands are of this type.Moral -- commandments for all cultures, at all times, like the commandment that husbands stay with their wives (Genesis 2:24, repeated by Jesus in Matthew 19:5). Moral commandments, though they may be stated first in the OT, are also found in the New Testament.
We can't always tell which type of command was meant. They are not identified as such in the Bible. The church generally does not hold that the first two types of commandments are binding on Christians. At the Jerusalem conference, the leaders wrote as follows, when Jews felt that gentile Christians must obey the ceremonial law: Acts 15:28 For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden than these requirements: 29a that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Even some of the prohibitions in Acts 15:28-9 are not taken the OT. But, if that's true, I bet they don't preach against clipping off the edges of a beard. It is easy to confuse our own prejudices with what God commands. I can remember when that happened with not was binding by most Christians anymore. 1 Corinthians 8:8 Food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do. The Acts 15 statement was about the ceremonial law. It does not undo God's moral laws.So what about tattoos? The context seems to indicate clearly that Leviticus 19:28 is ceremonial or cultural, not a moral command. Not only is not a moral commandment, but it is probably speaking particularly of a situation involving death of a loved one, and, likely, refers to practices of the heathen neighbors of the Israelites. So why do some Christians speak out against tattoos, saying that the Bible is categorically against them? One reason may be that they don't distinguish between the three types of commandments in ring wedding rings, not wearing a tie, not having your hair cut or wearing pants if you are a woman, not having a beard, or not having long hair if you are a man. Opposition to these ways of presenting oneself is and was cultural, not moral. In our own congregation, attitudes on these matters have changed, which is just as well, because they aren't based on moral commandments.

No one ever went to hell just for wearing a tattoo. People go to hell because they don't believe in Christ as Savior and honor Him as Lord. Nonetheless, there are some principles that would seem to apply about tattoos, and to other choices about how we present our bodies.
1) Why are you doing this? If a tattoo is meant as a statement of rebellion against God, or our parents, or is a display of personal pride, then we shouldn't get it.
2) What is it showing? "Four-letter words," insults, anti-God statements or pictures are some of the things that should be avoided, of course.3) How much does it cost? We need to use the money that God has given us wisely. This does not mean that we can never spend money on fixing ourselves up, or on things that we enjoy, but we should be careful, and have the right priorities.
4) Is it immodest? Is the purpose to arouse lust in others, or is it likely to do so?5) Does it put your health at risk?
6) How will it affect other people? We can't live solely for other people, but we need to be careful that we don't drive others away from Christ, or weaken other Christians. Some groups (motorcyclers, some African-Americans, some military personnel) might be drawn to Christ by some tattoos, whereas other groups might not.
7) Has God given you a personal conviction against this (or for it)? If so, you'd better abide by that conviction. (1 Corinthians 8 speaks about some of these things.) However, we should be careful not to expect others to live according to our personal convictions.
8) Have I promised not to do this? There are certain vows that go with joining our church -- which has no prohibition on being tattoed -- or other bodies, and promises should be kept, unless there is a more important moral principle in play that wasn't anticipated when you made the promise.
9) What's my attitude? (In this case, toward those who disagree with my opinion about something external, or who may be affected by what I might do.) My attitude must be one of love, honor and integrity.
(see full blog at: http://sunandshield.blogspot.com/2008/06/what-bible-says-about-tattoos-1.html )

I think my daughter, and all those in her unit, showed fully the action in #9.