Wakes, Funerals, Graveyards

American wakes, funerals, and their accompanying procedures and rituals often cost more than a year’s worth of pay. This is because the grief of surviving family members is exploited. Moreso, the vast majority view death with trepidation, consciously or subconsciously, including the devoutly religious, whether they admit it or not. That’s largely because people find the concept of conscious existence outside the physical body hard to grasp. Hence the elaborate preservation of bodies.

Consider the desperate attempt of ancient Egyptians to preserve bodies permanently and at all costs. That was as long as the deceased or surviving family had the riches to afford it. Otherwise, they did without. Also, today’s cryonics: the process of freezing dead bodies to be thawed out centuries later for attempted reanimation when modern medicine and technology will supposedly have advanced enough to accomplish this.

The funeral industry preys upon the previously mentioned grief and uncertainty for profit. Consider the process of embalming. It was popularized after President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, as the government paraded his body around the country to showcase his heroic sacrifice. Embalming was necessary for that purpose, but highly unnecessary otherwise.

For this exceedingly expensive procedure, the jaw is wired shut and eyes sealed with glue. The abdomen is punctured, and the internal organs pulled out the hole and disposed of. Then they drain all the blood, pump the arteries and veins full of formaldehyde and other chemicals, and stuff the internal cavities with cotton. Though funeral directors tell their grieving customers that embalming is necessary if you want an open casket, that is false. Refrigeration is far cheaper and just as effective.

From there the corpse is dressed, caked with makeup, and placed in a coffin, almost always from the funeral home, with a 500+% markup. That is, charging five plus times the amount that coffins you can buy online cost. The funeral home also pushes their floral tribute. Yet you can purchase flowers and decorations which are just as nice from a florist for a fraction of the cost. Or supply flowers from your garden. Then a funeral home selected official does the eulogy, at an inflated price.

After the wake, the corpse is treated to an expensive limousine ride in a “hearse”, which it is completely unaware of. Then after another generic eulogy, the body is lowered into a hole which was excavated at a highly inflated price. You also pay far more for a gravestone than its inherent worth. In fact, everything in the entire process is marked up from 500-1,000%, as people are vulnerable to being taken advantage of, considering their emotions surrounding this issue.

Sadly, all that money could have gone to charity for poor and suffering people and animals instead. In addition, this causes another major category of problems. That is, environmental impact from traditional deathcare practices, which presents a significant sustainability crisis. An obvious issue is that expanding graveyards increasingly take away land from the use of living people, animals, and plant life. With the ever-increasing human population, both living and dead, this will become completely unsustainable.

Here are hidden issues: Enough steel is wasted in buried caskets in just one year to rebuild the colossal and magnificent Golden Gate Bridge, which spans between San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean. And every year, enough formaldehyde and other embalming fluids and preservatives are used, that they could fill multiple Olympic sized swimming pools. These carcinogenic, toxic, and non-biodegradable substances sometimes leak into and pollute land and water.

So, less expensive and more eco-friendly alternatives exist. For example, flame cremation. Also, aquamation or alkaline hydrolysis (water cremation). In Japan, over ninety-nine percent of people are cremated. However, every year, flame cremation uses enough fuel to drive to Mars. And though less expensive, it is still expensive. Aquamation solves the fuel problem but costs more than flame cremation. Additional cremation costs arise when ashes are kept in crypts or mausoleums.

Other products and practices are also less expensive and leave a lighter impact on our environment, such as traditional wakes/funerals which forgo embalming, “green” burial (which uses shrouds and eco-caskets instead), being recomposed (introducing bodily remains back into the soil), and more. However, they are still expensive. And if you have a tombstone, gravesite, or similar memorial, this still deprives the living of land.

So, my solutions would be either to have no provisions whatsoever, and let your local officials deal with it. Or donate all or part of your body to science and/or medicine. Death is a confronting reality for most. Consequently, open conversations about our final wishes are rare. So, we must fight against this tendency, and clearly document our wishes beforehand, when we are not overwhelmed by emotions in such time of crisis.

As for the resurrection of the physical body, God can accomplish that regardless of human effort, even if all remains were completely atomized. So, our ethical choice must be to not waste money nor damage our ecosystem with idiotic ideas, no matter how foolishly popular. Our choices can either burden or nourish Mother Earth and sentient beings for future generations. Never give in to peer pressure.

So today, pledge to leave the best possible outcome in your inevitable death procedure. To bolster and solidify this concept in your mind, I recommend doing your own research. You may also want to have a candid conversation with someone you love about your end-of-life wishes. Regardless, following up with legal documentation is required. And it would be a virtuous act from those who will carry such wishes out.

The more conscious we are in end-of-life planning, the more meaningfully we can transform the landscape from a toxic death-space to a sustainable and fruitful life-space. This is our responsibility. Opposing all forms of the death culture must start with us, then radiate outward by our vocalization and example. To be logically aware and unselfish requires effort to be independent over and above society’s common miasma. This is true not only for this topic, but for every aspect of life.

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Sudden Death for You!

Some rare people have fallen from skyscrapers to the ground. Their bones were shattered, blood splashed out, and brains splattered on the concrete. That’s a tragedy. But what if everybody on Earth suffered the same fate? Exceeding the most extreme horror movie, a similar fate will indeed happen to everyone! It’s been happening to me; I’ll explain.

When I was a newborn, I was hung from the top floor ceiling of the one hundred story building, then dropped. But instead of taking a split second to drop per floor, it took about a year for me to drop below the hundredth floor. So far, I’ve passed fifty-five floors. Many people fall that rate. Others take only six months to pass floors; some even shorter. You yourself are falling. You may have not passed as many floors on your way to the ground; maybe it’s been more.

Regardless, there’s no way to stop or reverse this effect. You cannot attach a parachute or prepare a life net at the bottom. And despite the much slower speed, it’s not slow at all, since the inevitable result will be that of one who flew down to the pavement: splat! body shattered to pieces. That is, one hundred percent dead permanently.

However, a good thing comes from this. That is, it creates complete equity and obliterates the extreme bias, favoritism, and injustice that reign on Earth. The famous, Casanovas, rich socialites, those with large supportive families, and the healthy and strong will meet the identical result as social outcasts, the undatable, the needy poor, those without families, and the sick and crippled. It should destroy all arrogance.

It should also tell you that you’re a damn fool if you’re a materialist: one who’s obsessed with this present life and its toys. It should tell you that you’re a damn fool if you don’t seek spirituality before your life vanishes like steam from a teakettle. THINK ABOUT IT.

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DEATH

You reader, are closer to death right now than at any other time in your entire life! Besides, even the longest of human lives is flabbergastingly short. James 4:14: “Ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.” This reminds me of when my family used a teakettle to boil water. The kettle’s whistle signified when the thick water vapor started; that twirling steam would waft in the air for a few seconds, then mysteriously vanish forever.

In fact, science has done nothing to increase the potential human lifespan, just increase the percentage of people who reach that potential. This will likely never change since the domineering scientific principle that governs life: gravity, works twenty four hours a day, 365 days a year to batter everyone down. Even achieving the lessening of gravity would ironically accelerate the tearing apart of bodies, proven by the terrible condition of returning astronauts after having lived outside our atmosphere. Since life giving gravity holds us together while simultaneously tearing us down, this is a no win situation. Science even fails to guarantee everyone a certain number of years, as many people throughout the world continue to surprisingly die when only one third or half of their expected number of years expires.

Some readers may want me to answer: Is Death a real being such as a Grim Reaper figure? Honestly, I am unsure. Some may find it beneficial to see death as a personal being, while others may find that idea counterproductive. What is important to know is that death is not any type of friend, even though some professing Christianity have mistakenly stated such. Christian scripture itself says “The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death” (1st Corinthians 15:26). It was said that God’s original plan involved spiritually transfiguring life forms off this earth and unto Himself after a certain testing period instead of dying. That would leave death unnecessary for making room for new life.

But the traditional narrative continues with a major abscondence of God’s creatures from His favor, and from then on: “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). Considering these observations, the popular notion that the saved attain Heaven immediately after death should be viewed as complete bollox. If this notion were true, it could be seen as a good thing to murder righteous people, since you would be blowing them into Heaven. Or for the saved to kill themselves to attain that desired result instead of working to preserve their God-given life. This notion certainly caused resurgence of the pagan idea of Death being the friend that escorts saved souls into the afterworld.

And if immediate Heaven after death was logical, I would presume that all those convinced they are saved would rejoice upon hearing a diagnosis such as terminal cancer. Since most do not and many have the opposite reaction, I must assume that most just wish that to be true while their alleged certainty collapses under close examination. Besides, the Bible does NOT teach that the righteous attain Heaven immediately upon death. In fact, that would rend pointless a primary mission of Christ’s second coming: to gather the saved to Heaven. And Scripture teaches that JESUS is the one who holds the key of death, not death itself or anything within us. So I assume that all spirits will remain earthbound until Christ’s second coming. So reject the preposterous rubbish of death being Heaven’s doorway.

But although death, essentially the most dominant destructive force, is never anyone’s friend, it has been the catalyst for some incredibly wonderful benefits. For an example of good coming from bad, consider prairie potholes: wrecked patches of ground presumably formed by ancient shifting glaciers having torn up the landscape. Although these craters prohibit agricultural use and human living space, they absorb melting snow and rainwater, thereby reducing the risk and severity of downstream flooding. And since they fill with water and grow aquatic plants, they inadvertently feed and breed many species of waterfowl who are dependent upon them.

Now the benefits of death, since our world reeks of foul putrescent corruption, are that it absolutely limits the amount and duration of suffering that anyone can inflict on another. Instead of continuing endlessly, all suffering must necessarily be as fleeting as life itself. However, that never excuses mistreating others whether human or animal, as undoubtedly the purpose of this short life is to develop and test character, determining where we will spend a potentially endless future life. And consider the arrogance and pomposity of men in power. Imagine how much worse it would be without inevitable death promising to reduce them to the same end fate as deranged homeless people babbling nonsense.

And consider that so many women on dating sites brazenly refer to themselves as goddesses and queens, demanding to be treated as such. Death leaves its warning notice by slowly destroying their physical beauty and sexual attractiveness, leaving ugliness. With one exception: if they die young. So death is of major importance to keep evil in check, as it is God’s just punishment upon fallen creatures. Actually, what I equate death with the most is the Second Law of Thermodynamics, which is physical death’s primary component.

This universal law solidified beyond any doubt establishes that entropy: an irreversible deterioration, regularly occurs in all physical structures and systems. Though energy cannot be destroyed, a minute quantity is always changed from a useful to a useless form. Hence everything wears out and eventually “dies”. And by extrapolating this Second Law to its ultimate end, we see that the entire physical universe will suffer a permanent “heat death”. That is, unless a supernatural force intervenes to stop and reroute it. Finally, “Fear not them which kill the body, but are unable to kill the soul: but rather fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28).

Heaven

First, I believe that nobody has experienced Heaven. Rather, I believe that all spirits (or ghosts) of departed persons remain on Earth or inside the earth and will do until Judgment Day. Early churchmen believed that all spirits remained within interior earthly regions. But if that is so, I’m sure it would be many times overflowed due to 1800 years of population growth. Regardless, it’s clear, according to Christianity, that most people will never achieve Heaven, as narrow is the way the leadeth to life and few find it (Gospel of Matthew 7:14). It’s even possible that nobody in our century will ever achieve Heaven, as the Almighty doesn’t owe anybody anything, and He never needed anything.

Undoubtedly, almost everybody would love to go to some sort of Heaven. But most people would want to be the BOSS of Heaven, or at least be able to boss others therein. But since most people understand that such notions are incompatible with historical Christianity and some other religions, many choose Atheism to justify acting like they are the Supreme Being. Some twist the Christian message by magnifying some scriptures that have the saved reigning in Heaven, while ignoring all the other scriptures that speak of eternally serving, worshipping, and magnifying God, while being forever humbled and obedient to Him.

In Islamic Paradise however, the men are to be quite busy with over 70 beautiful virgins apiece. This doctrine should be recognized as so obviously man made and based on wishful thinking that it should be enough to refute the entire religion . As for Mormonism, or “Church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints”, their celestial kingdom has the Almighty perpetually serving people by creating an endless number of planets for them to rule over, while they have sex and produce infinite generations of children. The Mormon telestial kingdom has saved people being eternally separated from God the Father and God the Son.

As for the Watchtower Society, which produces Watchtower and Awake magazines, these “Jehovah’s Witnesses” teach that the saved will eternally reside on a merely physical Paradise earth. Their saved are to be eternally separated from the Almighty and reproduce endless generations, essentially a combination of Mormon celestial and telestial scenarios. And although they don’t mention God creating endless planets for people to rule, this would be necessary with them endlessly reproducing yet never dying. The obnoxiously self-serving and selfish bollix served up by the anti-Christian Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses is ABSOLUTE RUBBISH.

Instead, I have an exact opposite idea in mind: If I achieved Heaven it would be right to be extremely thankful to God for having a glorified body that would never wear out or get tired. Then I could use that body to continuously pedal a stationary bike hooked to an electrical generator. The generator would power tens of thousands of lightbulbs on an arrow a hundred meters high and a thousand meters long. The arrow would point to my heavenly Father, the Lord Jesus Christ, and Holy Spirit, with the words God is Everything. I would be in God’s presence for eternity, yet would get no recognition from others, as there would be panels around me and the bike, so nobody could see my indebted service.

Now can pets go to Heaven. I’m convinced that they can and will. I believe there will be representations of every type of complex animal that ever existed, in Heaven. That’s because if any animal has free will, it will need to possess a supernatural spirit. Otherwise, it would merely be a flesh robot. Heaven will likely even involve the transfiguration of Earth herself, which her land masses, oceans, and plant life. Actually, nobody knows just what Heaven will be like. “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him.”——–1st Corinthians 2:9. All Scripture representations of Heaven are merely symbolical.

Another idea besides Hell being infinite torture, which fosters incredulity and doubt is that of Heaven being extreme infinite pleasure. That’s because everyone has bad qualities and most have good qualities. But there is strong reason to believe that Hell is temporary punishment for unrepentant sinners who won’t seek forgiveness, nothing more. There is also reason to believe in varying degrees of Heaven. Again, Christianity teaches that Heaven is being in the Almighty’s presence. So perhaps there are different degrees of His presence. Consider the following analogy:

If the Supreme Being was a star, those who did a splendid job of doing His will throughout their lives might be like an inner planet orbiting the star and receiving its maximum radiance. Those with a passion for God but whose lives were somewhat lacking could be planet at an average distance, still receiving a healthy amount of radiance. Those who lives were seriously disordered and whose loyalties were ambivalent, yet whom God still forgives may be likened to a distant planet that receives minimal radiance but is still within the star’s gravitational range. The lost would be like space debris outside the star’s gravitational pull; hence they float away into outer darkness. Regardless, there will be a shocking turnaround after the Judgment, when humanity’s perverted judgments are replaced with god’s perfectly righteous judgment.

So-called righteous people, such as “Martin Luther” King, can fool people, as 2nd Corinthians 11:14 states: “No marvel, for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.” But the Almighty cannot be fooled. Quoting the synoptic texts of Matthew 19:30, Mark 10:31, & Luke 13:30: “Many that are first shall be last, and many that are last shall be first.” I close with some quotes about those destined for Heaven: “This world is the land of the dying; the next is the land of the living”——Tyron Edwards. “Death is not a foe, but an inevitable adventure”——–Sir Oliver Ledge. “Death is the key which opens the palace of eternity”———-Milton. “Death is the crown of life”———Young. “Death and love are the two wings that bear the kind man to heaven”———Michelangelo.

Anti-Natalism

Even in our 21st century, many deny that our world is overpopulated and proclaim it good that all people groups reproduce and increase their numbers. Many others who spurn overpopulation claims just proclaim it good that people of their country, race, religion, or other common characteristic reproduce.

Then there are many who claim that our world is indeed overpopulated. Some of these claim that all people groups are overpopulated, others claim that only certain groups are, yet others claim that all groups with the exception of their own are. My posts which discuss overpopulation: https://wordpress.com/post/kcsunbeam.wordpress.com/2555 https://wordpress.com/post/kcsunbeam.wordpress.com/2553

A third, much smaller group are the Anti-Natalists. They far exceed the claim of overpopulation, having the stance that assigns a negative value to all procreation. They argue that humans should abstain from procreation because it is morally wrong, and therefore, nobody should ever reproduce again. With few exceptions, anti-natalists claim that the entire human race should die out. To their credit, they strongly oppose suicide and murder. The position is far from new, some formulations of this idea stemming from the ancient BCs. As for abortion, Anti-natalists have a spectrum of views like everyone else. My post which discusses abortion: https://wordpress.com/post/kcsunbeam.wordpress.com/598

{Supporting Arguments of Anti-Natalists:

*Environmental Degradation: They see human activity as the primary cause, and therefore refraining from procreation and allowing for eventual human extinction the best alternative for Gaia Earth and her plants, waterways, and Sky to flourish. Phasing out the human species by voluntarily ceasing to breed would stop pollution and might allow Earth’s biosphere to return to good health. Crowded conditions and resource shortages will be assuaged as we become less dense. In other words, the end of humans ends the human world but not the world at large.

*Our Antagonistic Species: The human species is seen as the most destructive and warped on Earth, responsible for the mass suffering and deaths of other humans and non-human animals. They say that billions of nonhumans are abused and slaughtered each year by our species for the production of animal products, for experimentation, being disposed of after the experiments, as a result of habitat destruction or other environmental damage, and for sadistic pleasure. If that level of destruction were caused by another species, we might quickly recommend that new members of that species not be brought into existence. Therefore, without new humans, there will be no harm caused to other sentient beings by said humans.

*Helping Humans and Other Animals: Philosophers argue that rather than engaging in the morally problematic act of procreation, one could do good by adopting already existing children. They emphasize that, around the globe millions of existing children need care. They argue that presently, in a situation where huge numbers of people live in poverty, we should cease procreation and divert those resources that would have been used to raise our own children, to the poor. They point out that giving up procreation and striving for human extinction can make it possible to care for the humans and animals who are already here.

*The Common Outlook is Distorted: Our self-assessments about the quality of our lives have three major errors: A) Skewed Comparison: Instead of being honest about how our lives are truly going, we tend to compare ourselves with those who are the worst off and use that as impetus to trudge on with broken lives. B) The Pollyanna principle: We tend to bring up pleasant past events while trying to ignore the unpleasant ones, which may have predominated. And we tend to have an uncalled-for optimism about the future which is unreasonable. C)Turd Polishing: We tend to crumble before bad situations, thus lowering our expectations dramatically, and thus call bad situations good.

*Consequences of Procreation: *Fifty million people have died from natural disasters. *840 million people suffer from hunger and malnutrition and 20,000 people die every day from it. *From AD 500-2000, 200 million people succumbed to plagues and pandemics. *18 million people die every year from infectious diseases and aggressive cancers. *3.5 million people die every year in accidents. *Before the 20th century 130 million people were mass murdered. *In the 20th century 200 million people were beaten, bombed, burned, crushed, drowned, frozen, knifed, shot, tortured, or worked to death. *There were 34 million conflict-related deaths from the 16th century through the 19th, and 109 million in the 20th. *About 40 million children are abused each year. *Chronic depression is at an all-time high.

*Humanistic Attempt to Stamp Out Death and Suffering: Allegedly oblivious to the suffering to which life is subject, women beget children, and are thus the cause of old age and death in a way. If they knew what suffering they would add to by this act, they would supposedly desist from having children, and so, stop the operation of old age and death. Since birth leads to death, they say that to conquer death, people should desist from procreation instead of producing cannon fodder for death. And by producing a child, we are responsible not only for this child’s potential suffering but may also be co-responsible for the suffering of further offspring of this child. And no one can predict their child’s fate.

*Childbirth VS. the Individual: Philosophers argue that procreation is contrary to Immanuel Kant’s wise insistence that a man should never be used as merely a means to an end, but always be treated as an end in himself.

{A subgroup claims that anti-natalism should also extend to non-human animals: They say that by ending the procreation of animals by sterilizing them, we can free them from being slaves to their instincts and from bringing ever more animals into a life cycle of misery. Consider that lives of wild animals in their natural environment generally seem very bad. Research on jungle life shows that just 1 in 8 male lion cubs survives into adulthood. Others die from starvation and disease, and often fall victim to other lions. Attaining adulthood is much rarer for fish. Only 2% of salmon survive into adulthood. And besides that, the problems of being eaten alive, disease, infanticide, parasitism, predation, and starvation.

{Comments: As one who has had no opportunity to have children, I love how anti-natalism acts as a battleship to gun down and blow apart the dominant idea that producing children is the only worthy goal or life’s most important achievement. It also torpedoes the dominant bigotry that sees parents as superior to non-parents. I also commend anti-natalists for their denouncement of speciesism and for exalting quality over quantity.

In fact, to rightfully dismiss this extremely gloomy and sorrowful philosophy, there must be an afterlife for both humans and animals. Thankfully I am sure there is. But since Christianity teaches that most will be damned, Hell must be temporary. Otherwise, pain would clearly outweigh happiness, and life never having existed would be a vast improvement. Thankfully I am an Annihilationist. My explanation: https://wordpress.com/post/kcsunbeam.wordpress.com

I must also note that any volunteer extinction or depopulation would never work, since there are too many ignorant and uncaring people who would never cooperate. Instead, depleted numbers of informed and caring people would allow more opportunities for bad people to increase their numbers, making things worse. Rather, people with bad qualities would need be sterilized, which qualities are often genetically inherited.

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Spirits and the Afterlife

Article 1: Since limbs, faces, bones, blood, and organs are successfully transplanted from others, yet recipients are still the same people, no more or less, we cannot be any of these parts alone. The heart, supposedly from which springs decision making and emotion, allegedly sends more signals to the body than the brain. However, one can live without a fleshly heart by having a mechanical heart. Many assert that the brain is exclusively the true person, no more or less, since brains cannot be transplanted. However, human brains are by far the most complicated physical structures known to exist. Inability to successfully transplant brains could be due to limited technology.

After sitting dormant for years, computer hard drives have complete function totally independent of any screens, keyboards, speakers, mice, and printers by simply plugging them in. Likewise, after sitting dormant, automobile engines function independently of the car, simply by igniting the spark plugs. I saw one in action; a mechanic had a V-8 engine revving on a stand, violently shaking with flames shooting out. Yet you can never restart one brain cell, let alone a full brain. Besides, a child born with no brain (anencephaly) lived for three years.

Electrical impulses course through living bodies but not dead ones. Yet dead bodies can never be even partially revived by any electrical impulse. So there is nothing left of the physical body to be the source of life. Hmmmmmm, interesting. Furthermore, if we were our body alone, we would be extremely complicated physical structures and combinations of chemicals, nothing more. Logic dictates that mere chemicals or physical structures, no matter how complicated, necessarily lack creativity and free will. Even the random “choices” that computers make must originate from an intelligent outside source. Yet computers still have no creativity nor free will. Hmmmmmm, extremely interesting. So two reasons make merely natural life impossible; logically, it must be *supernatural*; we must have a spirit.

And for those who believe in God, who must be Spirit, why would His children be flesh robots not sharing His spirit nature? Besides, physical bodies die only because cells deteriorate; there’s no reason why spirits would deteriorate. If spirits deteriorated, God would deteriorate. And since, by process of elimination, spirits enliven the body, and not vice versa, spirits live on after death. To wit: life after death, or an afterlife. Summarily, there not being an afterlife is illogical, as squares with only three sides. I also believe that higher animals have spirits; how else can their free will be exercised?

Suicide Solution

Now keep in mind that suicide is ALWAYS a PERMANENT solution. Yet only around 1 in 500 people who committed suicide had a permanent problem. The rest felt overwhelmed by a TEMPORARY problem. So here are temporary problems that never justify suicide: Getting fired, losing your home, failing school, public humiliation, or getting dumped by a spouse, boyfriend, girlfriend, or love interest.

Here’s a permanent problem, but it never in a million years justifies suicide: Permanent lifetime rejection by the opposite sex. Not only have I been permanently rejected by single women, but I have also been permanently rejected by the whole world. Yet I intend to live to 100. Consider the song Don’t Try Suicide by Queen. It goes: “Don’t try suicide; nobody’s worth it; don’t try suicide; nobody cares; don’t try suicide; nobody gives a damn.” Other problems which could be permanent are imprisonment or deep poverty. But many people in such situations were able to live fulfilling lives.

Consider Christian scripture 1st Timothy 6:7-8: “For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain that we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing let us be therewith content.” And never in a million years even contemplate suicide because of being involved in a sexual scandal, no matter how public or perverted, even if you went to prison for it. Men’s sexuality sometimes goes haywire. In those cases, don’t care what people think; just try not to repeat the behavior.

Consider that suicide attempts usually fail. Kevin Hines jumped off San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge. Immediately after he began to fall, he realized he didn’t want to die. Upon hitting the water, he felt unimaginable pain. He went on to write Cracked, not Broken: Surviving and Thriving After a Suicide Attempt. Quoting a man who used a .357 Magnum revolver and lived: “I place the gun to my head. Then, I remember a tremendous explosion of lights like fireworks. Thus did the pain become glorious, an army rallied to the side of death to help destroy my life, which I could feel leaving my body with each rushing surge of blood. I was engulfed in total darkness.”

The right thing to do is to be extra supportive of genders and races that are more suicide prone. So, know that worldwide, males commit suicide three times more frequently than females. That’s 200% more frequently. Out of 170+ countries the female suicide rate is higher in only 4 countries. See: List of countries by suicide rate on Wikipedia. And the higher rate of female suicide attempts is trumped by quasi-suicidal behavior which males engage in far more frequently. And Whites commit suicide 3 times more frequently than non-whites. That’s also 200% more frequently. See: Suicide Prevention Resource Center; Racial and Ethnic Disparities, on the web. These statistics reveal who is truly oppressed.

Drug addiction is a big factor in suicide which can be readily controlled. Note that there are drugs that no human alive is mentally or physically able to resist being addicted to. And though illicit drugs initially give great pleasure, eventually they would no longer do so, and you’d simply need them just to feel normal. Without taking them, you’d feel quite depressed. Eventually, even with the drugs you’d be depressed and without them extremely depressed. Hence the high suicide rate connected with drug addiction. Therefore, if you’ve never tried hard drugs before, NEVER TRY THEM. If you are addicted, GET HELPIMMEDIATELY. If you know someone else who’s addicted, do everything you can to get them help.

Going to a better place right after death should never be motivation for suicide, since it’s evident from a Christian standpoint that all that happens when we die is that our spirit leaves our body. I explain this in my writings on ghosts. And since God authored our lives, we don’t have the right to end our lives without a good reason. He expects us to make the most of the lives that are really His, which we are merely the stewards of. As far as reincarnation, consider the book Reincarnation Refuted: Evidence, Logic, and Common Sense, by Stephen Blake.

Yet consider that the idea of everybody automatically being damned/lost because of their suicide is complete fiction and has no biblical basis. Actually, the Bible mentions those who committed suicide, and honors them as people of God, with the exception of Judas Iscariot. And the early Church fathers commended those who committed suicide while under severe persecution, which would have resulted in extreme and permanent desecration of their physical bodies. So, some reasons which would justify suicide are becoming a quadriplegic with no hope of recovery, being held in a torture chamber, or having a permanent physical ailment that causes constant excruciating pain, which painkillers cannot relieve.

Another reason would be if you are addicted to sadistic murder. Your suicide would do society a favor. But before doing anything, such people must make sure they’re right with God beforehand. And such people should first consult a close friend and a medical expert beforehand. This would help eliminate reasons based on mere emotionality and would guide the person into the proper method if appropriate. But again, very few suicides are ever justified, maybe only 1 in 500-1,000. And again, no temporary problem ever justifies this permanent solution.

Now there are also quasi-suicidal behaviors. This is behavior that puts you at risk of dying prematurely or permanently damaging your health. Some examples are being in a gang, smoking, drinking and driving, doing crazy stunts, and riding a motorcycle. Even riding with a helmet is far more risky than driving a car. Again, God expects us to be the best stewards of our loaned bodies that we can be, which bodies are intended to be temples of the Holy Spirit.

I shall close this post with a prayer. You may pray along if you’d like: “Heavenly Father, I beg you to grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. I ask this in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.”