If God gives us problems and trials that we can solve, why is it that some commit suicide?
To this question asked by a 16-year-old Catholic girl from Bukidnon province during July 11’s Worldwide Bible Exposition, Bro. Eli Soriano initially corrected the inquirer that it is not God who gives people problems.
Bro. Eli said some of the factors that trigger suicide are hopelessness and fear of facing truths in their life.
Bro. Eli explained that the key to preventing suicide is by following God’s will. He added that there is wisdom in following God’s will, which would prepare us to face life.
In the Book of Corinthians, he read, “God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able.” That is why trusting God is important in preventing suicide. According to Bro. Eli, when a person encounters problems God’s help will come. It is the lack of confidence in what God can do that can trigger a person to kill himself.
Kinds of Suicide
In an earlier Bible Exposition held last June 6, Bro. Eli discussed the different kinds of suicide in response to a Overseas Filipino Worker in Dubai who sought the preacher’s advice on ways to deal with suicide and suicidal tendencies.
Contrary to common knowledge, suicide and suicidal tendencies are not only limited to killing one’s self, Bro. Eli clarified. “The common thinking is that suicidal tendency is killing yourself, [but] those [who killed themselves] are not the only ones with suicidal tendencies.”
Bro. Eli said running amok or indulging in various forms of intoxicating vices, are all forms of suicide. Moreover, suicides can also be deceitfully shoved by false religious preachers to their unwary members.
Bro. Soriano also pointed out that another form of suicidal tendency abounds in the religious sector. Fake religious teachers encouraging their members to handle poisonous snakes as a result of their misinterpretations of the Bible is one such form of suicidal tendency.
An extreme example of which is the group of Jim Jones and his members who intentionally drank cyanide, thinking they would not be harmed. More than 900 of them died while Jones was found with a bullet shot wound in his head. “All people doing damage to themselves can be counted as having suicidal tendencies,” added Bro. Eli.
An Unacceptable Act
The radio-television host said that committing suicide is an unacceptable act to God. “If you are going to ask me, ‘Is committing suicide acceptable to God?’ My answer is a big NO.”
He said satan is the one provoking suicidal thoughts to a person. In the Book of John, he said, it was written that the devil is “a murderer from the beginning.”
“The one egging people to have suicidal tendencies is the murderer satan,” said the televangelist host of Ang Dating Daan.
As a murderer, the devil kills people both physically and spiritually, he explained. Death is not only physical but also spiritual.
“Satan persuades people to do evil, to disobey the commandments of God; it is his way of killing,” the preacher further explained.
God must be the one to decide a person’s time to die. Bro. Eli read passages from the books of Hebrews and John to prove his point. “The one that gives life is the one that has the right to take it away,” he said.
His advice to those with suicidal tendencies? Bro. Soriano said, “Fear God. That’s my advice … you do not own yourself; you do not own your life.”
The international evangelist is Presiding Minister to Members Church of God International (MCGI).
Bible Expositions are regularly organized by MCGI to reach out to people wanting to study religion and the Bible. The next Ang Dating Daan Worldwide Bible Exposition will be held on August 8, 2014. All local and some foreign-based coordinating centers will be open to serve as remote points for the event.
Written by Roy Cruz
