Suicide?
The story I am about to tell you is completely fictitious.
Names have been changed to protect the innocent.
Any similarity to anyone mentioned below is unintentional and merely a coincidence.
Stated behavior below is not meant to portray actual behavior in real life.
I have a gutsy other half. A bonafide diplomat.
The other day we were at a football game, which games of course we never attend together.
I and the wife had just seated ourselves at the end of an empty row of chairs so we had easy access to the lavatory if that was needed, and I sat down on the outermost chair. Soon such departure to the privy was needed, so I affectionately raised by third finger to my spouse - an indication she fondly loves - indicating the dire requirement of my needing to urinate as soon as I could.
I left, and while I was gone, some bullyboy jerk came along and sat down in my chair right next to her, as she was clearly displaying her wedding ring on the fourth finger of her left hand.
Upon returning, that entire row was occupied by people, and the dialogue that transpired was as follows:
ME: "Excuse me, but I was sitting there next to my wife."
BULLYBOY: "So, go sit somewhere else."
ME: "Excuse me"?
BULLYBOY: "You heard me. Buzz off."
ME: (To the wife) "Honey, let's go and find some other seats."
BULLYBOY: (Speaking to her but me simultaneously) "You don't have to move. Let him go and find some other place to sit."
THE WIFE: (Getting up, and speaking to me but also indirectly to him) "Just because some presumptuous bastard comes along and sits down next to me without first asking me if the empty seat is available, does not mean that you have a right to exist. I'm out of here.
[The bullyboy is dumbfounded, and embarrassed, because she said it loud enough for people around us to clearly hear her comment. She does leave, and I follow her. Finding a couple of empty seats next to each other nearby, she sits down in one of them, and I in the other one....and the football game begins.]
The story I have told you is completely fictitious.
Names have been changed to protect the innocent.
Any similarity to anyone mentioned above is unintentional and merely a coincidence.
Stated behavior above is not meant to portray actual behavior in real life.
The story previously hallucinated and relayed to you the reader reminds me of the subject of suicide - commonly known as self-murder.
It also brings to mind the question of whether the wicked will be resurrected on Judgment Day with an immortal body to forever burn in the Lake-of-Fire flames of Hell while in the solitary confinement of perpetual Outer Darkness.
Some presume that both Jesus Christ and His apostles were "suicidal" - relating to the following Scripture verses:
Mark 9:31 ....He was teaching His disciples, saying to them, "The Son of Man will be delivered into the hands of humans, and they will kill him; and when He is killed, after three days He will rise."
Mark 10:34 and they will mock Him, and spit upon Him, and scourge Him, and kill Him; and after three days He will rise."
Mark 14:58 "We heard Him say, 'I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and in three days I will build another, not made with hands.'"
John 2:20 The Jews then said, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?"
John 2:21 But He spoke of the temple of His body.
John 11:11 Thus he spoke, and then he said to them, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awake him out of sleep."
12 The disciples said to Him, "Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover (i.e. wake up, as usual)."
13 Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep.
14 Then Jesus told them plainly, "Lazarus is dead;
15 and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him."
16 Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, "Let us also go, that we may die with him."
Saint John frequently alluded to whatever with euphemisms throughout his written gospel account, such as Christ euphemistically calling himself a piece of carpentry ("I am The Door"), and brunch or lupper (your choice) of munching and chowing on (or chomping into whatever of Christ's body parts) and slurping His chromosomed type A or AB or O blood every day or Sunday or monthly at Mass:
John 6:57 As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me [yum!] will live because of me.
John 6:54 he who eats My flesh [yuck!] and drinks My blood [double-yuck!] has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.
John 6:56 He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood stays in me, and I in him.
Is it any wonder why more Jews don't convert to Christianity with "nonsense crap" like that involved, allegedly spoken by Jesus?
Leviticus 7:27 Whoever eats any blood, that person shall be cut off from his people."
But that little rhetorical gem of cannibalistic-sounding euphemism was thankfully explained as something intended to be spiritually (and obviously NOT literally) understood (and a great proof for not presuming magical-mystery-tidbit transubstantiation):
John 6:63 It is the spirit that gives life, the flesh is of no avail; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.
Whew! What a relief!
Getting back to the appearance of irreparable self-homicide suicide:
John 8:21 Again he said to them, "I go away, and you will seek me and die in your sin; where I am going, you cannot come."
John 8:22 Then said the Jews, "Will he kill himself, since he says, 'Where I am going, you cannot come'?"
John 10:18 No one takes [My life] from me, but I lay it down of My own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again; this charge I have received from My Father."
Matthew 26:53 Do you think that I cannot appeal to My Father, and He will at once send Me more than twelve legions of angels [to save Me from being taken to Pilate, beaten, and crucified]?
John 13:33 Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek Me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, 'Where I am going you cannot come.'
John 13:36 Simon Peter said to Mim, "Lord, where are you going?" Jesus answered, "Where I am going you cannot follow me now; but you shall follow afterward."
Matthew 27:61 Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the sepulchre.
62 Next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate
63 and said, "Sir, we remember how that impostor said, while He was still alive, 'After three days I will rise again.'
64 Therefore order the sepulchre to be made secure until the third day, lest His disciples go and steal Him away, and tell the people, 'He has risen from the dead,' and the last fraud will be worse than the first."
65 Pilate said to them, "You have a guard of soldiers; go, make it as secure as you can."
66 So they went and made the sepulchre secure by sealing the stone and setting a guard [who would themselves be executed if they slept or slacked on the job, like the Acts 12:19 soldiers who let Peter escape were executed by Herod].
Matthew 28:6 He is not here; for He has (NOT "is") risen, as He said. Come, see the place where He lay.
7 Then go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead, and hey, He is going before you to Galilee; there you will see Him. Wow, I have told you."
8 So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell His disciples.
9 And hey, Jesus met them and said, "Hail!" And they came up and took hold of
is feet and worshiped Him.
10 Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid; go and tell My brethren to go to Galilee, and there they will see Me."
11 While they were going, hey, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had taken place.
12 And when they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a sum of money to the soldiers
13 and said, "Tell people, 'His disciples came by night and stole Him away while we were asleep.'
14 And if this comes to the governor's ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble."
15 So they took the money and did as they were directed; and this story has been spread among the Jews to this day.
IS it normal for the saints to desire suicide?
Job 7:16 I loathe my life; I would not live for ever. Let me alone, for my days are a breath.
Job 9:21 I am blameless; I regard not myself; I loathe my life.
Job 10:1 "I loathe my life; I will give free utterance to my complaint; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
Psalm 39:13 Look away from me, that I may know gladness, before I leave and be no more!"
Philippians 1:21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
22 If it is to be life in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell.
23 I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.
24 But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account.
25 Convinced of this, I know that I shall remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith,
26 so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again.
Deuteronomy 30:19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse; therefore choose life, that you and your descendants may live
Second Samuel 12:13 David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the LORD." And Nathan said to David, "The LORD also has put away your sin; you shall not die.
Psalm 118:17 I shall not die, but I shall live, and recount the works of the LORD.
Isaiah 51:14 He who is bowed down shall speedily be released; he shall not die and go down to the Pit, neither shall his bread fail.
Isaiah 66:24 "And they shall go forth and look on the dead bodies of the men that have rebelled against me; for their worm shall not die, their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh."
Habakkuk 1:12 Are You not from everlasting, Oh LORD my God, my Holy One? We shall not die. Oh LORD, You have ordained them as a judgment; and You, Oh Rock, have established them for chastisement.
Deliberate suicide is one murderous sin one cannot live on to repent about. It is an affront against God, against one's wife or wives, one's parents, one's employers, one's close friends, one's neighbors, one's fellow patriots and taxpayers, and many more.
Do fools really misthink that they will get 70 naked virgins in Nirvana by terroristically destroying themselves along with passersby in close proximity?
What would they - in fact - actually accomplish by murdering themselves? WILL they really change anything substantial by so murdering? They certainly will not change God's mind:
Job 34:33 Will He then make requital to suit you, because you reject it? For you must choose, and not I; therefore declare what you know.
Job 35:6 If you have sinned [by committing and not "performing" self-murder suicide], what do you accomplish against Him? And if your transgressions are multiplied, what do you do to Him?
Job 35:7 If you are righteous, what do you give to Him; or what does He receive from your hand?
Job 35:8 Your wickedness concerns a man like yourself, and your righteousness a son of man.
Job 36:21 Watch out, do not turn to [self-murderous genocidal] iniquity, for this you have chosen rather than affliction [burning in Hell forever].
So, WILL the damned euphemistic goats cursed to Hell by the Lord on Judgment Day be raised with an immortal body...or is that only for the beloved euphemitic sheep, usually called "saints" and "elect?"
IF saved saints are not given a real and actual resurrected body, one can also presume that the wicked won't get actual immortal bodies (with body parts, of course) either.
Would that be with or without clothes on? IS there to be any warm-weather-excused immodesty of general-public-view loose-long-haired mopheadedness, nude-armed sleeveslessness, naked-legged slackslessness, or soxlessness with noisy and attention-getting soles-slapping flipflop sandals?
WILL both resurrected righteous and resurrected wicked be merely disembodied spirits, perpetually existing in some mysterious abyss?
First Corinthians 15:35 But some one will ask, "How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?"
42 [Well....] What is planted is perishable, what is raised is imperishable.
43 It is planted in dishonor is raised in glory. It is planted in weakness, it is raised in power.
44 It is planted a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body.
51 Wow, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we [and who is "we?"] shall ALL be changed,
52 in a moment, in the winking of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.
53 For this perishable nature must put on the imperishable, and this mortal nature must put on immortality.
54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory."
WHO is "we?" Does that include the wicked also?
Somewhat confusing it is that the holy and obviously-will-someday-be-resurrected-along-with-everyone-else St Paul stated:
Philippians 3:8 Indeed I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as refuse, in order that I may gain Christ
9 and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own, based on law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith;
10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and may share His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death,
11 that if possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
"Attain the resurrection from the dead?"
Weird words indeed - being that annihilation out of existence and thus impossibility of one being required to responsibly answer to anyone for the consequences of their lifetime words and actions upon eartly death is not a Scripturally-congruent option, since ALL will be raised with immortal bodies, to either be in eternal bliss or eternal torment:
Matthew 13:42 and throw them into the furnace of fire; there men will weep and gnash their teeth.
Matthew 13:50 and throw them into the furnace of fire; there men will weep and gnash their teeth.
Matthew 18:8 And if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; it is better for you to enter life maimed or lame than with two hands or two feet to be thrown into the eternal fire.
Matthew 25:41 Then He will say to those at his left hand, 'Depart from Me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels
How much of the tale, legend, parable, story, documentary, or news report below is allegorical, metaphorical, symbolic, or euphemistic, each of us must decide:
Luke 16:19 "There was a rich man, who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day.
20 And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, full of sores,
21 who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table; moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.
22 The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was buried;
23 and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes, and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus in his bosom.
24 And he called out, 'Father Abraham, have mercy upon me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in anguish in this flame.'
25 But Abraham said, 'Son, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish.
26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.'
27 And he said, 'Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father's house,
28 for I have five brothers, so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.'
29 But Abraham said, 'They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.'
30 And he said, 'No, father Abraham; but if some one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.'
31 He said to him, 'If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced if some one should rise from the dead.'"
Revelation 20:11 Then I saw a Great White Throne and Him who sat upon it; from His presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them.
12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before The Throne, and books were opened. Also another book was opened, which is The Book of Life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, by what they had done.
13 And the sea gave up the dead in it, [the "angel" of] Death and [the "angel" of] Hades gave up the dead in them, and all were judged by what they had done.
14 Then Death and Hades were thrown into The Lake of Fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire;
15 and if any one's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into The Lake of Fire.
WILL the resurrected and immortal bodies of the wicked have the same capabilities as the resurrected and immortal bodies of the righteous?
They will perhaps, but will exist eternally under far different conditions.
For the righteous saints:
Revelation 21:4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away.
But against the wicked damned:
Second Thessalonians 1:9 They shall suffer the punishment of eternal destruction and exclusion from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might.
Because the latter hated God and His authority and His laws so much, plus the religious right also who instead adhered to them, the LORD will remove all and everything in His environment around those wicked (including their own bodies) which never actually belonged to them in the first place but what was just temporarily given to them to be responsible caretakers of...and in their place, apportion them with forever-burning-but-constantly-renewed bodies and body parts to be tortured with to the ages of the ages:
Second Thessalonians 1:9 They shall suffer the punishment of eternal destruction and exclusion from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His might
Revelation 14:11 And the smoke of their torment goes up for ever; and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.