Today (29 July) we had 2 sessions by Pr 吳豪 on suicide, which is on the rise in recent years. He mentioned something like “Complete handbook for killing yourself" on the internet.
The focus was pastoral, but for me, suicide had been enemy to evangelism. And the cases were not recent at all ! More than two decades ago!
First, my classmate stopped coming to church when his sister killed herself. H-n S-ng had been a regular for many months. Even his mum came for a few weeks and stopped burning incense to her idols. The sister's suicide was dramatic: She overdosed herself with sleeping pills but nothing happened. Then she cut her wrists. Still she didn't die. Then she threw herself down 9 floors to her death.
Then there was R-nn-e, a bright straight A's student. He came to church once or twice. We talked very now and then on religion. Then one Monday, our principal announced his demise over the school PA system. He hung himself on Sunday. Someone told me they found a book titled "101 ways to commit suicide". We were teenagers, barely 16. His story was frontpage news.
Suicide tendencies... To those passionate about soul-saving, indeed it's both an opportunity and a threat.
The focus was pastoral, but for me, suicide had been enemy to evangelism. And the cases were not recent at all ! More than two decades ago!
First, my classmate stopped coming to church when his sister killed herself. H-n S-ng had been a regular for many months. Even his mum came for a few weeks and stopped burning incense to her idols. The sister's suicide was dramatic: She overdosed herself with sleeping pills but nothing happened. Then she cut her wrists. Still she didn't die. Then she threw herself down 9 floors to her death.
Then there was R-nn-e, a bright straight A's student. He came to church once or twice. We talked very now and then on religion. Then one Monday, our principal announced his demise over the school PA system. He hung himself on Sunday. Someone told me they found a book titled "101 ways to commit suicide". We were teenagers, barely 16. His story was frontpage news.
Suicide tendencies... To those passionate about soul-saving, indeed it's both an opportunity and a threat.
