So Who's To Blame For Young Abraham Biggs Online Suicide?
How About St. Augustine?
(Purveyor of Original Sin)
From GotQuestions?org:
Guilt for Everyone!
Spread it around!
Just a thought. 
(Purveyor of Original Sin)
"I have let everyone down and I feel as though I will never change or never improve. I am in love with a girl and I know that I am not good enough for her. I have come to believe that my life has all been meaningless. I keep trying and I keep failing. I have thought about and attempted suicide many times in the past. I used to think of my failure as some mystical way of telling me that I was really meant for something meaningful."
- Abraham Biggs - from his online suicide note
That Abraham Biggs died thinking he was a failure was no fault of his own. His cries for help on the internet yielded very little. Although some people tried to help him, most ignored his cries while in utter fascination of viewing a suicide. Some people taunted him and called him "faggot." The 19-year old college freshman wanted to succeed, but some overwhelming feeling prevented him from achievement. Could that feeling have been guilt? Guilt planted from infancy? "We are all born in sin." In other words, we are imperfect and tainted before we take our first breath.
I cannot tell you how sorry I am for ending my life the way I did. I hope that you can all find it in your heart to see it as way for me not suffering anymore and that I am finally at rest with myself, for being at rest with the guilt that constantly ate at me for so long.
"See what you did!?" "Aren't you ashamed of yourself?" A parent's frustration lashing out. "Jesus Christ died for your sins!" A purposely malevolent (but oh so righteous) way of making you feel guilty.
From GotQuestions?org:
The Bible mentions five specific people who committed suicide: Abimelech (Judges 9:54), Saul (1 Samuel 31:4), Saul's armor-bearer (1 Samuel 31:4-6), Ahithophel (2 Samuel 17:23), Zimri (1 Kings 16:18), and Judas (Matthew 27:5). All of them were wicked, evil, sinful men (not enough is said regarding Saul's armor-bearer to make a judgment as to his character). ... The Bible views suicide as equal to murder – that’s what it is – self-murder. God is the One who is to decide when and how a person should die. To take that power into your own hands, according to the Bible, is blasphemy to God.
Isn't it strange that the entity (the Christian Church) that tells you that you are wicked, evil, sinful even when you're born, should tell you that it is also a sin for you to end your life? So many "religious" people profess to be "pro Life" but are they encouraging life? I think not. Abraham's video lasted twelve hours. During that time, there were approximately 1500 hits to the site, but of those 1500, 185 were in almost continual contact with young Biggs. Of those 185, which of them were born believing that they were sinners? Which of the taunters used their own anonymity to tell Biggs that he was no better off than they were: he was "born in sin" just as they were. He was just as guilty of sin as they were. And which of them, in watching him die, saw their own selves dying?
Teen suicides are up. Christian ministers and churches may point with pride at their "teen counseling" programs, but they're in denial. The programs aren't working. Gay teens are especially high in teen suicide statistics. To them, they're not only born in sin, but the essence of who they are is sinful. Yes, St. Augustine is to blame for Abraham Biggs' suicide as much as the ones who taunted Biggs online. He's the one who propelled the concept of Original Sin to the forefront of Christianity. He's the one who made the sin all inclusive and non-discriminatory:
Guilt for Everyone!
Spread it around!
Just a thought.
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2 comments:
Over 90% of teen suicide victims have a mental disorder, depression, or a history of alcohol or drug abuse.
in the mid-1990s, suicide deaths in the United States remain high in the 15 to 24 age group with 3,971 suicides in 2001 and over 132,000 suicide attempts in 2002, making it the third leading cause of death for those aged 15 to 24.
In 1998, white Americans accounted for 84% of all youth suicides, 61% male, 23% female.
Thanks for the great stats. I knew gay teen suicides were up, but didn't consider the drug abuse problem.
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