Crucial Conversations: Suicide Ideation. Are We Close to the Edge? 2 Samuel 17:23, 2 Timothy 1:7

We continue our new series as we pause to reflect, from a theological perspective, on National Mental Health Awareness Month. I have named this series Crucial Conversations because I believe it is incumbent for us to create a dialogue among the faithful about the many issues we confront in this new century, which is just a quarter old, yet resonates with stupendous change, momentous challenge, and tremendous complexity.

In week one, we asked, We Are Saved, But Are We Well? 3 John 1:2,9–11. We suggested that John the Elder’s words to Gaius, “Dear friend, I hope that all is well with you and that you are as healthy in body as you are strong in spirit,” should become the “conversation”, that is, we must endeavor to seek the well-being of one another as believers.

Today, our Crucial Conversation centers around suicide ideation.

‘Don’t push me ’cause I’m close to the edge / I’m trying not to lose my head/It’s like a jungle sometimes/It makes me wonder how I keep from goin’ under.’

That famous line is from the landmark socially conscious tune “The Message,” released in 1982 by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. I was fresh out of high school at its debut. Rap was becoming a growing phenomenon. But rap was known more for its party vibes and hypermasculinity. “The Message” signaled a huge shift, focusing attention on life in the ghetto. It also ushered in the era of socially-conscious rap.

Public Enemy leader Chuck D said of “The Message“: “It was the first dominant rap group with the most dominant MC saying something that meant something.”

The words are a direct expression of the narrator’s mental and emotional strain in the face of extreme poverty, violence, and systemic neglect and oppression. It is the tipping point or nexus at which stress and breakdown meet at the crossroads, where one fights and struggles to maintain one’s sanity and dignity — have you ever been there?

What is suicide ideation?

To be sure, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five weren’t intentionally calling attention to the phenomenon of suicide, but “it makes me wonder how I keep from going under” is distinctly suicidal in nature and reflects a greater prevalence of suicide ideation, which refers to “thoughts or preoccupations with ending one’s own life, ranging from fleeting considerations to detailed planning”.

Here’s a fact: 19% of Black high school students seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year (2023).

It may not be happening to you, but it’s happening to someone you love.

But we don’t have to turn to rap as a vehicle of expression when it comes to suicide ideation.

For the Bible, through all its myriad complexities of heroes and sheroes, is a veritable anthology of suicide ideation. The Bible is not just a window through which we gaze in amazement at the outstanding characters of its pages; it is also a mirror into which are reflected our own struggles through those same characters.

In short, the Bible is about human beings being human — it is the human predicament — the very predicament you and I find ourselves in every waking day!

· Elijah: “I have had enough, Lord, take my life” (1 Kings 19:4)

· David: “Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why are you so disturbed within me? (Psalm 42:11)

· Job: “Why did I not perish at birth, and die as I came from the womb?” (Job 3:11)

· Paul: “…despaired of life itself” (2 Corinthians 1:8)

Even the Psalms contain lamentations of suicidal throes:

· “The righteous cry…” (Psalms 34:17–18)

· “Hear me speedily, O Lord: my spirit failed: hide not thy face from me, lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit.” (a metaphor for death) (Psalm 143:7–8 NLT)

· “By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.” (a collective, community depression) (Psalm 137:1–3)

Suicide Ideation: Are We Close to the Edge? 2 Samuel 17:23

Ahithophel was, according to the Hebrew Bible, a counselor of King David and a man greatly renowned for his wisdom. During Absalom’s attempt to usurp the throne, he deserted David and supported Absalom, whom he then turned to as an advisor. To counter Ahithophel’s counsel, the fleeing David sent his friend Hushai back to Absalom. Seeing that his advice against David had not been followed due to Hushai’s influence, Ahithophel surmised that the revolt would fail, returned to his hometown of Giloh, and hanged himself.

Ahithophel was young, enterprising, and had risen to a prestigious position in the kingdom. Ahithophel was “close to the edge” not because he lived in the ghetto, but rather due to the pressure of proving himself as worthy of political ascension.

Why Did Ahithophel hang himself?

Ahithophel was not a brother in the hood; he served as the king’s advisor. But his life is central to understanding the biblical record on suicide ideation or the very act of suicide.

Ahithophel hung himself primarily due to a loss of honor and influence: In the culture of ancient Israel, personal honor and reputation were paramount. By supporting Absalom, Ahithophel had staked his entire reputation on the success of the rebellion. The rejection of his advice signaled the collapse of his influence and honor, leaving him socially and politically disgraced.

Read: Ahithophel felt he did not measure up.

Ahithophel should be seen as a young man embedded within a community, a community that was in the stages of forming its national identity and a community, therefore, under constant attack, but a community, nonetheless. Ahithophel was caught in a web of ambition, familial strife, and tragedy.

Ahithophel thusly becomes a prototype for what is happening in our community in the 21st century.

I recently read a National Institute on Mental Health report for adolescents and young adults (ages 10–24), which found a concerning increase in suicide rates across the board. Interestingly, research analyzing suicide rates across the lifespan has indicated that for Black youth, higher per capita income areas are often associated with an increased risk of suicide rather than a protective effect.

Now, many different factors surround these statistics, including economics, social media, access to illegal pharmaceuticals, isolation, and lack of parental involvement.

Our unique context as Africans in America may play the most significant role, one of constant marginalization, or what Dr. Martin Luther King would call “interposition and nullification,” and oppression, or what I call “fascist fatigue” or being “close to the edge”.

To quote Langston Hughes, “Strange, that in this nigger place/I should meet life face to face/when for years I had been seeking/life in places gentler speaking/til I came down this vile street (this America)/and found life stepping on my feet.”

It is possible, then, that our young Black men and girls are being caught in the crosswinds of identity within the community and may, thusly, feel as if they don’t measure up.

What do I Mean by ‘Don’t Measure Up’?

I will recite this finding by the National Alliance on Mental Health:

63% of African Americans currently believe mental health conditions indicate weakness.

Or put another way, getting help for a mental health condition in my culture’s eyes is a sign of weakness, a personal flaw — not a legitimate, clinical condition. These are adults who were polled. I wonder how adolescents and young adults would fare, given the same question.

Our “survival at all costs” mentality — where we remain staunch, confident, and strong in the face of severe adversity — has produced the very effects it seeks to avoid: depression, suicide ideation, and a sense of loneliness.

Read: Don’t call me “crazy”!

I ask again: Are we close to the edge? We are the most religious Protestant ethnic group in America, according to Pew Research. We lead all ethnic groups in weekly church attendance. We read our Bibles and pray more than any other group in America. But are we close to the edge?

Are we holding up? Or are we showing signs of fascist fatigue?

The Redemptive Hermeneutical Principle

How do we minister to this bewildering circumstance? How do we convince the sixty-three percent of our congregants who occupy our pews each Sunday that they are not “weak” for getting the help they may desperately need? How do we keep hope alive? How do we stay in the struggle for peace and justice in America — even when we are close to the edge?

We must ingrain this redemptive hermeneutical principle:

You can’t pray away a mental health condition. Thus, seeking mental health treatment as a believer is a sign that your faith is strong, not weak!

This is the message of the gospel, and it is a hermeneutic guided by one thing: God’s Spirit. (II Timothy 1:7) It is not our strength, but God’s spirit and the Holy Spirit is an intelligent being!

God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of love, temperance, and a sound mind.

Our theology must meet the moment, and it must be a theology of wellness, for we have many Ahithophels among us, young Black men and women who are coming up in a country sick with racism, a country bent on turning back progress in the name of white Christian identity.

We must remind them of their greatness in Christ and of their greatness to us, and those who have struggled and achieved before them. Remember that:

Time is filled with swift transition/naught of earth unmoved can stand/build your hopes on things eternal/hold to God’s unchanging hand.

Pastor C. can be reached at: info@pastorwericcroomes.com

Suicide

Suicide Awareness

Black Youth

Community Engagement

Faith And Life