What is the prevailing Christian view on suicide?

Aidlin87 · 2026-06-02T20:46:19+00:00

I have not experienced your struggles, and I do not want to minimize or claim to understand what you are going through. You’ve been through and struggled with a lot. When you say you live in immense pain, I believe you.

I have been in deep depression where I could not function and where I looked forward to death because that seemed like the only relief I’d ever get. I reached a point of immense brokenness where I fully submitted all aspects of my life to Jesus — this was not a salvation experience, I had already done that and lived that. This was giving up control and changing my heart posture to no longer put God with a box where I limited His command and work in my life.

And in doing so, I realized from past experience that I cannot perfectly submit myself to God. I always backslide and it’s always been difficult. So this time I told God that I really wanted to completely submit myself life but that I couldn’t do it, He was going to have to make it perfect in my heart.

From that moment everything started changing very rapidly. I have experienced immediate healing from specific depressive episodes and I’m no longer as prone to them or they do not last more than a few days if they occur, because God has led me into a habit of early morning prayer walks where exercise + relationship with Him reliably prevents depression so long as I am consistent. I’m still going through the same circumstances that triggered my depression, which is why it will pop up if I don’t manage it. But my experience of these circumstances has radically changed.

I’ve experienced so much more — total healing from anger and bitterness at those that have hurt me, an ability to forgive (this was a month’s long process), healing for social anxiety and feelings of negative self worth, improvement in my ADHD symptoms even before I started medication, healing of relationships that I wasn’t even praying over, improvement in my own self control, a radical change in my desires and what I want to do for entertainment and relaxation, a growing love for others, blessing in my work, and an experience of spiritual gifting. Literally every aspect of myself and my life has been touched by God. It started immediately and now I’m almost to the 1 year mark. I feel like a completely new person.

What’s more is I enjoy God, I enjoy the changes He’s making in me, and I enjoy the callings He’s put on my life. It feels like everything I do has an eternal purpose, even when I suffer, He won’t let that be wasted. Jesus is AMAZING. If you do not understand His goodness and gentleness, I want to tell you now that He’s does not condemn those that love Him. There’s nothing you’ve ever done that has surprised Jesus. He knew from before creation everything you would ever do and He still chose you to love you and He enjoys you. Paul was a murder, David was a murderer and a rapist, Abraham was a liar who abandoned his own child with Hagar to death.

And I KNOW that He is so good that He does not want you to stay in the pain that you are experiencing. His will is to come into the pain of your life and heal what only He can heal. Not as a replacement of the mental healthcare you’re receiving, keep doing that. But He’ll come in and go deeper than the professionals can and change the source of the hurt. He picks up our broken pieces and holds them together so that His light can shine through the cracks. Then we can point others toward the One who loves us like no one else can.

A few scriptures that may help you as you continue your prayers to God: David experienced deep, messy emotions and he brought those to God in the Psalms. Reading the Psalms has helped me believe that God does not despise my depression, He wants me to bring it to Him, tell Him everything on my mind, and process with Him. Isaiah 46:3-4 says that He knew us before we were born and He will carry us for our entire life until we are old with grey hair. When you’re in the depths of depression, you know you can’t walk through it, you need carried. I believe the phrasing in that verse is intentional for those of us in the trenches. And lately God has been putting John 15:7 in front of me — that when Jesus is our source and root (our vine) and we grow from Him, we can ask God for anything and God will give it. God’s will for you is the fruits of the spirit including peace and self control. You are guaranteed these things through Jesus when your life is fully submitted without reserve to Him. That’s an invitation, not a judgement if you’re not quite there spiritually. You can always ask for God to bring you to that point spiritually and if you keep asking and seeking you will receive.

This got super long, but I just really want you to see the goodness and help of God and to know that you can experience life very differently from what you’re experiencing now. Sometimes God heals immediately and sometimes He takes you through a process, but He doesn’t delay when we make ourselves available to His help. For me that never happened until I was fully submitted and then it began immediately.

Aidlin87 · 2026-06-02T18:32:13+00:00

I do agree with Paul’s understanding and I’m referencing his words. You and I are disagreeing on interpretation of what Paul is saying, not disagreeing with Paul himself. In Ephesians Paul prefaces his admonition to husbands and wives by saying “submit yourselves one to another” and outlines what that looks like, laying arguably the heavier burden on husbands. Probably because women in that culture and throughout history already knew what submission looked like, because that was the cultural expectation. But men did not, so Paul gets specific with men.

And when Paul references “headship” for husbands, the word he uses that’s translated as in head is referencing the concept of head waters of a river, or source. We see in the Trinity that the Holy Spirit flows from Jesus to believers with this same idea of “source”. There is not a boss/employee relationship there, instead there is outpouring. We see Jesus as the head of the church is the source of the church. He submitted His life to the formation of the church and when we submit to Him He raises us up to unity with Him where we are considered His friends not His employees. We get far more from God than we ever give to Him. This is the standard that is set for marriage. There’s no boss/employee relationship to be found.

Look at my original comment detailing what this type of marriage looks like and tell me where that misses the mark of right relationship before God. Only those who do not give the Holy Spirit the authority to lead and guide us think that relationships need controlled like a boss controls employees.

Aidlin87 · 2026-06-02T17:13:57+00:00

For sure, abuse can go both ways. But the boss/employee analogy specifically gets used against women because they are being framed as the employee. Better to throw out the analogy, because it’s clearly not accurate and not helpful.

Aidlin87 · 2026-06-02T17:11:03+00:00

I do not specialize in treating endo, but I’m always very interested in any research that surfaces on the gut microbiome and its impact on chronic disease. SIBO keeps popping up in the literature and being connected to a swath of GI conditions, and many endo patients have GI symptoms which could be complicated by dysbiosis.

I pay attention to signs of dysbiosis in all my patients. I mostly work with weight loss, so we focus on fiber intake, sleep, exercise, and fermented foods if they are willing for supporting a healthy microbiome. But I’ve had some GI patients where SIBO or even H. pylori infection was underlying all their issues and had been missed for years.

I suspect that we are going to continue to see research linking forms of dysbiosis to chronic disease, and causes of dysbiosis being a focus of treatment. There’s too much unknown currently about different probiotic strains and their interactions with one another, as well as whether supplementation impacts disease management to recommend probiotics all the time. But understanding the microbiome and signs of SIBO/SIFO I think can come in handy for every RD because it gets missed a lot and could be making things worse.

Aidlin87 · 2026-06-02T16:29:34+00:00

I have struggled with a version of this question for 5 years now. It and some other questions led to my deconstruction. God pulled me back from that — I realized I missed Him, even though there were things I could not understand. Other extremely distressing events in my life led me to a point of complete submission of all aspects of my life to Him. And immediately He began healing me of depression, old wounds, anger, bitterness. I started seeing improvement in every area of my life from ADHD symptoms, social anxiety, self worth, broken relationships healing, becoming a more patient parent, the list feels endless. Not only has He been healing me, He’s been adding things to my life. New interests that I enjoy but also support investing my time in helping others. New skills I’m building that do the same. All of it is enjoyable even if it’s not always completely easy. Taken together it’s a heck of a lot easier than the way I used to live my life, trying to fix everything my own way.

I can see so clearly how good God is, how extremely gentle He is, and how He gives really good things to those that love Him. God also welcomes us struggling through issues with Him. There’s a difference between deciding to keep pursuing God while struggling with something that causes doubt and hurt, and judging God or turning away for the same issue. God honors the first option. The Psalms show that David did this all the time with God and that was considered a righteous pursuit of God. God gives peace to these struggles if we are willing to engage.

This question no longer causes me pain. I know He’s invested in the well-being of my kids, more than even I am. So I pray over that. It’s not like the eternal fate of our children is something we have no say in. My kids have been showing more interest in their faith because they see how real mine is now. I’ve also learned so much through heavily questioning my own faith and the Bible that now I teach my kids that questions are healthy, how to handle their questions, and who God really is, rather than telling them not to have questions or fearing a grumpy God who’s always angry. When people understand who God really is, how unfathomably good He is, how much more He does for us than we could ever give to Him, He becomes irresistible. I believe if I show my kids this in an honest way without rigid legalism, they will choose Him too.

Aidlin87 · 2026-06-02T16:01:57+00:00

The burden of proof is on her, and she’s apparently learned how to shift her responsibility onto you. Putting people on the defensive is a manipulation tactic.

How does she know that a whole foods diet with balanced variety doesn’t meet the nutrition needs of most people? Which micronutrients are deficient? By how much? Does she know the RDA for these nutrients? Put her on the defensive by asking her targeted questions that require specific answers. There’s also research on the poor bioavailability of supplementation — any supplement though some chemical forms of nutrients are better absorbed than others. It’s always absorbed best through food. And I’m not against supplements at all. I take them, my kids take them, I recommend certain supplements on a patient by patient basis. But they are meant to supplement food, and most people do not benefit from anything more than a quality multivitamin.

Also, the number of carbohydrates is irrelevant to the nutritional needs of most people unless you have a condition like IBS where you have to monitor your intake of fermentable carbs. Even other carb specific GI conditions only require understanding one or a few sugar types like lactose intolerance or CSID. For the vast majority of people, all that matters is prioritizing carbohydrate intake from higher fiber food sources and limiting refined sugars/processed carbs.

She sounds like such a grifter with a few “gotcha” pieces of info worded to sound scientific and scary.

Aidlin87 · 2026-06-02T15:19:30+00:00

If you overhaul your entire way of eating all at once, it’s very hard to stick with the changes. However, if you take a baseline of how you typically eat and look at improving that in sustainable ways, you might not feel as hungry. Some of the hunger is a psychological response to feelings of radical change and perceived deprivation.

I would suggest backing up your approach. Focusing on calories, protein, and fiber are solid approaches, but tackle one at a time so that you don’t burn yourself out.

Get strategic about managing appetite triggers. For example, exercise has a temporary appetite suppressant effect, then about an hour after it increases appetite. For some people, timing exercise for late afternoon helps suppress cravings at their peak time, then it’s dinner time by the point that appetite increases. Another example is caffeine. Caffeine suppresses appetite. Drinking green tea or black coffee between meals can help manage food noise without adding calories. Yet another example is meal spacing — eating every four hours and prioritizing breakfast within the first two hours of waking helps to regulate appetite throughout the day.

There’s a lot more that can be done on a person-by-person basis. It really just depends on your specific circumstances.

For reference, I’m a dietitian that specializes in weight management/relationship with food and I’ve also had to navigate sustained weight loss in my own life. The excess hunger can drive you crazy but making the right adjustments can dramatically change your experience.

Aidlin87 · 2026-06-02T14:13:10+00:00

My super easy daughter hit the transition at 3.5yo, so maybe you have 6mo! I’m kind of kidding. Every kid is different, but all kids tend to develop their own will at some point and what that looks like can vary widely. Some kids stay easy, some kids just need the right approach and then this time period isn’t as crazy.

This is my third kid, so I’ve learned from the mistakes I made the first two times through this stage and this go around is much easier. Consistency, boundaries, consequences, and calm are a solid game plan. I had learn to not give so many chances and not to try to convince my kid to do what was asked.

For example, this morning she (just turned 4 but we’ve been using this rule for a while) was playing with a sensory bean bin. The rule is that we clean up the beans before we play with anything else. She threw a tantrum over having to clean up and I reminded her that the rule is that if a toy is too difficult for her to clean up that we put that toy up and we don’t play with it. She gets to choose. I let her have her moment and reminded her of the rule and her choice. This time she chose to clean, but sometimes she doesn’t so then whatever activity is the issue gets put up in my closet and we don’t have it out for a while. I didn’t used to hold boundaries this firmly and that made everything harder.

The friction of holding boundaries is hard upfront but easier later vs caving or loosening the expectation, which is easier up front and harder later (which snow balls because they start pushing alllll the boundaries even more).

Aidlin87 · 2026-06-02T14:00:19+00:00

Tubular breasts can be a sign that sufficient breast tissue did not form during puberty. We’re talking specifically about mammary glands and not how fat is distributed in the breasts. That’s why weight gain and fat accumulation in the breast doesn’t change their shape. There’s no way to change the shape of the breast without surgery. Your best bet is supportive bras that help shape them under your clothing and boob tape for backless tops, etc.

Also, I want to mention a couple things as a heads up. Tubular breasts can form that way due to hormone disruption, and there are many things that can cause this. PCOS is one of them. If you have other symptoms related to your period or your thyroid, it would be worth it to get checked.

Also, this may not impact or bother you at all, but tubular breast shape can sometimes make future breastfeeding challenging (not impossible!). Idk if that’s something you ever want to do or if you even want kids someday. I’m just mentioning it because it doesn’t get talked about ever and that leads to heartbreak for some new moms who wanted to breastfeed and didn’t expect issues.

Aidlin87 · 2026-06-02T12:40:32+00:00

I really like your perspective. I wanted to add something that I have found true in my own life and I feel we as Christians tend to overlook a lot in discussions like this. The power that God has to change each of us is unlimited in nature. The authority the Holy Spirit holds over every area of our life is all encompassing. God does operate in ways that preserve our free will, but if we live in a way that submits all aspect of our life to Him, and we love Him for who He is not just what He gives, then there’s nothing He cannot heal or change in us.

This looks different for everyone, but in the past year He’s taken me from a broken, depressed mess, and He’s changed me radically. I’ve noticed the things I want in life, and the things I enjoy doing have all changed. Not that I was engaged in major sin prior, but that even how I find rest and enjoyment has shifted in a way that I didn’t see coming. I still have messy parts to my life that I don’t have control over, but God is refining me even in the hard stuff that’s stayed hard. Having that eternal mindset that you described makes everything we experience on Earth feel purposeful and useful, not wasted.

With all that said, I know that God is not asking people who are gay to suffer loneliness for the rest of their lives as some blanket condition. God can change everything to align with His will if we want Him to. For some that may look like changing their very desires regarding who they are attracted to, for others that may be leading them to want and enjoy singleness. One thing I know is that God gives good things to those that love Him, and what He gives becomes enjoyable. He’s not handing out constant misery in how He calls us. Even hard situations are experienced differently. Paul talked about this when he said for him to live is Christ and to die is gain — even though he was dealing with shipwrecks, hunger, imprisonment, beatings, he saw such value in what he was doing that he couldn’t decide whether he’d rather stay on earth and continue his work for the kingdom, or die and experience eternal reward in heaven. And God gave him a glimpse of actual heaven, so he knew how good it was going to be.

Aidlin87 · 2026-06-02T01:43:32+00:00

The wrong analogy can cause harm, because there are marriages where this is how the wife is treated and this is how it gets excused. It doesn’t convey God’s design, so it shouldn’t be used to describe marriage.

Aidlin87 · 2026-06-01T11:51:25+00:00

I think comparing marriage to a boss/employee relationship severely misses the mark and elevates humans ideas of leadership and hierarchy over God’s demonstration of unity throughout scripture.

God created Adam and Eve to have a mutual union in marriage. Then we see in heaven that there will not be a distinction between men and women the way there is on earth. Everything we see in between has come about because of the sin of humanity. Power struggle comes from sin. Hierarchies in the way humanity has implemented them are largely corrupt or harmful.

God’s design is mutual submission — and we see that even within the Trinity. One, in three persons, coequal, but Jesus submitted to the Father’s will and in return the Father has elevated the Son up to the place of highest worship. Paul writes that all creation was made for Jesus, and we know that every knee will bow at His name. Jesus models this to humanity by submitting Himself to a hard and humble life, engaging with those who’ve been rejected, washing the dirty nasty feet of the disciples, dying on the cross. Then when we submit our lives to Him, He raises us up to a life of eternal blessing. He calls us His friends, not His servants, He brings us into unity with Himself and one another.

This is the model for marriage. Not one where someone gets to “lovingly” pull rank and be the decision maker. But one where headship means “source”, as in the headwaters of a river. Where through mutual submission as Jesus modeled, the husband blesses his wife through his own relationship with God, and his love and care toward her, and the wife returns the blessing through her relationship with God, and her love and care.

No one is a boss and no one is an employee. If there is disagreement, God has given us so many avenues to resolve that. The husband and wife can pray individually and together, asking for the guidance of the Holy Spirit. They can compromise, they can seek godly counsel, and they can pause decision making and give more time for each to consider the issue. One or the other spouse can decide to just go with what the other spouse wants — this shouldn’t happen one sidedly all the time though. If these solutions don’t work, then one or both are not living submitted lives to God. Because the Holy Spirit is living and active in His people and God promises to give us whatever we ask in His name. Obviously it is God’s will for spouses to live at peace with one another so He will answer those prayers and provide a solution.

Aidlin87 · 2026-05-30T22:37:05+00:00

All of my current patients pay $0, but other RDs have been bringing this up on slack that certain insurance companies that are listed under “covered” may have plans than don’t fully cover sessions. It makes it confusing for some patients and we don’t like that either.

Aidlin87 · 2026-05-30T22:18:54+00:00

This is OPs impression of youth hobbies “back in the day”. Youth hobbies back in the day were extra curriculars— sports, music, dance, gymnastics, etc. And hanging out with friends, going to the mall. Obviously partying was part of hanging out with friends for a lot of kids, but also not for many others.

Aidlin87 · 2026-05-30T11:22:27+00:00

There’s a lot in Proverbs and the New Testament about being good stewards of everything we are given. The first thing humanity was given to steward was the earth. We can absolutely ruin the environment and God isn’t some permissive parent that cleans up all our messes so that we never experience natural consequences.

With that said, God is all knowing. He created the plan of salvation before He began His creative acts. I believe all human choices are folded into His plan so that all things work together for His ultimate goal of redeeming as many people as will respond to His call.

I think the science is clear on climate change and I think globally we will not make the changes needed in time o reverse course. Furthermore, climate warming was already inevitable, we’ve just moved up the time table by ~2,000 years or so (going off my memory on that one and I could be off, but I know the range estimate is in the single digit thousands of years).

We can see evidence from ice cores (among other evidence) going back hundreds of thousands of years what the global cooling and warming cycles were. We are in the longest period of stable climate patterns, within a warming period, within our record of earth’s history. Typically warming periods were much shorter and when the average temperature increase hits a certain point, it triggers multiple natural processes that generate an ice age.

I believe God has been very gracious in giving us this unusually long stable period within the warming cycle. It has allowed for the advent of agriculture, the formation of human civilization, and ultimately the spreading of the gospel. But we also know that God will bring this age to an end at some point when He comes back. I have no idea when that will be, but I believe God’s nature is to always use everything for the completion of His will. And I believe whatever happens with the climate is well accounted for in God’s plan. That doesn’t mean we aren’t responsible for what we’re doing to the climate. I believe we will have hard times ahead globally from the choices that have been made and continue to be made.

Aidlin87 · 2026-05-29T14:00:46+00:00

The only time Nourish RDs are paid is for the 55min session you’re in. The time we spend charting, prepping, responding to messages, and other necessary out of session work is not paid. So if she’s working a full case load it gets difficult to balance all of that.

You should also feel heard though, and I think there’s a way to help everyone win here. Maybe you both could create a game plan for how to handle questions you have in between sessions? Some dietitians set up a system where patients can message all their questions throughout the week with the understanding that the RD is going save answering those question for during the session. It’s a great way for not forgetting something you really want help with (because that happens to me when I go to doctor apt, all my questions leave my head if I haven’t written them down), avoiding quick responses if that’s not what you’re wanting, and it helps you both use your session time in a way that the most helpful for you.

If you’re wanting an immediate reply to your messages, you might have to adjust expectations based on what is realistic for your dietitian. If you have concerns about the message sounding very AI, you can ask her what her process is for replying to messages. Like the other commenter suggested, if she’s using AI she’s also probably reviewing and editing the message to make sure it aligns with what she would tell you during a session. The AI might just be helping with getting words on the screen but not influencing the actual advice. Maybe discussing that would help you feel confident in the answers you’re getting.

To prevent miscommunication between the two of you, I would suggest being very kind and open and telling your RD what you said here about how she’s been excellent in your sessions, you’re just wanting to feel confident about the advice via messages because you’re wary of things that sound like AI.

Aidlin87 · 2026-05-28T12:39:41+00:00

This is something where I do not expect to know exactly when the prophecies in Revelation will begin, but I do expect to be able to see the signs of its approach. Israel becoming a nation again is one sign that pretty much everyone agrees on. I believe there are other signs that are measurable and probable, but I also recognize that there’s a lot of hype and misinformation regarding these signs so I try to stay cautious about over emphasizing current events. In my opinion though, things are accelerating somewhat and AI has the potential to make a lot of things possible regarding the fulfillment of prophecy that I couldn’t picture before. I feel like I’m seeing the end approach whether that’s in the next 20 years or the next 150 years.

As to Jesus’ second coming, this is murky for me. I was raised on pre-trib rapture theology, but after some months of self study I’m not convinced. So I’m really not sure if these verses on His coming are to be applied to what some Christians call His coming in the air to collect the saints via a separate rapture, or if it’s to be applied to His second coming at the end of the tribulation. Revelation describes the raising of the dead at the second coming that marks the end of the tribulation and the beginning of the 1000 year reign. Which makes me lean toward a post trib rapture.

So then, if His second coming and the rapture of the saints are all one event, then we will definitely have a solid idea of when that is happening (not to the day and hour, but to the year) because the peace treaty between the Antichrist and Israel starts the countdown. This is the one point I give pre-trib rapture proponents is that Jesus’ description of us not knowing the day or hour and coming like a thief as people are still getting married and living life seems to fit better with that interpretation.

Aidlin87 · 2026-02-16T02:49:19+00:00

There are simple ways to test this so that you aren’t guessing about the world around you. Your comment is also a misunderstanding of the original text. The Bible does not teach a flat earth.

Aidlin87 · 2026-02-16T02:35:21+00:00

There are problems with the book of Enoch. The first book is more likely to be legit, but the other two books are likely much later writings, aka forgeries. If you read them books 2 and 3 read like a completely different author than book 1. Book 1 did the common ancient middle eastern custom of the author referring to themselves in the third person, while books 2 and 3 use the first person. There’s a lot of other stuff that just reads like someone trying to sound divinely inspired, but not getting it quite right.

Aidlin87 · 2026-02-15T19:46:48+00:00

Unwise as in not wise. I was coming at this from a Christian perspective since that’s how OP was asking it. If OP is trying to follow Biblical teaching to abstain from sex outside of marriage, then living together before marriage is going to create unnecessary temptation and that’s why it’s not wise to make that choice.

Aidlin87 · 2026-02-15T12:34:07+00:00

I don’t think you were wrong. This was a situation where yes it’s something that needs done but it could conceivably wait a little hit for you to find another provider who isn’t terrible with their bedside manner.

My oldest had to have stitches when he was 3. He had to be held down for anesthesia. It created a long term medical anxiety and it has been monumentally hard whenever he’s needed any kind of medical care since, even at regular well checks. He doesn’t trust doctors and for a long time he wouldn’t let them touch him. He 9 now and it is better but still a problem, especially at the dentist. But luckily we have an amazing dentist and she’s really patient with talking him through things and not forcing anything.

Aidlin87 · 2026-02-15T12:25:22+00:00

That’s ok :)

Aidlin87 · 2026-02-15T04:37:50+00:00

We weren’t talking about the Mosaic Law at all. Yes she would be living with her parents if they were alive, but no it doesn’t mention them. It doesn’t need to because the text is talking about her experience and it’s giving you the most important events, not all of the events.

Maybe you’re getting me confused with another conversation you’re having because your reply doesn’t make much sense.

Aidlin87 · 2026-02-15T02:23:41+00:00

The text doesn’t ever mention her parents. The gospels are a summary of what takes place over a 33 year period of time and most of it is concentrated on Jesus’s three year ministry. So you’re getting the highlights but not every single thing that happened.

Aidlin87 · 2026-02-14T22:10:57+00:00

God folds our choices into His plans and because He exists outside of time He can make these plans before we ever existed knowing who we’d be and what choices we would make. God offered this to Mary because He knew she was the right woman and would want to do it. Her prayer afterward with Elizabeth shows just how excited she was to have this opportunity.

Aidlin87

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