What is really going on with Utah’s Suicide Epidemic?


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15 hours ago, xpluto said:

I am wondering what will happen in afterlife to those who commit suicide ? I looked for scriptures and didn't found any.

Here is a quote from a recent statement by Elder Renlund. 

"The Latter-day Saint leader says the “old sectarian notion that suicide is a sin and that someone who commits suicide is banished to hell forever” is “totally false.” He adds that “we know from all the statistics out there that someone in the ward [congregation] is hurting. Someone is having suicidal thoughts in your ward. And as we come together as families, as churches, in a community, we can do better than we’re doing now. … Heavenly Father is pleased when we reach out and help His children. I think He’s profoundly pleased.”

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16 hours ago, xpluto said:

I am wondering what will happen in afterlife to those who commit suicide ? I looked for scriptures and didn't found any.

Here's what the Lord's apostles have said on the matter:

"There's an old sectarian notion that suicide is a sin and that someone who commits suicide is banished to hell forever. That is totally false," Elder Renlund said. "I believe the vast majority of cases will find that these individuals have lived heroic lives and that that suicide will not be a defining characteristic of their eternities."

https://www.deseretnews.com/article/900023523/lds-church-releases-new-videos-on-coping-with-and-preventing-suicide.html

 

Suicidal thoughts / actions are a symptom of severe mental illness - a person suffering from these needs medical help, just like every other medical condition.  Being ill is not a sin- it's an illness.  Just like we should not go up to a person who has lost someone to cancer and say "your loved one is is Hell", we should NEVER say such a poisonous and unrighteous thing about the fate of anyone else lost to a loved one to a different illness.  Rather, as Christ's disciples, were are called to mourn with those that mourn and comfort those that are hurting.  That's why the Church puts out resources to help those that have lost people to this illness, to those that are struggling with this illness directly, and those is a helping role.  Check it out: https://www.lds.org/get-help/suicide

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On ‎8‎/‎13‎/‎2018 at 1:40 AM, inquisitive said:

The church needs to decide if they want to play a court of punishment and mocking or have compassion and healing and become the LDS they profess to be. 

They need to be honest with the people and let them know if its a government agency or a house of God, it can't be both, if you think it can you are only lying to yourselves and the people.

Inquisitive. I'm sorry about what you are going through, and the way you have been treated by some members of the Church. But I think you need to find healing, and learn to forgive those that have caused you pain.

The Gospel is true, I know it! But I also know we are all human, and make mistakes. I had a bishop once tell me I shouldn't get divorce because I would never get married again (I was only 27 with 2 kids). I got a divorce anyways. and yes, it did bother me that he would say that, I think it was very stupid, but I forgave. and moved on, and 3 years later I married a great guy. and we just got sealed a few months ago  :-)

I have gone through disciplinary meetings where I have been "judged", but even though the confessing and the repentance part was like hell, it helped me soooo much, and I grew so much spiritually and psychologically. That's when I learned how hurt and broken I was because of the things my ex husband had done (and because of one stupid mistake I made).  He was a returned missionary, a member of the presidency of the elders quorum, had a testimony, but he hurt me like no one had ever before. And yes, more times that I want to confess I did contemplated suicide, but I couldn't do it. So yes, many of us, know what it feels to go through hell and want to commit suicide.  Inquisitive, you don't know what the heart hides, and many of those you are judging have had their own share of pains.


Elder Holland once said: "So be kind regarding human frailty—your own as well as that of those who serve with you in a Church led by volunteer, mortal men and women. Except in the case of His only perfect Begotten Son, imperfect people are all God has ever had to work with. That must be terribly frustrating to Him, but He deals with it. So should we. And when you see imperfection, remember that the limitation is not in the divinity of the work."

 

 

 

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On 8/4/2018 at 8:00 PM, MormonHub said:

There is something strange going on in Utah. The State finds itself on two different top-ten lists that you may have seen or heard about. According to the latest Gallup poll, Utah is one of the 10 happiest states in the country. This is a greatly reassuring statistic to hear if you happen to live in the Beehive State. However there is another top 10 list Utah places on that is a little more alarming — suicide (heatmap of US). According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), the specific demographic most at risk of suicide nationwide are teenagers. It is the 2nd leading cause of death for anyone between the ages of 10 and 20, the first being accidents. And according to a CDC investigation in Utah, there has been a "141.3% increase in suicides among Utah youth aged 10-17 from 2011 to 2015, compared to an increase of 23.5% nationally (UDOH)." This statistic is beyond alarming. When I look at these numbers, I am deeply disturbed. And I...

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i know that this will sound strange.... but I believe that Messiah Yeshua - Jesus has allowed Satan to hit you hard.......

much as He allowed Satan to hit Job so hard..... .but you are now set up to do an outreach that will astonish all of North America....and soon the whole world.

I am almost certain that it was in the book 'Transformed By The Light' by Melvin Morse M. D. that a study was referred to in which people who had recently 

attempted suicide were simply given near death experience accounts to read........... Zero people from that group attempted suicide again during the duration of the study..... but.... a caution..........  given to me from a professional who works with people who attempted suicide...... If people are only given the really positive NDE accounts to read and are shielded from the ones that begin scary........... somebody could get the wrong idea and actually be tempted to view suicide as a way out.  

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I woke up this morning with an answer on my mind to this crisis....... L.D.S. Saturday School..... all across Utah for starters.... but you will soon

reach out to all other States. .... all provinces in Canada... and soon the whole world...... My suggestion is that it should be backed up by

an alternative currency note..... My suggestion would be a Utah State Volunteerism Hour...... or Dollar......

Either name would be fine:

China apparently has began dumping USA petro- dollars at an alarming rate so time is of the essence.... I wrote this

back on April 5, 2014:

 

Could a Utah State Dollar save the USA Dollar?

 
Quote
Have you seen any of the following films:
 
1. The Future of Food
2. Food Inc
3. The World According to Monsanto.
 
If so..... then you know that the USA dollar to some degree is linked to and backed up by a plan to control the world's production of food in such a way that could eventually produce global famine.
 
 
"George Soros says that America must give up the dollar and accept world currency."
 
 
Back in 1994 I found out that President Lincoln had saved American taxpayers four billion dollars in interest payments and since that time I have been wondering what alternative was available to improve monetary policy that would not scare the investors on Wall Street.
 
A Utah State Dollar could perhaps be the answer!????!!!
 
That link no longer works so:
 
 
 
 
You also could do this whole thing digital as a database if you prefer!
 
My suggestion would be that you hire former Atheist and near death experiencer Howard Storm Ph. D. to be kind of like a star for this..... partly because his NDE begins scary..... and partly because he was shown predictions for the year 2185 that fit astonishingly well with the millennial predictions in Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and the minor prophets. 
 
Edited by DennisTate
add comment..... and link....
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A good friend of mine passed on Saturday evening... Mr. Jim Hnatiuk was the National Leader of the Christian Heritage Party

at the time that I was a member.  Your prayers for him and his family will be greatly appreciated.  

https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/cvfr/in-memory-of-mr-jim-hnatiuk-a-chp-volunteerism-hou-t4002.html

In memory of Mr. Jim Hnatiuk, A CHP Volunteerism Hour and.......

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6 hours ago, DennisTate said:

A good friend of mine passed on Saturday evening... Mr. Jim Hnatiuk was the National Leader of the Christian Heritage Party

at the time that I was a member.  Your prayers for him and his family will be greatly appreciated.  

https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/cvfr/in-memory-of-mr-jim-hnatiuk-a-chp-volunteerism-hou-t4002.html

In memory of Mr. Jim Hnatiuk, A CHP Volunteerism Hour and.......

My condolences to you DennisTate.  I will include him and his family in my prayers that he may have comfort in the arms of our Savior.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I wonder why a deeper study of the statistics is not available.  Is there further study being done?  Or are we simply going to jump to conclusions like any other statistic?

The article did a good job of discussing possible causes.  And I have no way of knowing if any of them are correct or if those theories hold water.  I don't see the statistics to support or refute them.  But since he went into those, I'll just cover additional ideas that the article did not.

As you all know, this topic is something of a personal one for me.  I've been spending a lot of time thinking about this and looking for statistics that would tell a more complete story.  But I can't find any.  I've come up with a lot of hypotheses.  But without the additional numbers, it is difficult to determine if any of them hold water.

But here are some questions I have.

1) Utah is not anywhere near 100% LDS.  About 60% the last I heard.  How certain are we that this even has anything to do with the Church?  What is the breakdown between LDS and Non-LDS in the state's suicide victims?  How about suicide rates between Mormons and non-Mormons in other states or the nation as a whole?

2) Culd it even be possible that the non-Mormons subconsciously feel the truth of the Church and are having problems acting out their own animosity toward the Church?  Could this be an underlying cause of depression?

2) What are the relative mental health statistics from state-to-state?  How do those compare to the suicide rates?  I believe I did read a statistic on that.  It turned out that the rates had a large degree of correlation. (IIRC).

3) Bullying was brought up in the article.  Could one cause be that Mormons are taught to simply tough it out if someone bullies you?  Others actually fight back?  Something along those lines?

4) I found it odd that New York, New Jersey, and DC were among the lowest suicide rate states.  I just can't imagine that.  Those are probably among the least pleasant states to live in that I've visited.  I might just want to kill myself if I had to live there.  I'd go crazy.  But... look who's talking.

5) What is the age breakdown?  That would tell us TONS.

I'll also reiterate the fact the article made that depression in general is complex.  And suicide even more so.  We are looking for reasons to say that the Church does or does not have anything to do with it.  And both are wrong.  By the time it gets to the point of suicide, there is a LOT more going on than a person's religion.  While it may contribute both good or bad, there is much more to each individual story of suicide.

In my case, a hundred things built up to a certain point.  And the final trigger was actually partially related to religion.  But I don't know if it would be any different if I were a member of another faith.  The trigger could just as easily been some other topic or issue in another faith.  It wasn't "being a Mormon" that did it.  Sorry I won't go into details here.  But the bottom line is that if someone wants to blame my depression or suicide attempt on the Mormon faith, he is blatantly ignorant about the realities.  If you took out even two or three (of that 100 I mentioned) elements of my story, then the trigger would never have done anything.

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