Dr Paul Allen

Fr./Dr. Paul Sullins discusses the erroneous studies that claim therapy for unwanted same-sex attraction leads to suicide. Sullins explained the methodological flaws used in these studies in the invitation-only press conference held last week: the studies fail to consider separately suicide attempts before and after therapy. Perhaps some people chose to go to therapy, precisely because they were highly distressed or suicidal in the first place. Obviously, therapy could not have caused suicide attempts that took place before the therapy ever occurred. When Fr. Sullins took account of the “before” and “after” therapy suicide attempts, the claim that therapy “caused” suicide disappeared. This week’s  Dr. J Show  features the presentation-only portion of our press conference on  YouTube . Learn more from Fr. Sullins by hearing the Q & A session after his presentation by watching on  Locals .

Matt Tully I think it's fair to say that you have experienced a fair amount of suffering and loss in your life, along a number of different angles. A number of years ago, you witnessed a really tragic situation up close and it’s something that you’ve called a calamity. What happened? Mark Talbot The incident that started me on writing this particular book was the fact that I lost one of my students to suicide in the early 2000s. I had been talking to his parents before he died because he was depressed, and I knew that they needed to be talking to people about it.  It was the excruciating grief that they felt as Christians, especially when they knew that God was all-powerful and that he was perfectly good and that he knew everything in advance and they couldn't understand how it would be that God did not do something to keep their son from doing what he did—that was what got the book started. I was trying to address what really was a calamity—something that was rather like an ea...

How is it that a Christian who commits suicide can be saved? Let’s make sure we understand salvation and what it means to be a Christian. A Christian is a person who trusts in Jesus for salvation, worships him, and commits to obey him. Your salvation is secured by what Jesus did on the cross. If you trust in his work on your behalf, then no sin can ever undo his atonement, or cancel his forgiveness, or make him stop loving and saving you. Not even the sin of suicide. Romans 8:38-39 For I am sure that neither death nor life, … nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Is a certain type of death able to separate you from Christ? No. Put another way: Is suicide something in all creation? Yes. So can suicide rob a true believer of his/her salvation? No. There is no weakness in God’s safety net. That being said… The way you and your loved ones have an assurance of your salvation is by seeing the fruit of repentance in your ...

Telamonian Aias is preparing to commit suicide. Reproducing illustration of an antique Greek black-figure amphora (colour litho), depiction by Exekias (530-525 BC) (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Death by suicide claims the lives of more than twenty thousand people every year in the United States alone. Our awareness of its frequency is probably less than accurate simply because the obituary often reads, “She died at home,” or, “He died while on a business trip.” But hushing up the means cannot obscure the fact that thousands of people—believers and unbelievers alike—take their own lives. The Bible has some sobering things to say that are pertinent to suicide. SUICIDE BREAKS THE COMMANDMENT OF GOD The sanctity of human life is paramount in the sixth commandment, “ Thou shalt not kill ” (Ex. 20:13). Murder is condemned, and elsewhere in the law every act that endangers human life is condemned, whether the act arise from carelessness ( Deut. 22:8), wantonness (Lev. 19:14), hatred...

Rick Warren (Photo credit: jurvetson ) Rick Warren Returns  -  TIME  reports on Rick Warren’s first sermon since his son’s death.  “Almost four months after their son committed suicide , Pastor Rick Warren and his wife Kay addressed their congregation for the first time, promising to remove the stigma of mental illness from the church” Related articles Rick Warren back in the pulpit (PHOTOS) (christiantoday.com) Pastor Rick Warren Returns To Pulpit After 16 Weeks (losangeles.cbslocal.com) Quote of the Day: Author and megachurch pastor Rick Warren (religionnews.com) Pastor Rick Warren Returns to the Pulpit After Son's Suicide (ktla.com) Rick Warren returns to pulpit for first time since son's suicide (christiantoday.com) Rick Warren returns to pulpit four months after son's suicide (foxnews.com) Rick Warren Preaches First Sermon Since His Son's Suicide (swampland.time.com) Rick Warren returns to pulpit for first time following son's sui...

Image via Wikipedia For years, the entertainment industry has laughed off warnings from Christians and others about the link between depictions of sex, violence, and nihilism in the media and what happens in the real world. They dismiss critics like you and me by saying young people make their own choices and can clearly distinguish between what they see on screen with what goes on in their own lives. But common sense, experience, and studies show this isn’t necessarily the case. For instance, news outlets for years have voluntarily adhered to strict reporting standards concerning suicide, because the evidence of copycat suicides is so clear and uncontroversial. One academic stu dy spoke of “the need to actively restrain reporting of suicides to decrease the imitation effect.” Well, what about when suicide is dramatized on television or the silver screen? Here, the evidence has been less clear, but according to a new report by the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of ...