The Cry for De-Creation: How to be a Better Friend in the Face of Suicidal Ideation

The human bias towards life, along with deep, well-founded theological values surrounding the source of life, the value of life, and the prohibition against taking a life, has rendered some within religious circles intolerant towards death, or at very least awkward towards those longing for their end. It is not for a lack of care but the impulse to convince each other to stay can be at cross purposes with being a tender and supportive friend. However, trauma-informed care, marked by a turning towards our friends, and not just a reaction to ideas about a desire for an exit, allowing for silence and the full gravity of their pain to be known, is preferable to frantic efforts to dissuade them from suicide. These contrasting approaches are delightfully illustrated in the Book of Job, providing an authentic view of trauma, a longing for death, and two differing responses of his friends, which taken together illustrate a meaningful path forward.