To be Human

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Early this week I got the news that a friend of my had died, later on that I found out that it was suicide.

Although I hadn't seen or heard from him for a long time, the last time I was with him was intense and at the time formative for a young man like myself. He was a Christian of the evangelical charismatic persuasion. A leader who had influenced hundreds. The lead up to his death he was tortured by chronic illness and exacerbated with depression.

Christianity I don't think has ever been comfortable with suicide. I haven't.  For a Christian to die this way it retorts: Christianity is no place of peace. In many ways its the most selfish thing in the world; a complete violation of the Jesus second commandment to love your neighbour as your self.
For myself I detest the idea that it is a 'sin'. As most people in society say other than Christians (who prefer to use the word 'sin') we are only 'human'.
To be 'human', others understand the pain and suffering which a person undergoes to suicide. It casts no condemnation or judgement. Yet is still disappointed at the loss. An understanding that yes, we to maybe place in this situation one day.

Sometimes the silence of Jesus is deafening.

Another reason Iraq was wrong

Wiki leaks has been at it again. From the BBC::

The documents also suggest "hundreds" of civilians were killed at US military checkpoints after the invasion in 2003.
And the files show the US kept records of civilian deaths, despite previously denying it. The death toll was put at 109,000, of whom 66,081 were civilians.

Another Hiroshima in terms of innocent deaths.

Also mentioned was detailed information on tourcher which US authorities knew about and did nothing::

 US army field logs published by Wikileaks describe the apparent torture of Iraqi detainees by the Iraqi authorities, sometimes using electrocution, electric drills and in some cases even executing detainees, says the BBC's Adam Brookes, who has examined some of the files.

The US military knew of the abuses, the documents suggest, but reports were sent up the chain of command marked "no further investigation"

Horrific.

I wouldn't be able to sleep if I was George Bush or Tony Blair on such a flimsy excuse of going to war.

Related articles

• US forces 'ignored Iraq torture' (bbc.co.uk)
• WikiLeaks papers detail Iraq torture, U.S. killings (nationalpost.com)