Cutting...what would you do?

[billie]

Good post, CJ.

[cjrose]

Good post, CJ.

Thanks billie. It is a topic that I can certainly relate to and hope my experience and words help someone somewhere.

[redeemed098]

What you do depends on who you are, who they are to you, and how serious the cutting is.

Most likely they have been rejected by one or both parents and want to emotionally get out of the situation. The physical pain helps them not feel emotional pain. They need a pastor who is close to the Lord to help deliver and counsel them from this. A psychiartrist would be needed if they cannot be talked through it with the pastor or yourself. It is a mental condition to hide the emotional pain.

It depends on their age as well... to whom you should go to. If they are a teenager, probably in high school, the school counselor or nurse can help if they trust them. A good teacher may be there.

Either way.... this is not ok to do to themselves.

I wonder if the demoniac who went about the place cutting himself sought the counsel of a psychologist.....

My God people, can you NOT see that cutting is symptomatic of Baal Worship....The demoniac went about the tombs cutting himself with stones.....

When did he stop cutting himself...????? When he SAW Jesus. Just as those who worshipped Baal at Mount Carmel in the time of Elijah sought the attention of their god by cutting themselves....ANYONE who is cutting themselves is seeking to find some attention. YES they are in pain and YES they more than likely have some hidden trauma in their lives, but NO psychologist is going to help....

When are Christians EVER going to look to Jesus....????? For Gods sake people.....Psychologists refer to psychiatrists, and psychiatrists refer to medication...That is NOT help.. It is not dealing with the issues at hand. All medication does is suppress the illness...It in NO way deals with it at all...

There is a demonic spirit behind those who cut themselves, even if THEY dont realise it. It was only Christ who set the demoniac free....and he had so many demons oppressing him, he was given the name "Legion" , for we are many..

I have a question for the church, and it has phased me and bothered me from day one of my salvation.......

Im going to post it here and now because I feel it needs to be asked....

If WE as the body of Christ have been given the authority and the power to cast out demons, lay hands on people and see them healed, trample snakes and scorpions......If WE the Church have the answer to all the evils of the world, then why the hell is it that the WORLD is the only ones looking after them...????

Where is that power and where is that authority when all we do is confine them to institutions because we havent got a damn clue what to do about it...??

Could this have something to do with Pauls scriptures about "having a form of godliness and religion YET denying the POWER....????"

I must ask.....Because quite frankly, I am sick and tired of watching people fade away and die, when WE the church the body of Christ are supposed to be the ones looking after them...

I do NOT doubt the goodness of God. I do NOT doubt the POWER of God....What I DO doubt is how we as Christians do NOT fully live the very lives we profess to believe in.

WE HAVE BECOME JUST LIKE THE WORLD........and it GRIEVES me no end...

This may seem harsh, but it needed to be said. Im sorry if I have stepped on anyones toes...and make NO mistake...I am pointing fingers at myself also.

Regards,

Ben.

I can feel your passion on this topic but this is today's world. We don't live in the dark ages but in a world filled with pain and violence and teens who are abused and can do nothing about it. I believe in the power of God but I also believe that these youths need to talk to someone about what they are going through. First step is to admit you have a problem. How can you get a youth who is worldly and in pain to trust anyone. Ministering to them and finding a spiritual counselor is a must but they are in pain and cannot control their actions. It's an illness. They need help as much as prayer.

I am ashamed to admit this but since this topic has come up I will tell you I know first hand what it is like for I have cut my inner arm and wrists several times as a teen and once as an adult. In fact the wound was so bad I needed stitches but I let several days go by and they could only butterfly the gap together and gave me a tetnus shot. Does that make me a non believer? I admit also that I was so depressed at that time I wanted to hurt myself to numb the pain in my heart and send it somewhere else where I could actually see it. I am a true believer in the Lord and I sincerely hope you don't judge me for this admission which I have not admitted to anyone before except my husband. These youths need love, compassion, understanding and Yes Therapy!! We can pray but the Lord also says we need to take action. And with others praying for her I believe she will grow out of it. Youths that cut themselves also consider suicide because they are so unhappy and feel they don't belong. With all the love surrounding her and the prayers, she may very well grow out of it and learn to deal with her pain in a way that is more productive.

Blessings

cj,

I hear what youre saying. But....and this is a very big But.........How is all the physical and psychological help in the world going to cure what is more than likely a "Spiritual" problem........????????

I raise the issue of the demoniac for a specific reason.......We as believers most often overlook the spiritual effects of a circumstance and try to place them in a package that we can find a physical fix for........More than often the illness is of a spiritual nature, which as a result has manifested itself into a physical problem. Just as self help groups and doctors and psychologists and psychiatrists cannot cure SIN.....The only hope you have is to find a cure that really targets the cause of the problem in the first place.....With SIN, it is simple...The only cure is REPENTANCE...Because only repentance targets the real cause.

Our problem therefore is NOT that we dont WANT to help these people for clearly we DO....The issue is simple...FALSE DIAGNOSIS of the issue in the first place.

If it is spiritual, then NOTHING we say or do is going to help.....We can only comfort a person physically and emotionally, however there is only ONE who knows how to comfort a broken and destroyed spirit. There is only ONE who Knows HOW to comfort a broken and lonely heart and HE is the one who created YOU...That is WHY he is called the "Comforter."

NO pill or education, or environment or example is ever going to set a person who is captive to spiritual bondage FREE....There is only ONE who can set us free.

Jesus...

"He whom the son sets free is free indeed.." These are not just wise words from a book...This is God telling those who are in bondage that there is someone who can break the chains of bondage, there is someone who can stop the man from mutilating himself and there IS one who can completely set a man FREE.

The demoniac approached Jesus and fell before him, RECOGNIZING him as Jesus the Son of GOD...He KNEW even in his completely hopeless state of bondage, cutting himself, and constantly breaking the chains that restrained him so he could do more self injury, that Jesus was his only hope...EVERYONE else had given up on him because they didnt know what to do....So they just chained him night after night after night.....This man had MANY demons as they claimed the name Legion, "for we are many."

This man later went on to evangelise after Jesus had delivered him of his demonic possession. Many lives were changed as the life of the demoniac turned from possession of demons to being the Possession of Christ....He even asked the Lord to "take me with you." What did Jesus say...?

NO. You stay here and go and tell all the people what the Lord has done for you. You will notice in the gospels that the next time the decapolis is mentioned, it has been evangelised and there are many followers of the Lord. This came about through the testimony of ONE demon possessed man. Delivered and set free by Jesus.

These cutters need more than our comfort and our prayers...You are RIGHT.....They Need Jesus, they need to see Jesus, and they need to see Jesus in US.

When they have been set free by Jesus, they will have had their lives so dramatically transformed by the power of God that they will tell OTHERS....

We as believers need to start making RIGHT diagnosis....

We are supposed to have the answer living inside of us....When it is a spiritual issue, there is NO doctor or physician that can help. They may prevent the cutting for a while, but they wont have mended the broken spirit that caused it in the first place.

Its time for us to understand what our faith is really all about and start LIVING it...!!!!! The Word is quite clear on this...."These signs shall follow those who believe..." Gods word is Truth, so my question remains...If these signs should be following those who believe and WE profess to believe....WHY arent those signs following US...

How much do we REALLY believe....?????? It really grieves me that I dont know what to do...IT really grieves me that as a believer I SHOULD know what to do...I can only pray that God will shake his people who are called by HIS name..and wake them from their slumber.

Two scriptures that speak to me right now are one from the Old Testament where God says, "Oh that my head were a fountain that I could cry tears." God wanted to cry he was so grieved at the disobedience of his own people...and in the New Testament the shortest of all the scriptures he got his wish...."Jesus Wept."

Regards,

Ben.

[cjrose]

What you do depends on who you are, who they are to you, and how serious the cutting is.

Most likely they have been rejected by one or both parents and want to emotionally get out of the situation. The physical pain helps them not feel emotional pain. They need a pastor who is close to the Lord to help deliver and counsel them from this. A psychiartrist would be needed if they cannot be talked through it with the pastor or yourself. It is a mental condition to hide the emotional pain.

It depends on their age as well... to whom you should go to. If they are a teenager, probably in high school, the school counselor or nurse can help if they trust them. A good teacher may be there.

Either way.... this is not ok to do to themselves.

I wonder if the demoniac who went about the place cutting himself sought the counsel of a psychologist.....

My God people, can you NOT see that cutting is symptomatic of Baal Worship....The demoniac went about the tombs cutting himself with stones.....

When did he stop cutting himself...????? When he SAW Jesus. Just as those who worshipped Baal at Mount Carmel in the time of Elijah sought the attention of their god by cutting themselves....ANYONE who is cutting themselves is seeking to find some attention. YES they are in pain and YES they more than likely have some hidden trauma in their lives, but NO psychologist is going to help....

When are Christians EVER going to look to Jesus....????? For Gods sake people.....Psychologists refer to psychiatrists, and psychiatrists refer to medication...That is NOT help.. It is not dealing with the issues at hand. All medication does is suppress the illness...It in NO way deals with it at all...

There is a demonic spirit behind those who cut themselves, even if THEY dont realise it. It was only Christ who set the demoniac free....and he had so many demons oppressing him, he was given the name "Legion" , for we are many..

I have a question for the church, and it has phased me and bothered me from day one of my salvation.......

Im going to post it here and now because I feel it needs to be asked....

If WE as the body of Christ have been given the authority and the power to cast out demons, lay hands on people and see them healed, trample snakes and scorpions......If WE the Church have the answer to all the evils of the world, then why the hell is it that the WORLD is the only ones looking after them...????

Where is that power and where is that authority when all we do is confine them to institutions because we havent got a damn clue what to do about it...??

Could this have something to do with Pauls scriptures about "having a form of godliness and religion YET denying the POWER....????"

I must ask.....Because quite frankly, I am sick and tired of watching people fade away and die, when WE the church the body of Christ are supposed to be the ones looking after them...

I do NOT doubt the goodness of God. I do NOT doubt the POWER of God....What I DO doubt is how we as Christians do NOT fully live the very lives we profess to believe in.

WE HAVE BECOME JUST LIKE THE WORLD........and it GRIEVES me no end...

This may seem harsh, but it needed to be said. Im sorry if I have stepped on anyones toes...and make NO mistake...I am pointing fingers at myself also.

Regards,

Ben.

I can feel your passion on this topic but this is today's world. We don't live in the dark ages but in a world filled with pain and violence and teens who are abused and can do nothing about it. I believe in the power of God but I also believe that these youths need to talk to someone about what they are going through. First step is to admit you have a problem. How can you get a youth who is worldly and in pain to trust anyone. Ministering to them and finding a spiritual counselor is a must but they are in pain and cannot control their actions. It's an illness. They need help as much as prayer.

I am ashamed to admit this but since this topic has come up I will tell you I know first hand what it is like for I have cut my inner arm and wrists several times as a teen and once as an adult. In fact the wound was so bad I needed stitches but I let several days go by and they could only butterfly the gap together and gave me a tetnus shot. Does that make me a non believer? I admit also that I was so depressed at that time I wanted to hurt myself to numb the pain in my heart and send it somewhere else where I could actually see it. I am a true believer in the Lord and I sincerely hope you don't judge me for this admission which I have not admitted to anyone before except my husband. These youths need love, compassion, understanding and Yes Therapy!! We can pray but the Lord also says we need to take action. And with others praying for her I believe she will grow out of it. Youths that cut themselves also consider suicide because they are so unhappy and feel they don't belong. With all the love surrounding her and the prayers, she may very well grow out of it and learn to deal with her pain in a way that is more productive.

Blessings

cj,

I hear what youre saying. But....and this is a very big But.........How is all the physical and psychological help in the world going to cure what is more than likely a "Spiritual" problem........????????

I raise the issue of the demoniac for a specific reason.......We as believers most often overlook the spiritual effects of a circumstance and try to place them in a package that we can find a physical fix for........More than often the illness is of a spiritual nature, which as a result has manifested itself into a physical problem. Just as self help groups and doctors and psychologists and psychiatrists cannot cure SIN.....The only hope you have is to find a cure that really targets the cause of the problem in the first place.....With SIN, it is simple...The only cure is REPENTANCE...Because only repentance targets the real cause.

Our problem therefore is NOT that we dont WANT to help these people for clearly we DO....The issue is simple...FALSE DIAGNOSIS of the issue in the first place.

If it is spiritual, then NOTHING we say or do is going to help.....We can only comfort a person physically and emotionally, however there is only ONE who knows how to comfort a broken and destroyed spirit. There is only ONE who Knows HOW to comfort a broken and lonely heart and HE is the one who created YOU...That is WHY he is called the "Comforter."

NO pill or education, or environment or example is ever going to set a person who is captive to spiritual bondage FREE....There is only ONE who can set us free.

Jesus...

"He whom the son sets free is free indeed.." These are not just wise words from a book...This is God telling those who are in bondage that there is someone who can break the chains of bondage, there is someone who can stop the man from mutilating himself and there IS one who can completely set a man FREE.

The demoniac approached Jesus and fell before him, RECOGNIZING him as Jesus the Son of GOD...He KNEW even in his completely hopeless state of bondage, cutting himself, and constantly breaking the chains that restrained him so he could do more self injury, that Jesus was his only hope...EVERYONE else had given up on him because they didnt know what to do....So they just chained him night after night after night.....This man had MANY demons as they claimed the name Legion, "for we are many."

This man later went on to evangelise after Jesus had delivered him of his demonic possession. Many lives were changed as the life of the demoniac turned from possession of demons to being the Possession of Christ....He even asked the Lord to "take me with you." What did Jesus say...?

NO. You stay here and go and tell all the people what the Lord has done for you. You will notice in the gospels that the next time the decapolis is mentioned, it has been evangelised and there are many followers of the Lord. This came about through the testimony of ONE demon possessed man. Delivered and set free by Jesus.

These cutters need more than our comfort and our prayers...You are RIGHT.....They Need Jesus, they need to see Jesus, and they need to see Jesus in US.

When they have been set free by Jesus, they will have had their lives so dramatically transformed by the power of God that they will tell OTHERS....

We as believers need to start making RIGHT diagnosis....

We are supposed to have the answer living inside of us....When it is a spiritual issue, there is NO doctor or physician that can help. They may prevent the cutting for a while, but they wont have mended the broken spirit that caused it in the first place.

Its time for us to understand what our faith is really all about and start LIVING it...!!!!! The Word is quite clear on this...."These signs shall follow those who believe..." Gods word is Truth, so my question remains...If these signs should be following those who believe and WE profess to believe....WHY arent those signs following US...

How much do we REALLY believe....?????? It really grieves me that I dont know what to do...IT really grieves me that as a believer I SHOULD know what to do...I can only pray that God will shake his people who are called by HIS name..and wake them from their slumber.

Two scriptures that speak to me right now are one from the Old Testament where God says, "Oh that my head were a fountain that I could cry tears." God wanted to cry he was so grieved at the disobedience of his own people...and in the New Testament the shortest of all the scriptures he got his wish...."Jesus Wept."

Regards,

Ben.

Ben and brother in Christ,

I can tell you are on fire for God but let's look at your comment about it being a spiritual problem. When one cuts themselves they want to place the pain they feel inside to a place where they can see it and take the focus off of what they are really feeling. It's a destructive distraction.

I so agree with you that we ALL need Jesus but as a youth, possibly abused or neglected, they find comfort where they can and I am a true testament to this. Just as Luke was a doctor, we have professionals today who have gone through years of learning on how to deal with these types of issues, so why not try a professional. They became doctors so they can help people just as Jesus helped us and is helping us today. I would first suggest a spiritual counselor so that this youth could be open to the word of God and realize they can find the peace and joy that will HEAL their illness. But belive me, I've been through the fire and as much as I love and am dedicated to God, we need to seek help in addition to our faith to heal us. I have trusted the Lord on so many issues to heal me internally and still do. And I still believe that Jesus weeps for our pain and miracles do happen and we ALL need Him in our life and yes, if this youth believed she would be healed because her pain would be substituted with peace and joy. But we need to take action and seek outside help. Cutting yourself is so serious. We can pray that it will stop, this youth will find the right spiritual counselor who may be a professional or not, to talk it out. If I had cancer, do you think I wouldn't seek out a professional for treatment? That is why we have doctors. But I must admit, personally I wouldn't take any action and let the cancer takes it's course because that would mean I could be with the Lord sooner.

But please try to see it in a different perspective. If the youth is not spiritual, how can Jesus live in her. So in that case it is not a spiritual problem because she/he is not spiritual. We need medical attention sometimes. Jesus isn't here to touch our wounds and heal it or bring our loved ones back from the dead as he did the little girl. I truly have to say that there must be a balance. We pray and we take action. As we live in this world and I do not believe there are people, spiritual people who can heal with a touch. That was Jesus gift. But there are spiritual people who can she/he can talk with and get to the heart of the problem.

Cj

[Candi770]

I think someone needs to be told about this. If my child was doing it: I would want to know. If you think the parents are abusing him/her-contact HRS or someone at school. I hate watching these court tv shows when a teen has killed their family and people that lived all around him; were hearing his crys for help-why couldn't someone stand up and speak. It doesn't matter what causes the cutting-he needs help. If he can't speak for hisself - He needs help. Poor baby- Lord Help Him!!

candi

[cjrose]

yes cutting is not spiritual and not baal worship. People hurt themselves to release pain, not to say I love you satan.

Ask someone who cut themselves what they were doing, The typical response is I don't know. Then they run around looking happy after they are done. Cutting provides temporary relief to emotional turmoil. Get that person to a doctor.

Exercising a demon isn't going to do anything for that poor person.

dood, well put and exactly my feelings about it. Thanks for your post. Good Good.

[cjrose]

I think someone needs to be told about this. If my child was doing it: I would want to know. If you think the parents are abusing him/her-contact HRS or someone at school. I hate watching these court tv shows when a teen has killed their family and people that lived all around him; were hearing his crys for help-why couldn't someone stand up and speak. It doesn't matter what causes the cutting-he needs help. If he can't speak for hisself - He needs help. Poor baby- Lord Help Him!!

candi

Candi, you are so right, it is a cry for help. When I was a teen and cutting, nobody even noticed. But God did and that in retrospect is what matters most at this point in my life. I would most definately know if one of my children were doing it. But when I was growing up, my parents generation was so different. Expressing affection, telling me they loved me, or they were proud of me was something I never heard nor experienced. One reason I am so in tune to my kids and give them the love and support and let them know how proud I am of them because they are truly good kids. So thankful.

[Candi770]

cjrose,

I guess when I hear story of the hurting my mommy-ness comes out. That sounds like my parents generation. My parents vowed to be different-to always speak Love!! I sure do love my kids God gave me for a brief moment!! I never cut myself but I was anorexic for a season in my teen years. I'm glad Jesus woke me up=even in a loving family things can go wrong. We all get attacked.

Well Blessings to ya

Candi

[cjrose]

cjrose,

I guess when I hear story of the hurting my mommy-ness comes out. That sounds like my parents generation. My parents vowed to be different-to always speak Love!! I sure do love my kids God gave me for a brief moment!! I never cut myself but I was anorexic for a season in my teen years. I'm glad Jesus woke me up=even in a loving family things can go wrong. We all get attacked.

Well Blessings to ya

Candi

Like you I had an eating disorder and it still lingers but I am getting through it. But I still can't help feeling fat so I don't eat for days but that is not the right way to lose weight. But in my mind, it feels right. Which is wrong. LoL does this make sense?

And my parents never vowed anything except marriage and even that broke up and ended in divorce. I am just thankful that because of the lack of love I received as a child, I give it so freely and abundantly today to my children and my brothers and sisters in Christ.

[irishcowboy]

What would you do, if a young person you knew was cutting themselves? What would you do it they raised their arm one day and you saw the cuts because their sleeve went down a bit? What would you do if they confided in you that they were cutting themselves?

i have known several cutters over the years.....

one young lady i know that was cutting was off into drugs and the witchcraft, rejecting Christ,

another was demonicaly troubled (possibly possessed)

both young ladies, turning their lives over to Christ resolved this issue, an issue where shrinks have no power to do anything about, where institutions have no effect on this ordeal.

they both have scars that will be their their entire life, physical scars, the mental scars have healed and they have all but forgotten the ordeals they were going through they remember but do not dwell on the issues that are in the past....

thnk about the man in the tombs, how bad off he was.... breaking chains that were to bind him...

think about the boy that would have fits that would even cause him to fall in the fire....

some say that cutting is mental illness..... others say that it is demon originated.....

if mental, then the elders are to be called out and the person should be annointed, and hands laid upon them, and prayed over and their sins will be forgiven and they will be healed.....

if demon possessed, then i would have to say it would require prayer and fasting and againg, the elders called out and the person annointed by those that have sanctivied themselves, set themselves apart in prayer and fasting, to lay hands upon this person, and call out the demon(s)

some believe that the cutting will release the demons, and that is why they are trying to do, is to get rid of the pain and discomfort of the demon in them....

some that have demons trying to steal away the soul/body, will be seen clawing themselves trying to get their own bodies back from control of another....

in this day and age, everone i have seen that is or was a cutter, was doing this while they were not with Christ, but away from Christ, and those that are not doing it anymore are now following Christ very closely...

mike