The suicide of Liu Xuezhou, a teenager in search of his parents, attracted the attention and comments of many Christians.
On January 24th, 15-year-old Liu Xuezhou committed suicide in Sanya, Hainan. As a grade two student majoring in preschool education in Shijiazhuang Law and Business Secondary Vocational School, he was once sold by his biological father when he was just a toddler. From December 14, 2021 to January 24, finding his biological parents, Liu had some conflict with them, and finally committed suicide by an overdose of medicine. More than 1,000 Weibo netizens sent attacking private messages to him, which was mentioned in his suicide note. "You do so just to force your parents to buy you a house, right?", "Why did you sue your parents? Is it because they didn’t buy you a house?" Liu explained again and again, but no one listened. Really overwhelmed, he decided to commit suicide.
Many Christians expressed their heartache for this tragedy, commenting on it from different angles on social media.
Some Christians look at it from the perspective of family. They believed that family is the root of all problems. To solve problems, you need to manage the family well, which is definitely not a matter for one person, but every family member needs to go all out for the family. Whether you are poor or rich, running a good family is the first priority of your life and survival. The tragic experiences in Liu and his final suicide are directly related to the parents' failure to run a good family.
From the moral point of view, some Christian pastors thought that when Liu experienced overwhelming cyber violence, and was being considered as having serious moral problems, the attackers all thought that they were standing on the moral commanding heights. They made moral complaints against Liu with indignation, wishing him to die quickly.
He said: "The moralism beast has been eating people all the time, and everyone has bowed down before this evil beast. Taken orders from it, they killed other people it wanted to devour. Only the gospel of Christ shows us a new way of life that is completely superior to moralism, so that this evil beast cannot eat us. Presenting a new social form, the church establishes evangelized interpersonal relationships among people, helping us completely break away from the endless cycle of moralism."
Meanwhile, some Christians also shared, "What is evil and what is good? With a moral scale in his heart, each person has the right to choose good or evil. However, nowadays, there is only one word distance between good and evil! Maybe our tiny action or one word can make others successful or destroyed!"
A female believer said, "Does he (Liu Xuezhou) have to bear the name of “deserted child” all his life? The child cannot understand what his mistake was. Longing for fatherly and maternal love, he wants to have a home like other children. After his meeting his parents, it is not a big deal for him to ask his parents to rent or buy a house for him if conditions permit. Isn't that what parents should do for their children?"
Another Christian commented on the suicide: "No matter how hard it is in your heart, please don't commit suicide, as suicide is the devil's murder lie. Every person is born with great value. Belonging to God, life should not be deprived of by oneself."
Another Christian recalled the family tragedies in recent years, saying, "The situation of a family is often the epitome of society. Behind the abandonment case, the filicide case in Chongqing and the murder case of a family of six in Zhengzhou in the past two years are all due to the supremacy of money and the unlimited desires".
From a legal point of view, some people also argued, "Shouldn't the public prosecution agency ask for justice for this young boy? Whether it is buying and selling babies, sexual assault on campus or cyber violence, these are illegal or even criminal acts."
Another male believer shared it from the perspective of people's longing for love. He said, "Love does not kill. The greatest suffering in life is people's perception of their own life, which is a situation of no love. Meanwhile, as time goes, the sense of loneliness gradually strikes. As C. S. Lewis said, "Born helpless, we will find ourselves lonely once we are mature consciously. Needing others physically, emotionally, and intellectually, if we want to know anything (even ourselves), we can't do it without others."
- Translated by Oliver Zuo
