Cutting and Self-Injury: Some Biblical Considerations

* The following is a piece I wrote in response to a question of whether the Bible really is against cutting.  This was written to respond to a specific question and not to give a full pastoral approach to this issue.  I would recommend the book Inside a Cutter's Mind: Understanding and Helping Those Who Self-Injure by Jerusha Clark with Dr. Earl Henslin for a fuller discussion.  As will be obvious, I'm writing in response to a married Christian woman.  
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I want to attempt to provide a Scriptural approach to “cutting.”[1]  I think it’s important to define cutting.  We are not talking about a medical doctor doing surgery with a scalpel.  Cutting is the deliberate damaging of the body to provide relief from mental, spiritual anguish.  One author states it this way:

The majority of sufferers…cut or burn because they seek relief from seemingly uncontrollable pain or deadening numbness.

Later she writes:

People who engage in self-inflicted violence are usually not trying to end their lives; instead, they are attempting to find temporary relief from their pain.  Self-injury is most often used as a survival technique rather than an exit strategy.[2]

I think it’s important to understand not only what cutting is, but why someone might be engaging in cutting.  The Bible speaks to both actions and internal motives.  So even if there is not a specific verse that speaks about modern day cutting the Bible has a great deal to say about the internal states of our hearts and motives.

What I attempt to do below is to look at various Scriptures that are relevant to the issue of cutting.  It’s important to look at all of Scripture.  The passages below should be taken all together.  I don’t think any one of them specifically deals with cutting but taken all together we begin to see God’s mind on our bodies and how to view them.  We can then ask, “Is cutting consistent or inconsistent with this picture that God gives us in his word?” 

1.     Leviticus 19.28  (also Deuteronomy 14.1-2)  “You shall not make any cuts in your body for the dead nor make any tattoo marks on yourselves: I am the Lord.”

I realize that this verse is not directly speaking to contemporary cutting--you are obviously not doing it “for the dead.”  This commandment speaks of cutting and tattooing as a religious acts in seeking other gods.  What I would point out, however, is that this issue of cutting comes up in an idolatrous context.  It doesn’t appear in the true worship of the true and living God.  I am going to argue, based on the evidence, that God is a God of healing.  The other religions are to some extent motivated and energized by the evil One and he is one who is destructive.  That is why we find in the religions surrounding Israel practices that undermine the value of humans.  Think, for example, of child sacrifice.  The pagan nations surrounding Israel engaged in this destructive behavior whereas God told his people Israel not to do this.  The true and living God is a God of life and his worship practices reflect that.  Yes, blood sacrifice is needed but God graciously gives the animal sacrificial system which points to the ultimate sacrifice of God’s own Son, Jesus Christ.  Watch for this pattern--where does cutting show up in Scripture?  What we will see is that is shows up in places where idolatry and the evil One reign--not in the midst of the true worshippers of God.

2.     1 Kings 18.28  “So they cried out with a loud voice and cut themselves according to their custom with swords and lances until the blood gushed out on them.”

Again, this is a context of idolatrous worship and not directly relevant to contemporary cutting.  Yet, again, notice where cutting does show up in Scripture--among those who don’t know God and are enslaved to a false system of religious belief.  God provides detailed instruction for his people in the Old Testament on how to worship him and these instructions do not include the cutting of the body.[3]

3.     Mark 5.1-20: Jesus and the man with many demons (Legion)

Verse 5: “Constantly, night and day, he was screaming among the tombs and in the mountains, and gashing himself with stones.”

In the Old Testament we’ve seen that false religions (motivated and empowered by demons) has the cutting of flesh involved.  Here we see when someone is in bondage to the demonic there is, again, the cutting of flesh.  This behavior is marked out as “out of the normal” and when Jesus casts out the demon the man is “clothed and in his right mind” (v. 15).  Presumably has stopped cutting himself.  Can we really imagine him sitting at the feet of Jesus listening to Jesus and still engaged with cutting himself? 

I think we begin to see a principle here.  Jesus said that the “thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly” (John 10.10).  Jesus referred to the devil as a “murderer” (John 8.44) and he is also referred to as “Apollyon” which means “destroyer” (Revelation 9.11).  Cutting is a destructive way in which to seek relief.  It fits with the kinds of lies the evil One tells. 

4.     1 Corinthians 6.15-20

There is some crucial teaching about the physical body of the Christian here in these verses.  We need to recognize that the context is about combating sexual immorality.  But in the process of speaking about this issue the Holy Spirit through Paul states important truths about the physical body.  Here a few of the items worth noting:

           

a.     “your bodies are members of Christ” (v. 15)

Paul reasons from this that we shouldn’t take our bodies and make them members of a prostitute.  What we do with our bodies intersects with Christ himself.  The same would seem to go for cutting.  For a Christian to cut themselves is, in a sense, to cut Christ’s body.

b.     “your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit” (v. 19)

The body is not some optional piece of meat to be discarded or overlooked.  Our physical bodies are the dwelling place of God’s Spirit.  This leads to a positive concern for the body.  Does the Holy Spirit want his temple cut?

c.     “you have been bought with a price therefore glorify God in your body” (v. 20)

We have been bought by the blood of Jesus and this has implications for how we are to treat our bodies.  We do not belong to ourselves—we belong to Jesus as his blood-bought and redeemed people.  Cutting is not consistent with Christ’s loving ownership of us.

5.     1 Corinthians 7.3-4 “The husband must fulfill his duty to his wife, and likewise also the wife to her husband.  The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does; and likewise also the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does.”

Again, this passage doesn’t discuss cutting in particular but the principle spoke of here is applicable.  For a married couple there is a sense in which their body is not their own—it belongs to the other.  There is a fundamental union that includes the body.  The context is obviously that of sexual intimacy within marriage but the principle seems to be applicable to cutting.  You are not just cutting your body.  You are cutting what the Bible says belong to your husband.  As a married woman you cannot think of what you do your body as merely affecting you.  You are united to your husband.  Because he loves you your husband does not desire that you cut your (and his) body.

6.     Ephesians 5.28-29 “So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies.  He who loves his own wife loves himself; for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church”

We see in this passage a presumption that there is a natural inclination to protect one’s body.  This is right and good.  Furthermore, a husband is to be like Jesus.  He is to nourish and cherish his wife as Christ does the church.  Can we really imagine Jesus “cutting” his bride so as to punish her or numb her?  Your husband is seeking to nourish and cherish you (including your body) by helping you not to cut and you are expected to let him love in this way.

7.     There a number of questions that should be asked about any activity we engage in as Christians.

a.     Can this activity of cutting be pursued in faith?  According to Romans 14.23 Paul writes that “whatever is not from faith is sin.”

b.     Can the activity of cutting be pursued in the community of Christ?  Does this activity increase your love for the body of Christ?  The classic passage is, of course, 1 Corinthians 13.4-7.  Would it be loving for you to desire others to be cutting themselves?  I think the answer to that question is, “no.”  Would it be loving of the congregation for them to desire that you cut yourself?  Again, I think the answer to that question is, “no.”

c.     Can the activity of cutting be seen as consistent with walking in the Holy Spirit and his fruit?  Galatians 5.22-23 lists out the fruit of the Spirit: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, self-control…”  Work through that list one item at a time and ask yourself whether cutting is consistent with each aspect of this list.  For example: “Is my cutting indicative of self-control?  Is my cutting consistent with the joy of the Lord?  Is my cutting consistent with the peace of God reigning in my heart?”  I find it hard to believe that cutting can be a Spirit driven and guided activity.  The Spirit is life (Romans 8.10) and promotes that which is consistent with life.

d.     Is the activity of cutting oneself a way to glorify God?  1 Corinthians 10.31 states: “Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God”  Whatever you do—including cutting.  Is cutting a way to glorify God?  Can you honestly and sincerely pray, “Lord, I am about to cut myself for your glory.”?

Again, like I stated at the beginning, none of these verses by themselves says, “Thou shalt not cut” (although the texts in Leviticus and Deuteronomy come close!).   The point is that by taking all of Scripture together we can begin to understand God’s heart on this issue.  Once we begin to understand what cutting it and why it is done I think it’s fairly clear that such an activity is inconsistent with the character of our heavenly Father who loves us and gave his Son for us.

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[1] Another attempt at a scriptural look at cutting and self-injury is found here: http://www.self-injury.org/scriptureandsi.html

[2] Jerusha Clark with Dr. Earl Henslin Inside a Cutter’s Mind: Understanding and Helping Those Who Self-injure (Think, 2007), pp. 21, 42.

[3] The one point at which God does command cutting in the Old Testament is the circumcision of males as a sign of the covenant (Genesis 17.10-14).  This is different from the on-going cutting engaged in by the pagan nations surrounding Israel.  This is a one time cutting to be done to an eight day old male baby.  The purpose and reason for this cutting is given by God.  He speaks to the what and why of this cutting.

Mending the Soul--New Video

Mending the Soul ministries is doing amazing work around the world.  The book Mending the Soul: Understanding and Healing Abuse by Steve Tracy is an important work that helps deal with issues of abuse and healing.  Mending the Soul has a new promotional video out that gives a flavor of their work.

Psychiatric Drugs and the State of Mind

Recently in The New York Review of Books there appeared two insightful review essays by Marcia Angell.  In these articles Angell reviews a number of books calling into question the current cultural rampage for psychiatric drugs.  I can't begin to do justice to Angell's reviews of these books but a few select quotations might be enough enticement to go see her articles.  Angell begins her first article with the following facts about the amount of "mental disorder" that is being "diagnosed" in our time:

It seems that Americans are in the midst of a raging epidemic of mental illness, at least as judged by the increase in the numbers treated for it. The tally of those who are so disabled by mental disorders that they qualify for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) or Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) increased nearly two and a half times between 1987 and 2007—from one in 184 Americans to one in seventy-six. For children, the rise is even more startling—a thirty-five-fold increase in the same two decades. Mental illness is now the leading cause of disability in children, well ahead of physical disabilities like cerebral palsy or Down syndrome, for which the federal programs were created.

A large survey of randomly selected adults, sponsored by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and conducted between 2001 and 2003, found that an astonishing 46 percent met criteria established by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) for having had at least one mental illness within four broad categories at some time in their lives. The categories were “anxiety disorders,” including, among other subcategories, phobias and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD); “mood disorders,” including major depression and bipolar disorders; “impulse-control disorders,” including various behavioral problems and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD); and “substance use disorders,” including alcohol and drug abuse. Most met criteria for more than one diagnosis. Of a subgroup affected within the previous year, a third were under treatment—up from a fifth in a similar survey ten years earlier.

Later, in the second part of her series, she ends with the following practical consequences that are already being seen and will, in all liklihood, be more prevalent.

As low-income families experience growing economic hardship, many are finding that applying for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments on the basis of mental disability is the only way to survive. It is more generous than welfare, and it virtually ensures that the family will also qualify for Medicaid. According to MIT economics professor David Autor, “This has become the new welfare.” Hospitals and state welfare agencies also have incentives to encourage uninsured families to apply for SSI payments, since hospitals will get paid and states will save money by shifting welfare costs to the federal government.

Growing numbers of for-profit firms specialize in helping poor families apply for SSI benefits. But to qualify nearly always requires that applicants, including children, be taking psychoactive drugs. According to a New York Times story, a Rutgers University study found that children from low-income families are four times as likely as privately insured children to receive antipsychotic medicines.

In December 2006 a four-year-old child named Rebecca Riley died in a small town near Boston from a combination of Clonidine and Depakote, which she had been prescribed, along with Seroquel, to treat “ADHD” and “bipolar disorder”—diagnoses she received when she was two years old. Clonidine was approved by the FDA for treating high blood pressure. Depakote was approved for treating epilepsy and acute mania in bipolar disorder. Seroquel was approved for treating schizophrenia and acute mania. None of the three was approved to treat ADHD or for long-term use in bipolar disorder, and none was approved for children Rebecca’s age. Rebecca’s two older siblings had been given the same diagnoses and were each taking three psychoactive drugs. The parents had obtained SSI benefits for the siblings and for themselves, and were applying for benefits for Rebecca when she died. The family’s total income from SSI was about $30,000 per year.

Along the way through her essays, Angell speaks about neurotransmitters, placebos, and the new edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM).  The DSM-V is being worked on now and is set to be released in 2013.  The list of disorders will be increasing.  You've heard of ADHD. Well that led to "juvenile bipolar disorder" which was so over diagnosed that there was backlash.  The new DSM-V is set to give us a new childhood disorder--"temper dysregulation disorder with dysphoria"--TDD, for short.  You watch for it.  In a few years this will be the new code ("TRR") bandied about much the same way ADHD was, and still is.


Angell's two review essays are important reading in that they direct us to important literature and facts not widely known to the populace at large.  You can find her two articles linked below.


"The Epidemic of Mental Illness: Why?" June 23, 2011


"The Illusion of Psychiatry" July 14, 2011