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Thursday, December 4, 2008

The $1,000.00 Challenge is Off

Paul Kelly Tripplehorn Jr. who we saw in the videos below committed suicide last weekend.

Rest in peace.
Posted by at

25 comments:

  1. Chris MackeyDecember 4, 2008 at 5:06 AM

    This is sad.
    I wasn't ever bipolar but I used to be a depressed and angry young man. Then I went to the doctor and became a happy (most of the time) and angry young man.
    I mean I have to -work- on being happy but it works.
    This is probably too much information...
    Anyway, it's sad.

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  2. Chris MackeyDecember 4, 2008 at 5:18 AM

    http://www.snopes.com/embarrass/email/tripplehorn.asp

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  3. StewDecember 4, 2008 at 5:35 AM

    Well that sucks.

    I left a message of condolence at their guest book. He was a clever young man with much to offer and much to learn.

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  4. Benjamin FranklinDecember 4, 2008 at 6:25 AM

    OK, Who gave this poor kid a copy of The God Delusion, and made him read it?

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  5. AlexDecember 4, 2008 at 6:50 AM

    Sad, but not as sad as the death of all of the non-fundamentalist asshole people who died during the same time-frame.

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  6. WhatevermanDecember 4, 2008 at 8:37 AM

    This raises some issues for me, but perhaps it's more appropriate to wish his family some peace & comfort.

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  7. theShaggyDecember 4, 2008 at 9:13 AM

    I feel bad that the poor guy had the bipolar condition which caused his death, but if it was really suicide, why is his religious family talking about how he went to be with the Heavenly Father? Isn't suicide one of those damning sins?

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  8. WhatevermanDecember 4, 2008 at 9:21 AM

    This was going to be one of my questions...

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  9. ObsidianDecember 4, 2008 at 10:08 AM

    Poor guy

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  10. Char'ElsDecember 4, 2008 at 10:18 AM

    I'm fairly certain that for Catholics, suicide is a mortal sin. But Catholics are all in Satan's camp anyway. Dunno how the fundies see it, though I suspect that the same reasoning would apply: murder is a sin, and there's no way to get forgiveness after you've popped yourself off, unlike with any other sin.

    Of course, this raises another theological problem. According to fundie doctrine, acceptance of Christ (or, if you like, personal knowledge of Christ) is the only necessary condition for salvation. All prior sins are washed away. But how about sins committed after that glorious day you read a tract, went down on your knees in the laundromat, and saw Jesus? (There's an image that has more than one connotation, doesn't it?)

    Anyway, if it's sin that keeps us out of heaven, then aren't you in the same mess again a day later, unless you go through the rest of your life staying inside and praying so you never have the chance to sin again? Jack Chick gets around this one by having his newly saved characters get blown up in a plane within the next ten minutes, and thus immediately pass Go and go directly to heaven. Chick also likes having the folks who have just torn up that tract and told the street preacher to buzz off get blown up immediately afterwards as well, so they can wail all the more at that last chance that God tossed their way.

    Wait, I think I've got the answer to this one. You can keep sinning after you get saved, but you no longer have a sinful nature so it's okay as long as you feel a little sorry for it and keep trying to stay on Jesus's good side.

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  11. henwliDecember 4, 2008 at 10:27 AM

    My deepest condolences to all who knew and loved Tripplehorn Jr.

    Getting my Christian info from Todd Friel...

    Suicide isn't a big deal, apparently. Everyone has a lapse of judgement every now and then, and God understands that. If you're an overall good Christian, God is not going to judge you if you happen to do this one teensy little mistake in your life.

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  12. MudleyDecember 4, 2008 at 11:40 AM

    Benjamin Franklin said...

    OK, Who gave this poor kid a copy of The God Delusion, and made him read it?

    I was thinking along the same lines.

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  13. Stan, the Half-Truth TellerDecember 4, 2008 at 11:44 AM

    The bad news here is that a young man felt the need to end his own life. Err -- his only life.

    The good news is that his suffering is over, and there is neither heaven nor hell, neither god nor devil, and so rather than mourn his absence, his family and friends can, and should, appreciate his presence while they had it.

    As an aside, bipolar disorder is an obviously tragic condition, and deserves significant attention in the medical/psychological community. It was the driving force behind the successful suicides of no fewer than three personal friends and acquaintances, and about a half-dozen more who were unsuccessful.

    --
    Stan

    P.S. - I was kind. My natural instinct is to crack inappropriate jokes, but too often they are misconstrued as being mean-spirited rather than mere observations of the implausible nature of religion in general.

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  14. AnonymousDecember 4, 2008 at 2:31 PM

    This might sound heartless, but:

    He was a clever young man with much to offer and much to learn.

    Bullshit. He was a pretentious asshole who might have never learned.

    I do not enjoy talking bad about people who have just died, but I detest this tendency to say good things about some idiot because they died.

    Sorry to be an embarrassment to any of you guys.

    G.E.

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  15. WhatevermanDecember 4, 2008 at 2:42 PM

    I look at it this way, GE...

    Bi-polars often exhibit multiple exaggerated personality traits: creativity, sexuality, extroversion, introversion, etc. The video annoyed me, but I can't fairly conclude that it represented the sum total (or even a significant part) of the guy's personality.

    I sort of wish he'd lived longer so that I could get a better sense of who he was.

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  16. Benjamin FranklinDecember 4, 2008 at 2:49 PM

    An interesting tidbit of information-

    Kelly's dad was Vice President of Bear Stearns.

    Maybe the ol' trust fund took too big of a hit?

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  17. AnonymousDecember 4, 2008 at 3:16 PM

    Hey Whateverman,

    Maybe we did not get the full picture. And actually I am not saying that it is a good thing he died. I am just against saying good things just because he died. Especially if what we see would be evidence of the opposite.

    G.E.

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  18. AnonymousDecember 4, 2008 at 3:17 PM

    Just curious where it was stated he committed suicide.

    Not that I doubt it, but I read the obituary twice in case I missed it.

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  19. Ezeki'ElDecember 4, 2008 at 3:39 PM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

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  20. D. A. N. December 4, 2008 at 4:01 PM

    Can someone please catch me up on what this $1000. challenge was about?

    And what video?

    Here is John MacArthur's view about suicide. I can't say that I agree with it though.

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  21. FroggieDecember 4, 2008 at 4:07 PM

    Dan,

    Look down through the posts and you will see the videos that were referred to. WTF

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  22. D. A. N. December 4, 2008 at 4:27 PM

    Duh!

    Thanks Froggie I did find it.

    Sad. For us Christians death is the goal but he took it to the extreme.

    I just hope for his sake John 12:25 is literal "He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal."

    Blessings to Paul's family.

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  23. magma42December 4, 2008 at 5:27 PM

    LAOF, an Obit typically won't outright say "John Doe Offed himself" or any other variant, but there are sort of code words used to convey as much. He "went to be with his Heavenly Father" for instance suggests agency on his own part there, being in the active voice. If it were some other way, it would probably say something in passive voice, like "was taken from us," or "has passed on." The cause of death too is sort of conspiciously absent, and doesn't tend to be (Consider how many "succumb to disease after a long hard fight," for instance) unless the cause is old age and nonspecific or otherwise embarassing. He was 26, which rules out the first, and as far as an embarassment? Well the options are basically limited to suicide and suffocation beneath a pile of prostitutes, covered in enough cocaine to terrify Keith Richards, with a copy of Origin of Species in hand. Since the latter is very likely not the case, its sort of left to us to read into things.

    No specific cause of death mentioned, not in an at risk group, and the parents, while not saying he suffered a mental illness or did charity work toward treatments, recommend you donate to related causes. Only so many ways to read that. Granted it still doesn't outright say it, but we wouldn't expect it to.

    You know, its only just occurred to me that I'm using inductive reasoning to work this out. Funny, that.

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  24. Char'ElsDecember 4, 2008 at 10:26 PM

    I'm hoping that it was the prostitutes, cocaine and Darwin, as that would validate my worldview.

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  25. AnonymousDecember 5, 2008 at 9:32 AM

    Rex M. said:

    "You know, its only just occurred to me that I'm using inductive reasoning to work this out. Funny, that."

    Yeah, and still no facts that he actually did commit suicide.

    Although I do agree with you on the verbage used in the obit. I was just too lazy to search for any other newspaper stories that may have given the actual details.

    But that's also on the ghoulish side so I'll drop it from this point on. Thanks Rex.

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