I have trouble deciding if it is a sin. I know taking a life, is, but would God understand the pain of a terminally ill patient makes the difference? Will you still be saved?
Some Christians would define suicide as a type of murder, but I disagree. I would define murder as: The unlawful killing of one human by another. This is certainly the way the law defines it. I don't believe that we should have one dictionary for use when we speak to each other, and another dictionary when we attempt to interpret the Bible.
But, hey, I agree that suicide should be a crime punishable by death!!
Even though suicide is clearly not murder (a crime which is prohibited by the Bible); some Christians resort to the writings of Paul to show that the body is the temple of the holy spirit and therefore killing one's own body is a sin. These Christians rely on the following scripture:
“Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are” (1 Corinthians 3:16-17, KJV).
“Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's” (1 Corinthians 6:18-20, KJV).
These verses do not address suicide directly, so I suppose everyone is is free to interpret them in any way they desire. I do find it interesting that the only sin against the body that Paul mentions is fornication, which would strongly suggest that suicide was not such a sin. Besides, if suicide - which I would define as the act of hastening one's own death - is a sin, then it must also be true that any act which causes one's premature demise is equally sinful. Thus, those who smoke, drink excessively or fail to diet and exercise properly would also be condemned to the eternal fires of Hell.
There is a difference between those who kill others others and those who take their own lives in quiet desperation. I have studied various versions of the Bible for over sixty years, and have found no specific mention of suicide. I would contend that if God is fair and just, as Christians believe, He will not condemn those who took their own lives; instead, he will heal their pain so that they can live and love and laugh again; or, as the Bible puts it, He will “Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit” (Psalm 51:12). and “ And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away” (Revelation 21:4). What kind of God would torment for all eternity those who faced so much torment in their lives that they could no longer bear it?
For the record, my son committed suicide in 2008, just a few months before his twenty-fourth birthday.
Dear
The Professor I am sorry to know that your son died so young. I hope the blessings he brought in his 24 years continue to live on and that the wisdom, experience and understanding you are able to share benefits many others through that eternal love that transcends death. God bless you and your son for the love you have shared, and the higher purpose your lives and experiences serve in God's greater plans for humanity. May God continue to guide you and all others who have lost loved ones, as we seek to understand and fulfill God's purposes, where the joys and successes in store far outweigh even the worst heartbreaks and suffering of the past. I am sorry to hear this, and pray for full healing for your family and everyone affected by the loss of your son. May you all be truly blessed.
I just found out a friend of mine I wanted to get back in touch with died at 28, and with the lack of
any reports of an accident or illness, the first question that another friend asked me was if it was by suicide. I hope not, but I am worried it could be. So I may have just found out I lost a friend to that as well, maybe from depression, I haven't found out what happened, but it was back in January and I just now learned.
I had done some soul searching and research into suicide prevention and survival.
Some people who survived attempts said they did so out of absolute pain they were "dying to escape."
Another friend lost her 14 year old brother who shot himself in a fit of rage against his mom for telling him no.
So anger and an act of rebelling to express rage at something or someone is behind some cases of suicide.
For depression, the loss of the will to live, where the life energy is literally drained from the person's body
until they either wither away or actively end their life is another factor I've found.
And the other is a sudden surge or disruptive event that can suddenly trigger someone to die or kill themselves.
Again, either a sudden breaking off or drop in the life energy where the person is cut off. Or an abnormal surge, and some have been blamed on the mixing of negative/dark/occult energy with the positive lifegiving energy normally circulated by positive thoughts and prayers as Christians teach to focus on and to renounce anything demonic or satanic that clashes with positive energy and creates risks of illness, sickness, death or disruption.
The analogy I developed was that the spirit of suicide was like an invisible robber that can get inside the walls of someone's protective home and rob them of the will to live and kill them in the process.
Sometimes people survive the attack by this robber.
Sometimes they open up the door to let this robber in.
Sometimes other people around the person get attacked as well by this negative spirit, but they survive it.
so the guilt of surviving can be similar to after a crime occurs, and people's search for justice
and wanting to know why this happened and could it be prevented,
can lead to blame, shame and guilt, feeling bad that more wasn't done to prevent the robber from killing.
Normally we don't blame the crime victim if they are attacked by a robber or killer we can see.
We know to blame the killer.
But in the case of suicide the killing spirit is invisible. The demons or disruption,
the "surge in the line" of extreme anger or pain that sent someone over the edge.
The sudden drop in life energy, the depression that kills the will to live where the person is lost
and cut off before they are actually lost physically.
Since all we can see is the person, or the people around them, the blame gets projected there.
We want so badly to have answers, to be assured there is a factor we can find and prevent
so this doesn't happen again, that we can turn to blaming the people we can identify.
I am interested in trying to find these areas or causes of surges or breaks in the line,
and make sure they are healed in advance. If there is no stored up angst or unforgiveness,
ill will or disruptive energy, no messing with occult forces that twist the mind to hold on to negative
anger and evil perceptions of others to project ill will and more negative energy,
if there is no severe lapses of depression that kill someone's spirit,
maybe we can catch these culprits before they kill off someone's will to live.
That is what I hope for, given the wonderful outreach work and transformations I've seen
people experience in life. I can only hope this same lifesaving grace can help others in a positive
chain reaction of inspiring and uplifting more people to overcome the ills and negative surges
we experience from time to time, but root these out at the source. Don't let them build up,
and don't suppress a break or build up on the line, where the fuse gets blown someday and someone dies.
The more we open up the positive channels, embrace and connect with each other, and
reinforce the networks connecting us where there is pure spiritual healing and life giving energy
flowing freely through the entire circuit, this wards off the negative attacks, this cures the breaks
and prevents sudden surges from cutting someone off. I hope this process of sharing the healing
energy will eventually root out and cure all causes of murder, suicide, abuse, addiction and other
conflicts imbalances and ills that lead to unnatural suffering and death. Some things we can't prevent,
but the things we can, I believe scientific study will help us document how the system works, and'
we can figure out how to keep our hearts, minds, bodies, relations and lives health and in natural balance.
I believe we can overcome the ills and unnatural surges that cause death, disease and destruction.
And this is taught both in Christianity, and in Buddhism as the truth that sets us free from suffering sin and strife.
By the healing power of FORGIVENESS then all things can be made perfect, whole and new
for lasting peace. Starting with our individual lives and relations, and collectively healing all of humanity as one.
