This is what we are going to examine. Is suicide really a sin?
A look at how the church and society now view a person committing suicide.
As Christians:
We all know that according to God as God relates it in the ( Holy Bible @ Exodus: 20: 13 ) “Thou shall not kill.” that killing, murder, taking of the life of another, is a sin against God’s Commandments.
For centuries, this has been the position of the “Church” be it catholic, or, any form of Christian protestant denomination, and the laws of the land in the courts, and rightly so. For to take the life of another is criminally and morally wrong.
Here is a statement that Christians will begin scratching their heads over and wondering about.
There appears to be not even one holy scripture in God’s holy word the Holy Bible that discusses and/or addresses “suicide” the taking of one’s own life.
Furthermore, there appears to be no bible concordance references on this specific topic.
We know that God has pre-determined, pre-destined, chosen a specific path for our lives to follow, according to God’s holy will, that who we are, what we are, and what we eventually become, is a part of God’s plan, that if we choose to follow God’s will until the end, that we will be who and where God has willed.
It is only if and when we deviate from God’s plan for us, that troubles arise our path becomes complicated and we end up going off course, with a possibility of becoming lost.
We know as Christians, that God the giver of all life, is the only one to demand and reclaim life, at his time and at his discretion the life of any human.
In other words when it is our time to die, it is our time. We cannot cheat death, nor, can we cheat God in this matter. “The lord giveth and the lord taketh away, blessed be the lord.”
One might even argue that since it was Godly Predestined that Judas Iscariot was predestined to assist Jesus in the fulfillment of Holy Scripture, that Judas death was planned as a part of God’s plan. Therefore, though the Christian Churches have declared Judas a betrayer and a sinner, it just might be that Judas was acting in accordance with God’s plan in Jesus death.
The Roman Catholic Church, at one time declared suicide to be a sin against God and against God’s commandments, but, recently the Roman Catholic Church, has stood back and taken a closer look at this stand, and has now come to the conclusion and decision that suicide is no longer a sin.
Under the old decision of the Roman Catholic Church, no suicide victim could be buried in what the church called sacred grounds, and it was not even considered right and proper for a priest to perform a proper “Burial Mass”, as the victim had died in sin, but, even this has changed and the Roman Catholic Church has now said that even this is permitted.
The Roman Catholic Church in ( Vatican letters of Pope John-Paul II ) declared that for it to be truly a sin, the person must be fully aware, and, in complete understanding, and full control of their faculties, in order to form such a decision, and that one who forms such a decision cannot be deemed to be in full control.
In other words, the Roman Catholic Church has now stated that anyone committing suicide is not in their right mind, and, is incapable of properly making or even forming such a calm and cool and rationally calculated decision at the time that it is carried out.
One by one, Christian denominations be it Anglican, or Baptist, or Presbyterian, have taken a similar stand in agreement to the stand taken by the Roman Catholic Church agreeing that any person committing suicide was not, could not be in their right mind, and able to form a proper decision to kill themselves.
The science of medicine medical physicians as well as psychiatrists and Psycoligists, as well as the courts of the land also stand in agreement with this line of thought.
As Christians, we cannot and we must not presume that we know how God views this subject and the situation of suicide whether it be a sin or not. We do know as Christians that as previously stated, God is the giver of all life, and God is the only one who can and does claim back a life, be it during a woman’s pregnancy, or at any time during one’s existence as a human on earth.
As Christians it is our obligation to search for the truth, and as Christians our main source of God’s truth is to be sought through God’s holy word, God’s teachings in the Holy Bible. The problem arises though if the Holy Bible does not clearly address the question or the subject at hand, where can we look for God’s truth.
Adam lived to the ripe old age of 960 years old, All of mankind except for Noah and his family were wiped out when God chose to flood the world. Abraham’s wife delivered Isaac when she was over 100 years old. The first born of every Egyptian was killed, prior to Pharoah releasing Moses and the Hebrew slaves.
As Christians we are left asking ourselves a question.
Since God is the author of all life, and, since God is the controller of both life and death, is it not possible that God chose, willed that suicide be the method and the time for one to end one’s life. As Christians we cannot exclude, nor, ignore this as a possibility.
If you want living walking proof that “God chooses” how and when we die, just ask me, but that is yet another story for a later date.