But What If a Christian Commits Suicide?
We would never want to encourage anyone to kill themselves. But if a believer does this, I believe God extends mercy. By Dr. Tony G. Moon
DR. TONY G. MOON has served as a pastor, church planter and conference official. For 37 years he taught at the IPHC’s Emmanuel College, where he served as professor of Christian Ministries. He retired in 2019 and spends his time now preaching, teaching and writing. He is the author of the book From Plowboy to Pentecostal Bishop: The Life of J.H. King, which was released in July 2017 by Emeth Press. You can purchase the book from Lifesprings Resources.
Encourage Magazine 8
O
ver the last fourteen months, three Christian acquaintances of mine have chosen to end their lives. They could not handle the emotional burdens they carried. The first was a student at Emmanuel College. The second was a police chief who left behind a wife and two school-age children. The third was an elderly retired banker whose wife had recently passed away. How do we handle the tragic reality that real Christians sometimes commit suicide? It is a heart-wrenching and mentally torturous experience for close survivors, especially those who are believers themselves. The common Christian presumption that suicide is always an unforgivable sin doesn’t help. I have heard believers suggest that anyone who commits suicide automatically goes to hell. This leaves many loved ones desperately grasping for hope about the afterlife of the deceased. But is it true that suicide is an unforgivable sin? This is a tough theological issue, so I will begin by looking at Scripture. There are six suicide accounts in the Bible, five in the Old Testament and one in the New: Abimelek (Judges 9:50-56); Samson (Judges 16:23-31); King Saul and his armorbearer (1 Sam. 31:3-5, 1 Chron. 10:3-5, 13-14); Ahithophel (2 Samuel 17:23); King Zimri (1 Kings 16:18-19); and Judas Iscariot (Matthew 27:1-5; Acts 1:18-20, 24-25). After a careful study of the Old Testament stories, three main points stand out. (1) There is no negative value judgment about these acts of suicide in and of themselves; (2) There is no indication that the souls of these men went to hell because, in Old Testament theology, the souls of all human beings, when they died physically, went to the same gloomy place in the underworld called Sheol in Hebrew; (3) Perhaps significantly, God answered Samson’s prayer for physical strength to bring the pagan temple down on the Philistine revelers and himself (Judges 16:28-30).
