A Note on Suicide

One of our youth texted me to ask, "Where do you go when you commit suicide?" Apparently they're doing a project for Health class and want some different points of view. (Her father asked my permission before giving her my cell number.) Rather than text, I dashed off a quick e-mail:

Dear B---,

The question of suicide can be a delicate one, but it is of great importance. One of the things that set Judeo-Christian ethics apart from that of their neighbors in the ancient Middle East and Roman Empire was a consistent ethic of life. Human beings were believed to have been made in the Image of God; His love for every person is reaffirmed time and again in the Bible; and Christians believe that Jesus Christ died for the redemption of all people and every individual.

In a culture that considered slaves, foreigners, criminals, the very young and very old to be disposable -- to be less than fully human -- Judaism and Christianity spoke out for the innate value of every human life. Bloodsport, human sacrifice, and infanticide were condemned in the strongest terms. And so too was suicide.

Suicide was often considered a noble death in Roman culture. Christians disagreed. Suicide was, after all, a form of murder, which the Commandments expressly forbid. Moreover, it was seen as something of a betrayal of duty: a Christian taking his or her own life was like a guard who abandoned his post. There was a period in history when most Christians agreed that suicide brought about automatic damnation: a grave sin committed without time to repent.

Pastors such as Martin Luther, however, argued that people who committed suicide were often victims of depression, anguish, and the devil's lies. Did not God have mercy on sinners? Were not those who committed suicide seeking, in some unfortunate way, for a better (after)life, free from suffering? As our understandings of depression and mental illness have grown, we have come to view suicide as more terrible tragedy than crime.

So the short answer might be that once the Church did preach that suicide victims went to hell. We did so as an attempt to remain true to the staunchly life-affirming ethics of the Church. Today we hope and pray for the grace of God to redeem the soul of one who has taken his own life, and to heal those of us who have been left behind to grieve.

Yours in Christ,
~Pastor