ABOUT SUICIDE
Sakkie Parsons
Translated from the Afrikaans Version: Oor selfmoord
Translator: Lynda Botha
Someone asked my opinion about suicide.
Once you start reading the beginning of my letter, it may sound to some people as if I immediately condemn people to hell who committed suicide, and this will not be quite accurate. So, please read the entire letter first which I have written to you.
My view on suicide is as follows:
Firstly, I must state that suicide is a sin.
You must not murder.
EXO 20:13 “You must not murder.”
Suicide is a very unnatural thing to do. This is totally against human nature the way God created us.
With this in mind, I find it very interesting that virtually everyone in the Bible we read about who were at their worst point began to function abnormally according to normal standards and committed suicide. With this I am not implying that all people who committed suicide are evil or deranged, but I am pointing out the fact that this was indeed the case with these instances mentioned in the Word of God.
The only one of whom we do not know if he had any, to put it mildly, psychological problems or some other mental disorder, was Saul's armour-bearer since we don’t know anything about him.
Here are some examples of, what I would call, really evil people who has committed suicide:
1 SAM 31:4 “Saul groaned to his armour bearer, “Take your sword and kill me before these pagan Philistines come to run me through and taunt and torture me.” But his armour bearer was afraid and would not do it. So, Saul took his own sword and fell on it.”
2 SAM 17:23 “When Ahithophel realized that his advice had not been followed, he saddled his donkey went to his hometown, set his affairs in order and hanged himself. He died there and was buried in the family tomb.”
1 KINGS 16:1: “When Zimri saw that the city had been taken, he went into the citadel of the palace and burned it down over himself and died in the flames.”
The following Scripture refer to Judas who betrayed Jesus:
MAT 27:5 “Then Judas threw the silver coins down in the Temple and went out and hanged himself.”
I'm not saying that people who committed suicide is inherently evil, but we must also not water this wrongdoing down to something not good and at least not as bad as murder. Then we come to a point where we become part of this and it has already emerged in many denominations where it is somehow being preached as gospel, which the Word of God explicitly warns us about:
ISA 5:20 “What sorrow for those who say that evil is good and good is evil, that dark is light, and light is dark, that bitter is sweet and sweet is bitter.”
I was listening one day to a program on the TV and they were talking to a psychologist about suicide and he said:
"I prefer not to speak of suicide but rather of self-death. "
This made me think about something I heard on the news a few days before.
A policeman caught his girlfriend with another man and then he shot her and thereafter himself dead.
What shall we say then?
He committed murder and then self-death, or did he kill two people, in other words, a double murder.
I know we are not under the Law of Moses and that is why when someone refers to something from the Old Testament by applying it to Christians; I will first see if there are any references to this regard written in the New Testament and whether it applies to Christians; As the New Testament is precisely that – a New Testament, which our Lord prepared and wrote for His children.
HEB 8:13 “When God speaks of a “new” Covenant, it means He has made the first one obsolete. It is now out of date and will soon disappear.”
Yet the Old Testament remains important to us. In fact, so important, that Jesus and His disciples, including my hero Paul, often quoted from there.
So, I read in the Old Testament:
EXO 20:13 “You must not murder.”
Then comes our Lord in the New Testament and He underlined what you have just read, in even stronger language which He inspired us to write:
1 COR 6:19 “Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself,”
1 COR 6:20 “for God bought you with a high price. So, you must honour God with your body.”
In this next section Paul actually speaks of the church as a whole, but with what you have just read in mind and the fact that another translation also affirms it in this way, suggests you could apply this to your own body as well:
1 COR 3:16 “Don’t you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you?”
1 COR 3:17 “God will destroy anyone who destroys this temple. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.”
The other translation (NJKV) which I referred to states this section as follow:
1 COR 3:16-18
16 “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?”
17 “If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.”
18 “Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise.”
If someone I love has committed suicide, I cannot soften the deed by comparison to someone who cut someone else’s throat.
It's like covering the name of a package containing deadly poison by sticking a new label on stating “treats for children”.
With regards to the killer that I told you about above who committed suicide. Will we now call him a killer who committed self-death?
One Sunday night I was listening to a program on RSG and a minister from one of our Christian denominations, who is also a professor, talked about an illegitimate child as a before-child.
Can you see how we increasingly make the gospel of Jesus into a mockery?
Will we now start calling an extra-marital affair a before-relationship as well?
I just want to mention that every child who has been conceived in whichever way, is exactly the way I would see my own children. They are children, wonderful creations of our Lord.
Back to suicide:
Personally, I cannot imagine that a man whose life is in order with our God, in other words, someone who has a real loving relationship with our Lord, would want to commit suicide in the first place.
For someone who wants to commit suicide, I would say, and believe me, I know what I am talking about. I have been though some deep water in my life, swimming through the dark currents but I always grasped onto our Lord and clung for all that I was worth. Every time I came out onto the other side and looked back, I could only be amazed and say with wonderful exuberance:
“Wow!!! What a wonderful God the Lord of the universe is, and I have the grace to belong to Him!!!”
I am His child.
Because it is written:
JOH 1:12 “But to all who believed Him and accepted Him, He gave the right to become children of God.”
JOHN 1:13 “They are reborn – not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.”
Should someone think I do not know what it is like for someone to be in a suicidal mindset, I share with you just two short examples of which I have many from my own life. I know that I have used these examples in the past but believe me it was frightening times.
In 1997 they discovered I had melanoma cancer and when I questioned what my chances where, the doctor said that if they cannot stop it, I will have 3 months, if I was lucky at most 6 months to live.
It was bad but it was nothing compared to the last 9 years of my wife's life after she was diagnosed with Dementia.
For the last 7 years of her life, I walked to the caretaking facility every day and witnessed her slow decline in health.
Sometimes I would cry so much, that my throat would close, and I couldn’t breathe.
Today I look back to those frightening despairing years and I stand in awe of how our Lord carried me through those though times.
I want to say to someone contemplating suicide:
You do not need to consider murder "suicide" because His Word says:
LUKE 1:37 “For nothing is impossible with God.”
Why would I not consider such a foolish step like suicide, in other words, murder?
Because, I am not going to listen to satan who wants to turn me against our Lord.
DEUT 5:17 “You must not murder.”
I will also not, as a result of my actions, leave a legacy that negatively influences my loved ones for years and years to come. Because I know there is also written:
PHIL 2:3 “Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves.”
PHIL 2:4 “Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.”
Now after everything that I have written so far, there is one more thing I must point out very clearly.
No person will go to hell just because they committed suicide.
For example, the same would apply to a rapist, as well as sinners like me and all the other sinners around me.
Because what opened Heaven's doors for me is this:
Did I adopt Jesus Christ as my Saviour?
If I did this, the scripture states for ordinary people like myself with all my weaknesses:
JOHN 5:24 “I tell you the truth, those who listen to My message and believe in God who sent Me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life.”
ROM 8:1 “So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.”
If I did not adopt Him, then regardless of suicide or no suicide, I am a candidate for hell.
JOHN 3:17 “God sent His Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through Him.”
JOHN 3:18 “There is no judgment against anyone who believes in Him. But anyone who does not believe in Him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son.”
How can I, a child of our Lord, consider killing myself, when I know:
ROM8:28 “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them.”
No! I take all my worries and do what needs to be done with it.
1 PET 5:7 “Give all your worries and cares to God, for He cares about you.”
So, whenever suicide comes to mind remember this and don’t willingly fall prey:
1 PET 5:8 “Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.”
Then you remind yourself and act as follows:
JAM 4:7 “So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
If you, who are reading this, are unsure whether you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Saviour, know then that you have not accepted Him as your Saviour yet.
Believe me; you will know if you truly accepted Jesus Christ as your Saviour.
Finally, then to summarize how I view this matter:
Suicide is a terrible selfish evil and I do not think a true child of God should even consider it but to commit suicide, murder, adultery etc. in itself is not a reason to end up in hell.
If a person does not accept Jesus Christ as their Saviour, then they would still end up in hell. This will surely guarantee me a place in hell.
JOHN 3:18 “There is no judgment against anyone who believes in Him. But anyone who does not believe in Him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son.”
Greetings,
Sakkie