Reader Question- Concerning Suicide

Where do we go when  we commit suicide? I want the truth!  -Me

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This is the first question I have received in a while, and I have to admit that I spent a couple hours wondering if it was best to answer it at all. Discussion of suicide in general terms (as in, talking about the concept, rather than one specific instance) can be problematic in that you never know what narrative it will fit into. If I write the answer as if I was talking to someone grieving a suicide, it will be heard very differently by someone in the ideation process, and vice versa, and lead to me seeming to give an answer I didn't intend to.

I should also make it clear that I am not the "Me" asking the question. So if anyone is worrying if I am the one questioning the consequences of suicide, let me put those fears to rest. I'm not suicidal, or even particularly depressed.

That handled... okay, let's do this.

The church has a history of treating suicide as an unforgivable sin, but this has always been more a theological construct than a Biblical imperative. While there are Biblical characters that commit suicide (King Saul in the Old Testament, Judas Iscariot in the new) theological speculation on the fate of people who have committed suicide is absent in the scriptures.

One particularly popular line of thought was that suicide counted as murder, but as you died before you could repent your murder, you went to hell. So the idea was never so much about the severity of suicide itself as it was about the mechanics of absolution. Over time, this simple theological construct evolved into an imperative, and suicide was viewed as unforgiveable in its own right, likely in a misguided attempt to dissuade people from doing it.

If you read me all that much you know that I do not buy the idea of someone being condemned simply because of a hiccup in the divine paperwork. Just as I do not believe a baby would be condemned because no one could find water to baptize them in before they died, I don't believe that suicide is a go straight to hell card.

Short version of the truth you're asking for, I believe that people who commit suicide, just like everyone else, is covered by the love and mercy of Jesus Christ, and that we will see them again in a much happier state of grace. 

That said, I do believe that suicide is a sin, one of the most selfish acts a person is capable of. The scars left behind on all who knew them and loved them are incredibly traumatic, and can even cause "ripple effect" suicides, where the same people they hurt are then inspired to end their own lives to escape the pain caused by that first death.

In a way, I see how the early church came to the conclusions it did. They didn't have the psychological tools that we have today, but they did see the pain and trauma suicide caused and were led to an almost inevitable conclusion... whatever else this act may be, to cause so much harm and so much pain even to those not killed must be some variety of evil.

So I suppose that is the answer to the question. I believe that the saving power of Jesus Christ extends to suicides just as I believe it extends to everyone. But I will also always condemn it. Just because something won't send you to hell doesn't make it a good idea.