Last Thursday, a beautiful twenty-two year old girl in my church who had suffered from severe

chronic depression for years took her own life. She was loved by everyone in our congregation

and we are all experiencing the trauma of a terrible loss.

Two days later, a very sincere man in our church family circulated an e-mail to our church staff

lamenting that, in taking her own life, she had committed a sin that God cannot pardon (murder

in this case) because she can never ask forgiveness, and begging us to do all we can to warn the

members of our church not to follow her example lest they too be eternally separated from God

by their actions. A few years before he had experienced the trauma of an uncle who jumped from

a very high bridge leaving behind a teenage son and many family members dealing with thoughts

and feelings that would haunt them for the rest of their lives.

These two juxtaposed events have caused me, maybe for the first time in my 60 years to ask how

God really does feel about this terribly serious subject. I have discovered that my beliefs have

been conditioned more by traditions and ideas passed down from well intentioned pastors,

teachers and friends and family than from anything in the Bible.

So, what clear, specific understanding can we gain from the Bible of God’s ideas on this

important topic?

Certain words are so emotionally charged that they can confuse any attempt to rationally look at a

subject. The term “suicide” is one of those terms. So, in looking for Bible principles that can

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inform us of how God feels about this topic, I have chosen to use a neurtral Biblical phrase

instead. The words the Bible often uses for this act is “to lay down one’s life.”

What kinds of circumstances can lead a person to lay down their life?

A person can choose to deliberately lay down their life for a number of different reasons - which

if we were to place them on a continuum would range from the very self-centered (negative) to

the ultra-altruistic (positive). The list would include:

• Spite - I am going to do this so that you will feel guilty forever. You caused me to

do this; you are to blame and there is no way you can rid yourself of your guilt for

my actions because I am gone.

• Anger - I am so angry with you or the situation that I am going to commit this act

to get even.

• Fear - For instance Saul in the Bible who was afraid he would fall into the

Philistines hands to be tortured or Adolph Hitler at the end of World War II.

• Shame - I have so disgraced myself or others that I cannot bear the burden.

• Pain - I am experiencing so much physical, mental or emotional intractable pain

that I can no longer carry the burden.

• Emotional Isolation - I can no longer deal with the distress of rejection

• Despair - I can see no way out of the circumstances I am in.

• Mental Illness - This would include bi-polar disease, schizophrenia, post-partum

depression of several types. (One occupational hazard that many writers

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 experience at the end of a project is severe depression. It took the life of Ernest

Hemingway and the Adventist author Housel Jemison)

• Chemical Imbalance - Various chemical imbalances in the human body can lead

to irrational decisions.

• This is my time to die - It has been well documented that on the day of their

coronation, the Kings and Queens of Hawaii would declare the day of their death.

When that day arrived, they would go down to the sea shore, sit in a palm frond

booth, and by virtue of their will power alone, die.

• Quality of Life - I have lived a good life. Why would I want to continue? It is

common for the aged to just decide that they have lived long enough and to will

themselves to die - often by choosing not to eat or to drink water.

• Care for the Larger Community - In a number of native cultures, it was common

when a person reached the stage in their life when they were no longer able to

contribute in meaningful ways to the family or community, to walk off into the

forest or out onto the ice and to die so that they were not a burden on limited

resources.

• To Accomplish a Worthy End - Samson is lauded in Hebrews 11 as a man of God

who chose to end his life killing God’s enemies the Philistines.

• As an Act of Mercy - Soldiers who choose almost certain death in order to save

another; policemen who sacrifice their lives to try to protect someone in the

community; firemen who whose to die trying to save someone from a burning

building; a person on the Titanic who gives the last seat on the lifeboat to

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 someone else. Jesus referred to them, and himself, when he said, “Greater love

has no man than that he lay down his life for another.”

• As an Act of Grace - There have been those instances when a person has willingly

chosen to die so that another could live - such as a parent to donates an organ that

will save the life of a child, but will ultimately shorten his own.

There is one thing that every one of these different individuals have in common. They

deliberately and willingly choose to lay down their life - to bring it to an end by conscious

choice. If the issue is truly that a person is lost or not based on the choice to intentionally end

their human existence, then we have to say that all of them are lost - including the One who

willingly “laid down His life” for the lost. If the point is not that the act of laying down one’s life

itself is some kind of sin, unpardonable or otherwise, then maybe there is some other issue we

need to consider.

When we look at this list, most of us would break it down into at least three categories - although

they tend to blend in our minds and to defy absolute definition. In considering this list, most of

us would be very comfortable declaring Hitler to be eternally damned - although more for his

actions prior to laying down his life than for the act itself. We are not so certain when it comes

to the life of the mentally ill or the chemically imbalanced. Would a loving God really hold such

a person responsible for their actions? We start looking for ways to excuse a soldier or a

firefighter or the person who gives up their seat on the lifeboat. And we have no idea what to do

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with a God who puts a man who deliberately ended his life (Samson) in the hall of the greats in

Hebrews 11.

What the Bible Says

Just what does the Bible say about this very important topic?

The Bible lists at least 7 people other than Jesus who chose to willingly terminate their lives.

They are: Ablimelech, Judges 9:54; Samson, Judges 16:28-31; Saul, 1 Samuel 31:1-6; Saul’s armor

bearer, 1 Chron. 10; Anithopel, 2 Samuel 17:23; Zimri, 1 Kings 16:18; 2 Kings 9:30; Judas Iscariot,

Matthew 27:3-10. In no instance is there any value judgment placed on their act in the text. It is just

stated that, in one manner or another, they ended their lives. Even Judas is not condemned for laying

down his life, but for what he chose to do to the Savior. The aforementioned Samson is even listed as

one of the faithful in Hebrews 11.

So, where do we go to discover God’s will in this area? Almost everyone turns to the 6th Commandment

in Exodus 20 and Dueteronomy 5. Their reasoning goes like this: God says not to kill. Killing is

breaking a commandment of God, which is one Biblical definition of sin. Suicide is “self-killing.”

Unconfessed sin will result in eternal separation from God. Since a dead person cannot confess their sin,

in this the killing of themselves, they are indubitably lost. Case closed!

But, is the case so clear or easy?

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First of all, from the larger perspective, the 10 Commandments are all about relationship. They are what

we do to or with others. The first four have to do with our relationship with God - with ways we can

dishonor or honor Him. The second six have to do with our relationship with others - how we can

damage our relationship with them. In no case are any of the commandments concerned with something I

do to myself. While the Bible in other places makes it very clear that how I treat myself is very important

to God, the 10 Commands, including the 6th, are not concerned with that issue. So, the commandment not

to kill does not address this topic.

A closer look at the 6th Command makes this clear.

Literally the Hebrew word Ratsach used in the Commandment means to “murder.” It is much more

specific than just to take a human life. It is something done in cold blood, without justification.

In fact, the Old Testament made provision for a number of instances when the taking of human life was

allowed or not considered a sin. They include: capital punishment for any number of different

transgressions; accidental killing; killing in war, blood avenging. (Numbers 35, Dueteronomy 19,

Joshua 20.)

So the act of killing oneself is not in itself a sin, a transgression of the 6th Commandment. Rather, it is

the motive in any killing that determines whether it is a violation of the law or not.

What other texts might be cited in this discussion? The primary New Testament passage noted is 1

Corinthians 6:19,20 where we are told that our bodies are “ a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which

you have from God? You are not your own; you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”

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First of all, this passage is concerned with the damaging effects of sexual immorality, not with laying

down one’s life. Even if we were to apply in a larger context, it is still concerned with taking care of the

temple, not with whether we choose to shut the doors of the temple and turn off the lights or not.

Even if a person were to somehow decide that this act is a sin based on their preference and prejudice -

that it just feels like it somehow has to be wrong and therefore sin - there are still two issues that we must

consider. First of all, in 1 John 5 we read that there is a “sin that is not unto death” (eternal separation

from God) which is contrasted with a sin which is “unto death.” There are sins for which God is not

going to keep us out of heaven. The only sin listed in 1 John that will keep us out of the Kingdom is the

“sin against the Holy Spirit.” While that may cover a number of things, it is clear from the context that it

never was intended to apply to laying down one’s life.

Second, while the Bible does not specifically address the subject of the act of ending one’s life on this

earth deliberately, it does spend considerable space, especially in the New Testament, addressing the

tendency we have to judge others and whether their specific actions will result in their being lost

eternally. To believe that a person who chooses, for their own reasons, to lay down their life is lost

forever and is beyond God’s forgiveness and grace is to place oneself in the place of God and to venture

out onto very thin and crumbly ice where the one judging quickly becomes the judged. (Matthew 7:1;

Luke 6:37)

Ellen White and Suicide

For those who find the writings of Ellen White to be normative, there is not a lot to go on. She never

addresses the subject directly. In several places she refers to people in Scripture who took their lives.

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There are only two statements where she indirectly addresses the subject. Both are found only in

compilations which in the passages chosen, which can be informative, but can often reflect the ideas and

prejudices of the compiler as much or more than the intent of the original author and are therefore not a

good primary source upon which to build our beliefs.

The first statement, cited without context, is found as a brief statement in the book Child Guidance, page

444. In it she says that “To take one's life instantly is no greater sin in the sight of heaven than to

destroy it gradually, but surely. Persons who bring upon themselves sure decay, by wrongdoing,

will suffer the penalty here, and without a thorough repentance, will not be admitted into heaven

hereafter any sooner than the one who destroys life instantly.”

In this passage she never states that neither party will enter the Kingdom. Her statement is one of

contrast and she says that people who destroy themselves quickly are no better off than those who do so

slowly. In other words, people who were gradually taking their lives by unhealthful living were not in a

position to look down their spiritual noses at those who did so quickly.

The second is found in a compilation on sexual sin with the title of “Testimonies on Sexual Behavior,

Adultery and Divorce - Counsels to People with Moral Problems.”

In this passage Ellen White is attempting to provide counsel to a young man who is involved in

some type of immorality from which he seems unable to free himself and is therefore

contemplating suicide. Again, no context is given. In this passage Ellen White implores the

young man to throw himself on the strength and mercy of Jesus rather than taking his own life.

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Then in a passing statement she adds, “ You say you are tempted to cut the brittle thread of life;

but if you do, then your case is hopeless, for you add the sin of murder to all your other sins. But

if you come just as you are, helpless and sin-polluted, and cast yourself at the foot of the cross,

poor, miserable, blind, and naked, there is a Saviour to lift you up. I know that you have not for

many, many years been in harmony with God. You have for a long stretch of years been

following another leader, which is the prince of darkness; but if you will cast off the works of

darkness, if you will now look unto Jesus, you will live.”

Basing one’s whole theological position on a single passing statement cited without context is

not generally a safe way to do theology. In addition, there is nothing to indicate that this idea is

anything more than the loving advice of a caring woman counseling a young man trapped in

some kind of sexual immorality. At the time she wrote it, she apparently believed that suicide

was a sin that could cause a person to lose their eternal life. But there is no indication that she

continued to hold that position as she grew as a Christian in her understanding of God’s will for

her and other’s lives. On those issues that Ellen White felt strongly about, we find her returning

to them again and again over a long period of time - something she never did with this issue.

Another passage by the same author, in the book Steps to Christ, page 57-58 tells us that “If the

heart has been renewed by the Spirit of God, the life will bear witness to the fact. While we

cannot do anything to change our hearts or to bring ourselves into harmony with God; while we

must not trust at all to ourselves or our good works, our lives will reveal whether the grace of

God is dwelling within us. A change will be seen in the character, the habits, the pursuits. The

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contrast will be clear and decided between what they have been and what they are. The character

is revealed, not by occasional good deeds and occasional misdeeds, but by the tendency of the

habitual words and acts.”

The idea that God would keep a person whose life trajectory is towards heaven out of paradise

because of a single act done in a moment of deep despair is not something which one will find

either in the Bible or in the written counsel of Ellen White.

The Fear Factor

My young friend’s larger concern has to do with in any way making it easy for those who might

be contemplating suicide. As he wrote me, “Maybe I should just kill myself and forgo all the pain and

suffering that this world brings and still make heaven? That is not character building and the character is

all we take to heaven. We all have problems and deal with terrible things on a daily basis but that doesn’t

mean we have to go it alone. Suicide is never the answer and should be thought of as a terrible sin and a

separation from God.”

His reasoning is basically that if people aren’t scared to death of suffering the divine penalty for

murder, they are much more likely to kill themselves.

While I sympathize with his intent, I do not care for his methodology. Fear is rarely a good

motivation for doing anything. In the short term, it can be effective, but studies have shown that

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the effect is very short lived. That is why Paul in Titus 3:4-7 says that God chooses to use His

kindness, love and grace to motivate us and draw us to Himself instead of fear.

Conclusion

Consciously choosing to lay down one’s life is not in itself a sin. It is very often a very poor choice, but

not always. It is sometimes a choice that is made when we are not in control of our faculties; sometimes

it is made out of the very best rationale; and sometimes it is chosen for the worst of reasons. It all comes

down to motive. It is not the act itself that determines right or wrong, it is the reason for the act that is

the determining factor.

As humans, we judge from outward appearances; God, on the other hand looks at the heart. And,

because man cannot read the human heart, we are in no position to judge in general or in the specific

whether this act is a sin or not.

What we can know is that the God who was willing to die to make every provision to save us will bend

over backwards to make the right decision. And when someone like my young friend, who loved God

with all of her heart, in the darkest moments of her mental illness chooses to lay down her life, I will

believe that the love of the God who died for her is big enough to do whatever is necessary to offer her

eternal life.

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