Our bodies are buried in brokenness, but they will be raised in glory. They are buried in weakness, but they will be raised in strength.  They are buried as natural human bodies, but they will be raised as spiritual bodies. For just as there are natural bodies, there are also spiritual bodies. 1 Corinthians 15:43-44

  …Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness…”     -2 Corinthians 12:7-9

 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[a] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. ,- Romans 8:38

You shall not murder.-Exodus 20:13

 

Asking Why Wait

You tell me, Lord, that your grace is enough.
And who am I to disagree?
But this pain has become unbearable
And there’s just no escape that I can see.
It isn’t that I don’t believe you, Lord.
It’s just that I don’t know what to do.
Because I can no longer find relief
No matter how much praying I do.

I don’t know how Paul did it, Lord;
I don’t know how he endured his thorn.
But as you refused to take it away for him
I guess I should’ve been forewarned.
I want Lord, to glorify you.
Prove your Grace is sufficient for me.
And years ago when the pain first began
Prayer and your grace would still set me free.
But now it’s been six long painful years.
It’s become unbearable since then.
And, although I am ashamed to say it, Lord,
I no longer think I can win.

I find myself yearning for that body
The one promised to me after death.
And I find myself asking why wait?
Except for those I would leave bereft.
For now, that will keep me going, Lord;
Combined with your grace it will be enough.
But I’m telling you honestly, Lord
Compared to Paul I’m just not as tough.
So, now, by prayer and supplication,
I’m letting my urgent need be known.
It’s up to you to meet those needs, my Lord
May your will be done and not my own.
©Linda Troxell 10/16/2017

 

There is faith and there is Extraordinary Faith

In 2 Corinthians chapter 12, Paul tells us of a thorn he has in his side, a messenger of Satan to torment him. He says that he asked God to remove it but God told him no, because God’s grace was sufficient for Paul and that God’s power is made perfect in Paul’s weakness. …Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”-2 Corinthians 12:7-9.

 Paul goes on to talk about how he will bear this weakness with gladness, for the power of Christ to dwell in him. This is a very popular chapter in the New Testament. A sort of catch-all scripture used to inspire us to ask God for strength when we have our own thorns to bear. And I have to say it has, many times, inspired me.

But let’s face it, Paul was an extraordinary man with extraordinary faith even for a Christian. So what about the less than extraordinary souls who struggle to hold onto even less than extraordinary faith? Those who find that scripture and Paul’s faith more of an indictment than an inspiration?

Faith or Failure?

We are not told the nature of Paul’s thorn, so we have no means to discern the level of pain or discomfort he was struggling with. I mean there is s difference between willingly struggling with a mild or moderate amount of discomfort for a year, opposed to a major amount of pain for the rest of your life.

I am not trying to distract from Paul’s dedication to the Lord by asking these questions. I am only trying to put the topic in perspective. For some people, pain is a struggle they don’t feel equal to. Maybe they have been stalwart in the face of pain that they knew would last a few weeks or a few months. But when they are dealing with pain that is expected to be with them for life, after a few years maybe the courage they found to face short term pain deserted them.

Sometimes, scripture meant to instill courage and inspiration in those who are hurting, instead, serves only to make them feel like they are failing as Christians, if not entirely as human beings. What can these people do to cope? How do they go on day by day knowing that tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow, they will have pain they feel they cannot face?

The Unspoken Option, is it a Sin?

Well, even though we don’t like to think about it, much less talk about it, many of these folks end their own lives. They make the decision that they no longer can, or perhaps no longer want to live in the condition they are facing. Some of them, no doubt, believe this act will hasten the new body we, as Christians, are promised after death. Our bodies are buried in brokenness, but they will be raised in glory. They are buried in weakness, but they will be raised in strength.  They are buried as natural human bodies, but they will be raised as spiritual bodies. For just as there are natural bodies, there are also spiritual bodies. 1 Corinthians 15:43-44

But will it? If someone takes their own life does it affect what happens to them after death? In other words, is suicide a sin, and if it is, is it an unpardonable sin. I know that years ago Catholics believed it to be. I don’t know what they believe today. And I have never heard nor read the Evangelical Christian stand on suicide. This began me wondering. So I did a little research.

In my reading, I found that historically, church doctrine prevented those who died by suicide from having a Christian burial. I know firsthand that many, many Christians still assume that suicide is an unpardonable sin, one that automatically sends those who take their own lives to hell. But I also know that the practice of denying Christian burial to a person who takes their own life has mostly fallen by the wayside.

St. Augustine’s Transactional View of Sin

The belief that suicide automatically sends a Christian to hell is an antiquated belief left over from St. Augustine and medieval theology. Augustine was an early Christian theologian whose writings and philosophy were influential in the development of Western Christianity.

His idea that suicide was an unpardonable sin came not from scripture but was based on his transactional view of sin and forgiveness which says that if we don’t confess a sin we cannot be forgiven for it. A view that is in direct opposition to the doctrines of grace which says we are forgiven of all sin by the grace of God and our belief in His Son as the Christ. This is pretty well summed up in Romans 8: For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.                    Romans 8:38-39

Well, What Does the Bible Say?

That, whittled down to its essence, pretty well sums up what I had read and been told about the Christian view of suicide. but I still wondered what exactly the Bible says about suicide. If it says anything. So I did a little research. What I found is that the Bible says very little about suicide directly. It tells us the story of 7 people who clearly died by suicide, that is, they deliberately took their own lives. But their suicide was not a focus of the story, but merely a fact.

• Abimelech, who was already near death after a woman dropped a millstone on his head, killed himself rather than bear the humiliation of being killed by a woman.
• Samson’s death was not a classic suicide but he did die by his own hand. Samson was a giant man whose unprecedented strength was dependent on his long hair. He married a woman named Delilah who came from an enemy tribe, the Philistines. Delilah continually betrayed him and eventually, she cut off his hair to drain his strength so the Philistine army could capture him. After they captured him the army brought Samson to the temple to taunt him and Samson gathered enough strength to bring down the temple to kill his enemies knowing he was also going to kill himself as well.
• Saul who was the first king of Israel was wounded in a battle against the Philistines that also killed his three sons. In order to prevent capture and the humiliation and mistreatment that would follow, he ordered his armor bearer to kill him with his sword. When the armor-bearer refused Saul fell on his own sword killing himself.
• Saul’s armor-bearer fell on his own sword after Saul died killing himself as well. The Bible is not really clear about the reason for this; perhaps to atone for disobeying his king, or perhaps the trauma of watching his king die. In any case, he took his own life after watching Saul die.
• Ahithophel was one of King David’s most trusted counselors. But he left David to serve David’s son Absalom. Ahithophel was used to being David’s most highly honored counselor but Absalom preferred his counselor Hushai over Ahithophel. In despair over not being the most highly honored by Absalom, and perhaps having some guilt for betraying David, Ahithophel hanged himself.
• Zimri murdered king Elah and his family in order to be king. However, after 7 days the army elected Omri king over Zimri. So enraged about the loss of his position as king, he set fire to the palace killing himself and many others.
• Judas, the only death by suicide mentioned in the New Testament, killed himself over his regret and shame for betraying Jesus.

What Does the Bible not Say?

There is no indication in the stories of these deaths by suicide that the individuals were condemned or that they had greatly sinned. More than anything these deaths are portrayed as great tragedies which are befitting any self-inflicted death which, of course, could have been avoided.

So is suicide a sin according to the Bible? The answer is yes, even though it is not spelled out as such. If it is not spelled out as a sin in the Bible, how can we know it’s a sin? We could infer that it is a sin simply because we know that God values life and therefore would not want us to take our own life.

But we don’t need to infer because The Bible confirms it as sin without need to name it. Suicide, at its essence, is the murder of self and that is a sin named in the 6^th commandment; Thou shall not murder.-Exodus 20:13.

However, although it is a sin, there is no reason to believe that God sees it as different from any other sin. It is neither more serious than any other sin nor is it more severely punished. After all, Samson died at his own hand, but he’s still included in Hebrews 11 among the Hall of the Faithful.

Knowing suicide is a sin, it seems that a faithful Christian would have to be pretty deep in despair in order to willingly and deliberately sin against God by taking their own life.

But then common sense tells us that no one would take their own life unless they were deep in despair and believed there was no other way out of their pain, be that pain emotional, spiritual or physical.

The Sin of the Fallout

There is one more aspect that needs to be considered when we are discussing the sinfulness of suicide. The death of a loved one is always painful. And the death of a parent when one is a child is perhaps the most painful of all.

But when that loved one takes their own life there is an added layer of pain that goes beyond that of the pain from natural death or accident. The most obvious to consider is that everyone who loved that person and especially those related to them by blood, experiences guilt they cannot easily shake.

They tell themselves they should have seen it coming, they should have done something. They examine the period before the death and look for things that were warnings they ignored.

They tell themselves if they had only answered that phone call or accepted that dinner invitation, or if they had only been with them at that time or paid more attention in general, then maybe they could have prevented it. They couldn’t have. But the guilt is real and it is not easily absolved.

As for the children of those who take their own lives, especially young children, there will always be a question about why their mom or dad didn’t love them enough to stay alive for them.

Studies show that suicide has a generational aspect. Children of those who have died by suicide are 3 times more likely to die the same way. Perhaps this represents the biggest sin of suicide, the deep and permanent damage done to others, especially the children.

A Sin and  a Tragedy

I feel like I successfully answered my own question. I know am satisfied to know that suicide is a sin but not an unpardonable sin. It does not prevent us from going to heaven or from having a Christian burial. However, it is always a tragedy.

It is a tragedy that the person taking their own life could not find a reason for which to live. It is a tragedy for those who are left behind because they will always carry some sense of guilt and always wonder, “If only….”

And I believe that God views it as a tragedy too. Because He made each one of us to contribute something to the body of Christ that cannot be contributed by any other person. Therefore, I think that God sees it as a tragedy when any one of us feel so hopeless that we cannot wait until He calls us home.

 

Let’s Pray:

Father, we know that each of us has some thorn to bear. We also know that some thorns are more difficult than others. We know too, that for some of us difficulty is easier to cope with than it is for others. But whenever someone is unable to cope and they are hopeless enough to feel it necessary to take their life, it is a tragedy. It is not an unpardonable sin, we are not sent to hell for it. But we know it hurts many, many people they leave behind. We know too that it hurts you, Lord. So, we pray for those of our brothers and sisters who may be having a very difficult season in which hope is all but lost, that they will find in your love something to help them hang on long enough for you to restore their faith and their hope in Jesus Christ. And we pray Lord that if there are such hurting souls in our lives that we are overlooking, please open our eyes so that we can offer them our love in any way that might give them hope enough to hang on.
We pray this in the name of Jesus, Amen.

 

POINTS FOR PONDERING AND PRAYER
OR
PERHAPS TO PUT PEN TO PAPER.

 

Have you ever had to struggle with severe pain for more than a few months? What was the struggle like? What do you think it would have been like if you knew it would never end?

Have you ever had a story or a parable or a scripture meant to inspire you instead make you feel guilty or inadequate or as if you have failed? How did you deal with that?

What idea of suicide were you taught to believe? Tragedy, sin, unpardonable sin? Or was it a taboo topic in your house?

Have you ever had someone close to you die from suicide? Did it affect you differently than the accidental or natural death of someone close? If yes, how was it different?