Bible Text: Hebrews 9:27 | Speaker: Dr. Harold J. Sala | Series: Guidelines For Living | And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment. Hebrews 9:27
As police chaplain, Dick Johnson is often called to assist families when someone takes his or her life. Johnson tells how he was summoned to help following a suicide-homicide. As he walked into the home where the tragedy had taken place, the body of a young woman lay on a sofa, an unopened Bible on a table only a few inches away. Johnson said, “What a tragedy! There the Bible was, lying on the table with all the answers you would ever need.”
For the person who takes his life, suicide has become an apparent solution to a situation that he or she believes is absolutely unbearable. It is the ultimate and final act of despair. To those who must pick up the pieces of shattered hopes and dreams, that act is a great tragedy.
There is one more viewpoint, however, which must be considered. How does God view the taking of a life? That question, obviously, must be considered because the taking of a life brings an individual into direct confrontation with God and a person’s eternal destiny.
If there is no God, then that question isn’t important. But if God stands on the other side of the threshold of death, you need to face that question: How does God view suicide?
The Bible mentions eight individuals who committed suicide, with Judas being the most notable in the New Testament, and King Saul, who fell on his own sword in disgrace, being the most notable in the Old Testament. Christianity and Judaism have uniformly condemned suicide, pronouncing it self-murder. Roman Catholicism historically has viewed suicide as a serious sin which sends a person to hell. Protestants, however, generally view it as a sin for which a Christian must give account but not one which keeps him or her out of heaven.
But how does God view suicide? That’s the real question. What I’m about to say is conjecture, but I think that God would meet someone at the door of heaven and say something like this. “Son, daughter, I wasn’t expecting you just yet. It’s not your time. Remember, I said in My Word, ‘It’s appointed once to die,’ and this wasn’t your time. I had planned so much more for you, things for you to do, things to enjoy, things to experience. I so badly wanted to help you, to show you a way out of your difficulty; but you wouldn’t turn to Me, you wouldn’t give Me a chance. You gave up on Me before I could lead you out. You didn’t understand that with Me there is never a situation which is beyond My grasp.”
I think God would add, “I’m saddened because of what happened. I’m also grieved because of the pain your death has caused to your family and friends. Oh, you didn’t know you there were so many people who cared, people who grieve your death?
“What you did was wrong–there’s no justification for it. The taking of a life, even your own life, is My right, not yours. But I sent My Son who died for the sins of the world–even for the sins of My children who believed on My Son.” Would God slam the door of His heaven to a believer who takes his or her life? Personally I don’t think so.
There is a better way: trusting God to meet you at the point of your pain and show you out of your difficulty. That plan is found in the pages of His Word, the Bible. Don’t leave it lying on the table. Read it today.
Resource reading: Psalm 34
