What Does the Bible Say About Suicide?

The expression, “death with dignity,” enjoys much underserved currency in the modern world. This euphemism for clinical suicide honors defeat and the failure of stewardship. God gives life and forbids murder, and Christians are obliged to nurture their own lives and the lives of others. One may lay down his life for another, but this is martyrdom or self-sacrificial rescue, not flight from misery. It is hard to look dignified when one is running headlong away from difficulties.
Among the six biblical instances of suicide, one searches in vain for a seemly one. Neither Abimelech, Ahithophel, Zimri, Saul and his armor-bearer, nor Judas is a role model. On the contrary, each man’s death is clothed in humiliation. Abimelech slaughtered his seventy brothers in a violent grab for power, burned a thousand people alive in a tower (Judges 9:5, 49), and finally had himself killed rather than suffer the shame of dying from a woman’s wound (Judges 9:54-56). Ahithophel, one of David’s trusted counselors, conspired against the king and then hanged himself when the rebellion faltered (2 Samuel 15:31; 17:23). King Saul fell upon his own sword rather than be captured by his enemies, an ignominious death the Bible calls a judgment from God (1 Chronicles 10:4-14). Zimri murdered the entire house of King Elah and seized the throne. He reigned for only a week before killing himself when his troops turned on him (1 Kings 16:18-19). Finally and most poignantly, Scripture reports Judas’ suicide in the Field of Blood, the culmination of his treachery against the Son of God (Matthew 27:3-8).
Euthanasia advocates tout doctor-assisted suicide as the way for elderly and critically ill patients to avoid the pain and humiliation of lingering death. In urging patients to set the terms of their own demise, they join with ancient Greek and Roman citizens, who believed suicide to be an admirable way to die (e.g., Socrates, Seneca, Brutus, and Cato). In recent times, Vietnamese Buddhists have been honored for their self-immolation and suicide/homicide bombers have gained special status in sectors of the Muslim world. But suicide does not fare so well in the Christian tradition. This is not at all surprising since the Bible turns a cold shoulder toward the practice.
Christians today are immersed in a confusing and aggressive world, one in which even the most unnatural acts, such as the deliberate taking of one’s own life, are presented as admirable. Believers should counter this seductive reality and deceitful logic. While not minimizing the torments of terminal illness, they can remind the world of the providence and mercies of God, which are abundantly available in even the last and darkest hours of life.
<!-- RefTagger from Logos. Visit http://www.logos.com/reftagger. This code should appear directly before the tag. -->
//
//