Suicide

Suicide is the act of intentionally killing oneself on purpose. The frequency of attempted suicide is much higher than the actual suicide. The number of women who attempted suicide is three times higher than men, but four times more men succeeded. There are two types of suicide: the honorable and dishonorable. Honorable suicide refers to suicide missions designated as a military action or operation that is certain to result in the death of the persons involved, like a suicide missions inside the enemy territory. Dishonorable suicide refers to a suicide in a moment of extreme fear, extreme despair or deep anxiety, the result of which is often ruinous to one*s own interests. The concern of this article is the dishonorable suicide.

There are three types of dishonorable suicide: personal, assisted and mass suicide. Personal suicide is exclusively the decision of the person without any assistance from another person. Assisted suicide refers to medical practice of helping a terminally ill person, or patient with unbearable disabilities to die by removing the life-sustaining treatment now popularly known as euthanasia. Mass suicides occasionally occur within religious cults. The members of the People’s Temple lead by Jimmy Jones drank Kool Aid laced with cyanide in Guyana where 911 members died. The followers of David Koresh killed themselves by setting fire to their temple in Waco, Texas in 1993, and the members of Order of the Solar Temple simultaneously committed suicide in several religious holiday cottages in Switzerland and Canada in 1994.

There were seven recorded cases of suicide in the Bible, two were believers and five were unbelievers. The suicide of Samson was honorable in purpose though it was done with personal motive to avenge the atrocities he suffered in the hands of the Philistines (Judges 16:30). And Samson said, "Let me die with the Philistines!" And he bent with all his might so that the house fell on the lords and all the people who were in it. So the dead whom he killed at his death were more than those whom he killed in his life.

The suicide of King Saul (1 Samuel 31: 4) is categorized as dishonorable suicide because of three reasons: He refused to accept defeat, he had guilt feelings, and he was afraid of his enemy. Saul died without regaining his spirituality and privileges. There were four Old Testament believers who resolved to die by suicide because of personal failures in their career and mission. Their intensified depression and guilt ignited by remorse concluded to an abominable act of suicide.

Abimelech, the son of Gideon, committed suicide because of failures in his political career. Then he called quickly to the young man, his armor bearer, and said to him, "Draw your sword and kill me, lest it be said of me, `A woman slew him.'" So the young man pierced him through, and he died (Judges 9:54)

The armor bearer of King Saul committed suicide as sympathy to the failure of his master. And when his armor bearer saw that Saul was dead, he also fell on his sword and died with him (1 Samuel 31:5). Now when Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his donkey and arose and went to his home, to his city, and set his house in order, and strangled himself; thus he died and was buried in the grave of his father (2 Samuel 17:23).

Ahithophel, was a man greatly renowned for his sagacity among the Jews. At the time of Absalom's revolt he deserted David (Ps. 41:9; 55:12-14) and espoused the cause of Absalom (2 Sam. 15:12). David sent his old friend Hushai back to Absalom, in order that he might counteract the counsel of Ahithophel (2 Sam. 15:31-37). This end was so far gained that Ahithophel saw he had no longer any influence, and accordingly he at once left the camp of Absalom and returned to Giloh, his native place where, after arranging his worldly affairs, he hanged himself, and was buried in the sepulcher of his fathers (2 Sam. 17:1-23).

Zimri, deliberately resolved to die by suicide because of political failures. And it came about, when Zimri saw that the city was taken, that he went into the citadel of the king's house and burned the king's house over him with fire, and died (1 Kings 16:18). Zimri Murdered Elah at Tirzah, and succeeded him on the throne of Israel (1 Kings 16:8-10). He reigned only seven days, for Omri, whom the army elected as king, laid siege to Tirzah, whereupon Zimri set fire to the palace and perished amid its ruins (1 Kings 16:11-20). Extreme depression and mental disturbance provoked the old sinful nature to commit suicide.

Judas Iscariot was the only one from the New Testament who died by suicide. And he threw the pieces of silver into the sanctuary and departed; and he went away and hanged himself. (Matt. 27:5). He was overcome by intense guilt feeling expressed in remorse.

There was no indication that Judas Iscariot was saved by receiving the grace of God (Acts 1:25). Among those who committed suicide in the Bible, only Samson died in the state of spirituality, from weakness was made strong (Heb. 11:32, 34).But the rest of them refused to accept defeat and failure and was overcome by emotion. Only God has the authority and right to terminate our biological life on earth. The time and manner of our physical death is divine prerogative.

Suicide is cowardice to face the trials and pains of life. It is not an escape from reality but rather the denial if its presence. Suicide is never a solution to any human problem but rather the making of more problems and therefore, might resolve to more terrible sufferings. The real victim of any successful suicide are the people surrounding the victim, they are hurt more than the victim. People who resolved to suicide are often weak-will and controlled by emotion. They lacked the mental attitude to cope with further stress of their situation.

The issue here is their immediate inability to think clearly and objectively. In most cases of suicide, the victim missed the real purpose of his existence. The victim focus on just particular aspect of his life and everything he sees is the problem without solution. Some common factors that contribute to dishonorable suicide: Such as mental disturbance, physical illness, substance abuse, financial problems, relational problems, physical or sexual abuse and hopelessness or loneliness

"The steadfast of mind Thou wilt keep in perfect peace, Because he trusts in Thee. "Trust in the Lord forever, For in God the Lord, we have an everlasting Rock. (Isaiah 26:3-4). The soul with resident and functional Bible doctrines can overcome all of the above mentioned factors and reasons for suicide. Suicide is a bad decision of the soul by a person whose mind is distorted by illusion and overcome by pride to admit his failure, defeat, or inability. Extreme depression clouds the soul to think clearly and logically. People who committed suicide showed the same emotional pattern before they killed themselves: They were fearful, disturbed, depressed, irritated and avoided others

Expensive psychological counseling or clinical treatment is unnecessary because the Word of God is sufficient to handle such cases. Only God has the solution for all human problems. God revealed His perfect plan and purpose for humanity through the Scripture. The Scripture alone has the most effective solution for stress, guilt feelings, and any human problem under the sun. God created man with all the provisions necessary for existence of men in this planet earth.

JR Cherreguine Bible Doctrine Ministries