Suicide can be described as the act of killing oneself. And I would understand why the Christian church has worked so hard to condemn suicide and scare people away from the practice.

To the point – suicide is seen as being against crucial beliefs the Christian church upholds. It breaks the sixth commandment in the Decalogue; it denies the evidence of the fruit of the Spirit in the heart, which is also evidence of the Holy Spirit’s presence in the heart; and it denies the hope of salvation, considering that repentance of one’s sins is a prerequisite of salvation.

Scare tactics have often been used in the Christian church, and one of the greatest arsenals they can pull out, is condemnation to hell.

Can you imagine the suffering this causes the family members of the deceased? Not only are they to suffer the loss of a loved one, but also suffer an extreme sense of cold emptiness considering the approbated belief that the one who has passed away is burning in hell. As the saying goes, the deceased has jumped from the frying pan into the fire – and this doesn’t alleviate anyone’s stress.

1. Judges 9:54 – Abimelech asks his armour bearer to kill him after a woman mortally wounded him. Abimelech says, “Draw your sword and kill me, so that it will not be said of me, ‘A woman slew him.’” So the young man pierced him through, and he died.

   Would not wanting to die by the hands of a woman considered reason enough to commit suicide? If Abimelech’s situation was modernised, say, for example, a man committed suicide during battle because he didn’t want to die by the hands of a weak opponent, what would Christians think about that?

   Do you think Christians would approve of it? Considering what the vast majority of Christians think about suicide – I think they would inwardly decide that this man’s soul is heading straight to hell.

   But it’s interesting what God thought about Abimelech’s suicide. Let’s read the next couple of verses after Abimelech’s suicide. “When the men of Israel saw that Abimelech was dead, each departed to his home. Thus God repaid the wickedness of Abimelech, which he had done to his father in killing his seventy brothers (Judges 9:55, 56).

   If you could see me right now, I would be laughing. I laugh because Christians have such a warped picture of God and some Biblical principles. We can clearly see that God wasn’t against Abimelech’s suicide nor does God condemn the suicide, but God actually adjudicated Abimelech’s suicide. It was God’s will that Abimelech committed suicide.

   If you think this is enlightening in regards to the Biblical and God’s opinion on suicide, just wait until you read some of the rest of the examples!

2. 1 Samuel 31:4 – “Then Saul said to his armour bearer, ‘Draw your sword and pierce me through with it, otherwise these uncircumcised will come and pierce me through and make sport of me.’ But his armour bearer would not, for he was greatly afraid. So Saul took his sword and fell on it.”

   With this text, as with all the recorded cases of suicide in the Bible, they are mentioned without passing judgement on the morality of the action. Something to think about, specially considering all the condemning Christians vulgarise on those who commit suicide.

3. 2 Samuel 17:23 – “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.”

   Ahithophel didn’t take his life by an impulsive act. The verse implies that it was a systematic action. Though it’s not recorded, I’m sure he may have even written a suicide note after he prepared his home for suicide. And yet, there is no condemnation, no passed judgement on this incident.

4. 1 Kings 16:18 – “When Zimri saw that the city was taken, he went into the citadel of the king’s house and burned the king’s house over him with fire, and died….”

   Zimri became king after a coup d’état, but realise that the people didn’t support him. He killed himself by burning a house on top of himself.

   The story, however, doesn’t end there. The Bible gives an insightful reason why Zimri killed himself. It is explained in the verse that follows.

   Zimri “…burned the king’s house over him with fire, and died, because his sins which he sinned, doing evil in the sight of the Lord, walking in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin which he did, making Israel sin” (1 Samuel 16:18, 19).

   Verse 19 implies that Zimri’s suicide was a result of God’s judicial decision for breaking his holy laws and leading Israel in breaking his holy laws. Even if I’m incorrect on the verse’s implication, God doesn’t condemn Zimri for his suicide, but rather condemns the life that Zimri led.

5. Matthew 27:5 – “…and he [Judas] threw the pieces of silver into the temple sanctuary and departed; and he went away and hanged himself.

   As with all the other incidents of suicide, the Bible is detached on the moral import of the recorded event.

6. Judges 16:30b – “And he [Samson] 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.”

   Out of all the cases of suicide, Samson’s incident is the most interesting, and raises some startling questions on God’s opinion of suicide.

   To perceive the full significance of Samson’s suicide incident, we need to start in verse 28:

   “Then Samson called to the Lord and said, ‘O Lord God, please remember me and please strengthen me just this time, O God, that I may at once be avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes.’”

   Skipping to the beginning of verse 30:

   “And Samson said, ‘Let me die with the Philistines!’” And Samson was given the strength by the Lord God to bring the house down.

   These verses are very interesting for a couple of reasons:

   • The reason that Samson wanted to bring the house down was to avenge himself for the Philistines taking his two eyes. For those who don’t know the story, Samson’s eyes were gouged out (verse 21) because of Samson’s own fault! Samson failed to be true and loyal to God, and sinned against God by fornicating with Delilah. Then after being “annoyed to death” by Delilah to tell the secret of his strength, Samson revealed all his heart.

     What a selfish reason to avenge oneself! Here is God’s anointed – a specially bred and raised servant of God – a elitist in God’s kingdom, born into the order of the Nazirite, asking God for strength to kill thousands upon thousands of people because of his own fault and moral weakness!

   • Not only does God grant Samson’s request for revenge, to kill thousands upon thousands of Philistines, but also grants Samson the strength to kill himself.

My personal opinion is that suicide is not the answer to life’s problems. I personally see suicide as a sign of weakness. No matter how hard life gets, there is no reason to give up before due time. Though I find suicide distasteful, I would not condemn a suicide victim to hell because of their actions.

Neither the Bible nor God condemn suicide. So what gives Christians the right to condemn suicide victims? Is it because suicide break the sixth commandment of the Decalogue – “You shall not murder” (Exodus 20:13). Then the Bible would hold God guilty for breaking his own commandment by aiding Samson in killing himself, and adjudicating suicide as a means to punish sin.

Instead of enhancing the hopelessness of people who are contemplating suicide by preaching that there is no hope for salvation for those who take their lives, shouldn’t Christians be supporting the Biblical view of suicide? That it is not condemned? That it is not a one-way ticket to hell?

Instead of prolonging the pain of the families and friends of those who have lost a loved one to suicide, by preaching that the suicide victim is bound for hell, shouldn’t we be comforting them? Shouldn’t we be exhorting the so-called compassionate nature of God?

I certainly believe that the vast majority of Christians need to review their beliefs on many Biblical topics, especially that of suicide, considering the emotional trauma that is involved with all parties.

Why take advantage of this grievous period of people’s lives by propagandising scare tactics in the hope of frightening souls away from hell?

The unique aspect of Christ’s death is suggested in his pronunciation, “For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life so that I may take it again. “No one has taken it away from me, but I lay it down on my own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from my Father” (John 10:17, 18).

Who took Jesus’ life? Was it the Roman’s and their excruciating form of capital punishment in the form of crucifixion? Was it the Jews who falsely accused him? Was it the sins of humanity?

None of the above took Jesus’ life. The verse clearly states, “No one has taken it [his life] away from me, but I lay it down on my own initiative” (verse 18).

In other words, one can safely propose that Jesus took his own life.

Jesus Christ was not powerless in the hands of the enemy. Furthermore, Jesus Christ didn’t succumb to the trauma of his trial or crucifixion and died thus. There are certain key texts that reveal that Jesus Christ was in full control of himself and the situation when he finally “gave up his spirit” and died.

When Jesus Christ said in regards to his life, “No one has taken it away from me, but I lay it down on my own initiative” (verse 18), he revealed the truth of these words through these actions:

1. That Jesus Christ was not powerless in the hands of the enemy comes out clearly at the moment of his arrest. A band of officers, Pharisees and the traitor Judas sought Jesus Christ in Gethsemane to take Jesus to trial.

   “So Jesus, knowing all the things that were coming upon him, went forth and said to them, ‘Whom do you seek?’ “They answered him, ‘Jesus the Nazarene.’ He said to them, ‘I am He’” (John 18:4, 5).

   When a Bible adds words in italics, it usually refers to words that have been added by the translator to try and make sense of the text. When Jesus Christ replied, he would have said, “I am”.

   No wonder that in the next verse, “they drew back and fell to the ground.” (verse 6).

   When Jesus Christ uttered the words “I am” he uttered the ineffable title to Deity, that by which Jehovah had revealed himself of old to Moses at the burning bush – “I am”.

   Clearly, we can see that Jesus Christ knew what was coming upon him. He revealed that he was in control of the situation by revealing that if he so much wanted, he could have walked away from the mob as he has previously done when his life was at stake ( ).

   Finally, Jesus Christ wasn’t forced to partake of the trial that Jesus Christ clearly knew would mean his death. He delivers himself and was “led” as a lamb to the slaughter.

2. Next we turn to Matthew 27:46 (emphasis mine), “And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Eli, Eli, lama sabachtani?’ that is, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” The words that need to be observed closely have been placed in bold. Why would Matthew add the words, “cried out with a loud voice”? What would this indicate? To understand the context of these recorded words better, we need to look a little further down where it says, “And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up his spirit” (verse 50).

   Don’t these words corroborate with what I have been trying to say? That Jesus Christ was in control of himself to the point of his death? That he was not exhausted at the point of death? That Jesus Christ’s strength had not failed him, but instead of conquering death, he yielded up to it?

3. There is another utterance by Jesus that we should take note on. That is when he said, “I thirst” (John 19:28). The significance of this utterance is best seen when taking into context on why he said, “I thirst”. Verse 28 explains, “After this, Jesus, knowing that all things had already been accomplished, to fulfil the Scripture, said, ‘I thirst’” (verse 28).

   Many centuries before Christ’s death it was predicted that “in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink” (Psalm 69:21). At the point before Christ said, “I thirst”, all prophecies regarded the events before and during his death had been fulfilled. The only one remaining was the drinking of vinegar. When Christ uttered those words, he was clearly showing that he was in full possession of his mental faculties. Despite everything he had gone through, he was thinking clearly, and even remembered that he had one more prophecy to fulfil before his death.

   Again we see evidence that he “laid down his life of himself”.

4. Let’s continue studying certain verses to see the full extent of what Christ meant when he said that he would lay down his own life. “Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, ‘It is finished!’ And he bowed his head and gave up his spirit” (John 19:30 emphasis mine).

   What can we learn from the words in bold? What does “he bowed his head” signify? Previous to this, Jesus’ head would have been held erect. We find here, that after all the trials and suffering Jesus had gone through, perfect composure. His head hasn’t lolling or swooning under the a haze of weakness. If that was the case, then there would be no way that he could have been able to “bow his head”. And notice the adjective used to for Christ’s action. His head didn’t drop, or fall onto his chest. It “bowed”. A controlled, calm and conscious movement, before he “gave up his spirit”.

5. Jesus’ last act on the cross clearly reveals that no one took Christ’s life, but that he took it himself. “And Jesus, crying out in a loud voice, said, ‘Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.’ Having said this, he breathed his last” (Luke 23:46). These words of Jesus accurately agree with his statement, “I lay down my life so that I may take it again. No one has taken it away from me, but I lay it down on my own initiative” (John 10:17, 18 emphasis mine).

The unique manner of Christ’s death is very interesting, especially when seen under the context of suicide. Suicide is clearly defined as “the act of killing yourself” or “a person who kills himself intentionally”. And no other person in Scripture, and recorded history stressed more that he would take his own life than Jesus Christ.

Sure, his act may be seen as martyrdom, but it is taking of ones life, nevertheless. After reading all the above Biblical evidence, can we surely say that Christ didn’t take his own life?

Verse upon verse try and make it clear to the reader that Christ was in control of the situation, he was clear minded, he was strong, and when it came to the act to “give up his spirit”, no one took his life from him, but he took it himself.