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NASB | Matthew 27:5 And he threw the pieces of silver into the temple sanctuary and departed; and he went away and hanged himself. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Matthew 27:5 And throwing the pieces of silver into the temple sanctuary, he left; and went away and hanged himself. |
Subject: Bible's view on suicide? |
Bible Note: Hi, Tim Moran! True we are creatures of emotions… so much so that Christ Himself allowed some of His emotions to show through when confronted with some human issues. And you are right. The Bible does not speak on suicide; could that mean that God condones suicide? Well, if we fallow simple logic (0, 1; on, off, yes, no), we must conclude, from your observation, that He does! But if we apply simple logic to one part of Scripture, would it not be fair to do the same with the totality of Scripture? So, again by the simple logic rule, since Scripture does not mention hard liquor, marijuana, cocaine, acid, prescription drugs, household cleaners and other compressed household chemicals… all these would be consumable goods and could even be abused with Biblical endorsement! Well, not direct endorsement since Scripture does not testifies to their use… just indirect endorsement since there is no text that sanctions the use/abuse of any of the above mentioned chemicals. Clearly, simple logic does not work! The same applies to suicide! Though Scripture does not speak on suicide, we have to go beyond simple logic to understand that God, the Creator of Life, does not desire to take a single life. His concern is such that He establishes an eternal statute: “Do not kill.” Jesus talks about God’s concern for us to the point of having even the hairs on our head numbered… is this a sign of a God who could care less if His followers just up and quit life? If Christians, reinvent the wheel and profess that it is Biblical to commit suicide, where do we draw the line: poverty (just at national‘s level, 10 percent bellow, 30 percent…), diminished capacity (blindness, mental retardation, alcoholism, drug addiction, obesity, anorexia, low IQ…), old age (in America that would be something like 53--males and 46--females), genetic deformities, social pressures, debt, loss of job, spouse, child or parent, personal failure (marriage, school, business, profession…), incompetence, laziness, boredom…? Our society prides itself on empty values (perennial youth, stick-figure females, cosmetic surgery, physical perfection, depravity--every sort, individualism--to the extinction of the family, wealth-centered--anything and everything with the inclusion of “Christianity“, and the all mighty disposable everything), is it any wonder that “Christians” are now making excuses for self-annihilation? Where in the Bible did Christ command us to “take yourselves out when life becomes unbearable?” Of course, there are those who interpret Scripture as stating that Christ is but a glorified prophet… so Scripture can be molded to mean anything we want! If Christians begin to teach that we can commit suicide at whim with assurance of a better life in Heaven, how can we face Christ’s death on the Cross for our infirmities? Which part of His suffering covered the sin of self-annihilation? There are “spiritual” doctrines that promote murder-suicide as a sign of martyrdom, others that promote suicide in the face of personal failure in order to deflect dishonor from the family unit, still others that promote suicide as means to ascension to a better/more spiritual level of existence… which one of those doctrines are based on Christ’s teachings? When “Christians” manipulate Scripture to reflect these same values, have they heard a word Christ said?: ‘Why do you call me, “Lord, Lord” and not do what I say? (Luke 6:46) God Bless! Angel |