Is Suicide a Sin?

Several weeks ago, I lost one of the few people whom I would consider to be my friend. I have known him for a little over a year, and thought we were in different platoons, we were in the same company while deployed to Afghanistan for twelve months. During that year, he was often in my room with my squad, and we would talk, watch movie, clean our weapons, ext. I do not normally call out to people who I know when I see them on the street, but every time I saw him I never hesitated to call out his name and take a few minutes talking to him. The last time I spoke to him, he was very happy. He told me that he was enjoying his job, and was even going to spend a few hours working after he was supposed to get off. He was also excited to hear of my recent career choices, and was glad that I was moving on for better things in life. This is the second person in my life who I lost to suicide.

After his death, I did not speak to anyone about it, but for those I worked with that also knew him. That is until yesterday. I was finally able to find some closure at a memorial service held in his honor. What I found so powerful about it was not the service itself, but its timing. For those of you who do not know, yesterday was the first Day of Rosh Hashana. Rosh Hashana is the Jewish New Year, and in Jewish culture, the next day is marked not by the sun rising, but by the sun setting. This means that the memorial was held in the last moments of the old year, and ended very close to the new one.

When I noted this on Face Book, my mother asked what the Jews believe about suicide. Well, that is an interesting question. Although I consider myself to be Jewish, and have seen Jewish funerals, I honestly did not know what they believe about what happens to suicide victims. Personally, I do not believe that it is an automatic sentence to Hell, but I have never heard what the Jews have to say about it.

So let us find out. First of all, when people think about taking life in the Bible –Yes I know that I am talking about the Jews, so I should use the Torah or Ta-NaKh, but the they are both a part of the Bible, so I am going to use the word Bible just so I can include everything- the immediately think of what is arguably the most famous of the Ten Commandments: Thou shalt not kill. This passage has been used countless times for people who think that War is wrong, or are against the Death penalty. Now what they do not understand is that in Hebrew, there are two words for “Kill” I tried to find them, but I could only get the original Hebrew writing, and not a phonetical translation, I apologize. But the difference between the two words in important. One simply means to Kill, or to justifiably end life. The other specifically means “Murder.” Which would be to purposefully end a life without justification. Now the Hebrew used in the Ten Commandments properly translated would be “Though shalt not murder.” The scriptures give plenty of times where killing is justified. In times of War being one. Now this is very important to my point as Jews do not believe that Suicide is contained within the sixth commandment. This means that Suicide is a case by case basis, as there are times when it can be justified, or at the very least, understandable. I am not saying that it is ever right, there is never any excuse for taking your own life unless it would involve others being saved. -Any Law can be broken for the preservation of life- What I am saying is that there are times when the person does have reason to take their own life, and it not be morally considered Justified. You need to understand that just because something is justified, does not make it right.

Readin the Bible, you would be surprised to find that there is in fact, no scripture directly stating that suicide is wrong. Some people believe that Gen 9:5 is an indirect prohibition of suicide, but after I looked it up with context, I do not think it has anything to do with that. Most people translate it as "I will require your blood if you yourselves shed it." But the King James Versions says “but surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man’s brother will I require the life of man. 6 Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.” Now remember that special Hebrew word we talked about before? You know, Murder. That is the word it is using whenever it says “Shed Blood” so it is saying that if you murder someone, then God will demand your life in return. So this has nothing to do with taking your own life. The reason that there is no Scripture that directly states anything against suicide is most likely because it is not something a sane person would do.

As Rabbi Lewis Jacobs puts it, “It follows from this that suicide and murder are two separate offenses in the Jewish tradi­tion, as they are in most cultures. Suicide is not homicide and is not covered in the Decalogue [the Ten Commandments]. In the usual rabbinic classification of duties, homicide would be considered an offense both "between man and God" and "between man and man," whereas suicide would fall only under the former heading.
Maimonides' statement (Rotzeah, 2.2-3) that there is no "death at the hand of the court" for the crime of suicide, only "death by the hands of Heaven," is puzzling, since how could a suicide, no longer alive, be punished for the crime by the court?”

So why do we look at Suicide as a sin if it is never spoken of as such in Scripture? It is probably because by taking your own life, you are refusing God’s gift to you, and changing when God has your death planned. So you are taking God’s plan into your own hands and doing what you want instead. But that is the same as every other sin, so why are people fixated on Suicide being the ultimate crime that sends you straight to Hell no matter what you did while you were alive? Ultimately, the Jews believe

Another problem is; what defines suicide? Do you have to pull the trigger yourself? Or merely allow someone else to pull it? Would not fighting back morally be considered suicide? What if someone kills a pacifist, giving them plenty of opportunity to fight back and live? Would that be suicide? Or how about the Martyrs who allowed themselves to be murdered because of what they believed? Would that be considered assisted suicide? Who is at fault in assisted suicide? Is that considered Murder? At what point does allowing yourself to die become suicide? There is obviously a line, and I gave some very extreme examples, but that does not change the fact that when it comes to someone taking their own life, we are far too quick to judge whether they are right or wrong, or whether they are going to Hell or not. When it comes to my own life, I have an extreme faith in God. I believe that no matter what happens to me or what I do, I will die the absolute moment that God wants me to. Because of that, I tend to be extremely reckless, and do very stupid things. There have been numerous times in my life where by all rights I should have died. And a few of them could have been seen as suicide if you did not know the whole story. All of this is to say that both of the friends I lost were good Christian Men, and I have no doubt in my mind that when I die in God’s good time, I will see them both again.

Ethics of the Fathers 4:21: "Despite yourself you were fashioned, and despite yourself you were born, and despite yourself you live, and despite yourself you die, and despite yourself you will hereafter have account and reckoning before the King of Kings, the Holy One, blessed be He."

Cause and Effect and the Point of Origin

Most of you have probably heard of the concept of multiple dimensions, even if only from science fiction movies. In nearly all cases of Sci-Fi stories involving multiple dimensions, the main point is that the other world is exactly the same except for a few slight differences. These differences usually consist of certain things being different colors than in our own, or certain characters roles and personalities being completely reversed. But did you ever stop to think why?

Some stories explain this by mentioning that the hero was put through a traumatic event that turned him evil, or some other such nonsense. The problem is that why did the event that happened in the parallel world not occur in the main world? This can be explained by cause and effect. Certain past events did/did not take place in order for the main event to take place. Of course, one would have to wonder what caused those events to/not to take place in the first place. In order for ONE thing to change, thousands to millions to billions of other things would have to change prior.

It all goes back to the Point of Origin theory. I only call it a theory because it is absolutely impossible to prove. However, it is completely valid, and entirely true. The Point of Origin Theory states that the position of all existing matter in the universe at the beginning of time predetermined all of eternity. So the only difference between the multiple dimensions mentioned above, is the first instance in time.

This may sound rather absurd, until you think about it from a non-linear timeline perspective. Instead of viewing time like a line going from origin to eternity, think of it like a single string that is so thoroughly knotted that all parts of the string are touching all at once.  All points affect all other points, but only going in one direction along the string. Through cause and effect, all matter interacts in one way or another. This is similar to The Butterfly Effect, only far more realistic. The concept that the wind of the butterfly’s wings can cause a hurricane on the other side of the world, is not only ridiculous, but breaks the Laws of Thermodynamics. However, the Point of Origin is much more realistic. Instead of one tiny event causing drastic, huge events, it is a series of billions of events all coming together in a magnificent orchestra that is eternity.

Kind of like that, only bigger. and more complex.

Of course, all of this is to say that every decision you have ever made, or ever will make, had been predetermined by God since before Creation began. Most of you are probably scoffing right now, especially if you know your Theology. I would guess that you are thinking something along the lines of, “What on earth are you talking about, guy!? If God already decided what we are going to do, then we don’t have free will, the entire point of Him creating us!” And you would be right. Along with this, as my Stepfather pointed out when overhearing me discuss this concept with my mother, it would also present a serious problem with spiritual accountability. If everything we do is predestined, and we have no true choice in our actions, then why should we be held accountable for our sins? These are all wonderfully valid points that I honestly have no answer to. However, I would ask you to NOT read that last sentence and say, “Well this guy clearly has no idea what he is talking about.” Because I do. The problem is that these are two factual concepts that are at opposition to each other. Once again, I can hear your voice through time, space, and the internet, “But not everything I do is controlled by cause and effect! What about RANDOMNESS!? The actual definition of random is to not have a reason or cause!” But you would be wrong. Even things that are completely and entirely “random” have a predetermining factor(s) behind them. Even if you never know what the reasons are, they are still there.

 I would like you to do something.  Spout off a list of 5 or so completely random words.  Now.

Now take a minute to think about what words you picked. These words are things that just popped into your head seemingly for no reason whatsoever. But there is a reason you thought of those words. Most likely, they convey concepts of emotions, recent personal events, things you can see right now, or things that you like in general. Or, if you were particularly clever, and saw though my trap, you probably spouted off nonsense words that don’t exist, there is a reason that you made those noises. Most likely because they were the most comfortable noises to make. Now that is another subject entirely that I will not delve into.

The point is that no matter what you say or do, there is a reason for it. 99% of the time, you will never even know what it is, or that there is a reason at all. But there is. And there is a reason that that reason exists. And another for that reason, so on and so forth to the beginning of time. If you really want to track down the cause and effect, think about this; you see a person walking up to the door you are about to go through. Do you walk through the door and leave, or hold it open for them? This entirely depends on several factors, a few of which are, your age, the person’s age, how your parents raised you, your relationship with your parents, your relationship with the person, your gender, the person’s gender,  ext. But let’s just take a look at one factor: How your parents raised you. If you are a boy, and your dad if from the south, you would probably hold the door, especially if the other person if female.  Why is that? Why did your dad raise you to hold doors open for females? The obvious answer is that it is polite; the not so obvious answer is because that is how his dad probably raised him.  But why did his dad raise him that way? Well, because his dad probably raised him that way too. And so on and so forth.

The problem is that at some point somebody’s father had to have not taught his son to open doors for females. So when and why did it start? Well that would be what is called a cultural concept. It is a concept that is developed by an entire culture conjunctively.  Go figure. The concept was that women were special, and needed to be treated better than men. This is commonly misunderstood as women being weaker than men, but it is definitely not true.  Well why did they think that? It comes from a verse in the Bible. “Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered.” 1Pet 3:7 KJV. At first glance, it does seem to call women weaker than and not as good as men, but that is not what it is saying. What it means is that women are more like fine china, compared to men who are more like camping ware. So it is not insulting women in any way whatsoever, it is telling husbands to take special care of their wives.  So people looked at that verse, and decided that young men should be taught to treat all women with respect as they should their wife, so they started raising them at a young age, to do little things for females such as open doors, out of respect. So if you are said boy, who would open the door for the person, and you have never even opened a Bible, you were in fact performing a habit that was predetermined from the moment that the scripture was written. Cause and Effect.

 

To be honest, it does not make any difference to me whether you agree with the Point of Origin theory or not. It makes no difference whatsoever in the grand scheme of things. Do you know why? Because God already decided whether or not you would agree with it. This brings us back to the contradicting facts of accountability and freewill. What you need to understand is that God in omnipotent. Omnipotent means all powerful, for those of you who do not know. A being without limits can do whatever he wants, and understands things we can never grasp. At some point, we need to simply stop trying to explain and just accept.