My brother Tim called me today to tell me that Pam Walker, a woman we had gone to high school with, committed suicide last week. This was quite shocking and disturbing to me. In fact, I spent the rest of the afternoon in a bit of a funk. I was supposed to make some progress in my seminary application progress, and I did make a little headway, but not nearly as much as I had wanted to.

I remember having a class with Pam. She was a year ahead of me (she graduated with Tim). In our class together (physical science), she sat next to me on the right. She was always a lot of fun to talk with. I understand that she had a child, about 9 years of age. So sad.

One of the problems we have with this type of tragedy is we are unsure what the bible teaches about suicide. Some believe that if someone takes his/her own life they will not go to heaven. This leaves friends and family in serious doubt and pain. I had a World Religion class at Austin Peay, and one of the assignments was to write a short essay on whether or not I believe that suicide is a mortal (unforgivable). I came to the conclusion that it can be, under certain circumstances.

I use the scripture John 3:16 and Romans 3:28 as the basis of my argument. It seems that across the vast majority of Christianity, most would agree that these verses are a large part of the core of our beliefs. These two verses, where John proclaims that Jesus' crucifixion gives everlasting life to ALL believers, and where Paul asserts that we are saved by our faith alone, and not our actions, seem to absolve a suicidist from persecution. If we are to say that Jesus died in order to pardon all believers for their sins, and if we are to argue that it is our faith in Christ, and not our actions, that enable us to receive mercy, it would seem illogical to me to say that God would condemn a believer. So, I would argue that a person who has accepted Christ as his/her savior would still receive mercy upon the act of suicide.

One counter-argument to my argument might be that in order for a person to be forgiven for his/her sins, that person must repent and ask for forgiveness. Obviously, a dead person would not be able to do this. I would argue, however, that one who has professed a belief in Christ as the savior is forgiven at the moment of the sin. Accepting Christ as the redeemer of one's sins (all sins) seems to preclude the need for redemption of any one sin. I may be wrong here (and I am sure many people would say that I am), but this is what I believe at this time. Just my opinion.

Anyway, I hope everyone is doing well. Peace...