How an unforgettable message taught me what suicide is not

I’ll never forget a message slipped to me in a chapel service at work: “Allen committed suicide.”

That simple.

That direct.

I almost fell out of my seat.

Not Allen, one of my best friends. Impossible.

Yet somehow, the news pulled all the pieces of the past several years together. 

It all seemed clear after that note. There were lots of signs.

But we all know the adage about hindsight.

Missing the signs

Allen and I had been best friends since high school. He had helped me move some furnishings from New Mexico to my home in North Texas. I remembered how during that long drive he asked me if I thought people who committed suicide went to hell.

Good grief. How clearer could a sign get?

Allen was a loner, a self-appointed exile in many ways. Likely, he had become dependent on prescription pain medication. He was struggling. Only a few weeks earlier, he had unexpectedly sent me some mementos from our high school days.

More signs.

But then he went through with it.

When I arrived the next day at the home of Allen’s parents, they asked me to conduct the graveside service. Their pastor was unwilling to do it because Allen’s death was a suicide. That pastor wasn’t sure what that meant about Allen’s salvation.

Many people mistakenly believe that suicide is the unpardonable sin. What does the Bible teach about this tragic subject?

What does God think about suicide?

My friend, Dr. Jim Denison, addressed this subject in Biblical Insight to Tough Questions Vol. 1. Here’s his clear and thorough answer:

God’s word consistently warns us that suicide is always wrong. Deuteronomy 30:19 is God’s command, “Choose life, that you and your offspring may live.” Job knew that the Lord gives and the Lord takes away, that life and death are with God and not us (Job 1:21).

Paul teaches us, “You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So, glorify God in your body” (1…