I have no idea what the truth is concerning Christians and suicide, but
what if we were to look at the act of suicide from a different angle.
The first question that comes to mind is, why in the world have we, as a
society,  made it illegal to commit suicide?  Is that supposed to make a
person think twice about their decision?  I mean, if a person succeeds in
commiting suicide, you can't punish them and if they fail they are
usually taken to a hospital, not a jail, so I don't really get the point
of that law.

Secondly, there is a school of thought that says that suicide is the
ultimate act of selfishness.  The thinking is that, they are somehow
going to take revenge on others by taking their own life because the
others in their life aren't loving them enough, or loving them the way
that they want to be loved.  I'm not saying that I necessarily agree with
this line of thinking, but I will say that I used it once with a
Christian who was thinking about killing himself and it set him back a
pace and gave me an opportunity to really talk things through with him.
He did change his mind, by the way.  I know that it depends on the case.
With some Christians, however, it can work to talk about the idea of
taking our minds off ourselves and think about others.  This is also a
good way to begin thinking if we want to fight off depression, which is
often the first stage of suicidal thought.

IIn the end, I think that Peggy is right.  It's not up to us to judge
where that person's soul ends up.  That is left to God, but it is up to
us to try to stop it.  That is what needs to be judged by us, our
response.  That's what we will be held accountable for.

Just my two cents worth.
Kathy

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