I need your opinion on suicide.?

Question

My brother took his own life over a girl as a teenager. It’s been several years since his suicide and I’m still fretting over his decision to take his own life. I’ve grown up in a very religious family, though I am still uncertain of my own religious conviction. I have heard that suicide is wrong because it robs the victim of the time that was given to prepare for all the glory that comes after. I've also heard that suicide is the deliberate and unlawful killing of one of God's own beloved children, whom He cares for very much. Always choose life. Then I’ve been told that there is no problem that is worth the taking of one's own life because often, all that is needed is time, and things will get much better.

I choose to believe that his decision in taking his own life isn't a transgression and I can't bare to think of him suffering because of he's own judgement. I would just like to know your opinion on suicide and whether you believe it is a sin or not?

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

your brother was suffering fro depression, a debilitating disease that clouds your mind and makes it hard to make sensible decisions. Depression can be very powerful, and your brother was in so much pain and was so confused that he thought the only way to end the pain was to die. He was also so torn up inside that he may have thought the world would be a better place without him.

I don't believe it is a sin. I believe it is part of a horrible disease. Waht you brother couldn'y see in this state is that he wasn't doing anyone any favors, he couldn't see past his OWN pain to realize that you would miss him and that you would never understand why he left. I believe it is the actions of someone who can not think clearly because they are ill.

Suicide IS never the answer, there is help available, and there are always people who will love you and help you. There are also therapies and medications that can help you overcome the pain of depression. It is never the answer and never solves any problems.


I am TRULY TRULY sorry for your loss, and the loss of your brother. You have the right to seek out a therapist to help you talk through this. This is a difficult loss and a large burden for you to bear.

Answer 2

I am an atheist so I don't believe it is a sin. I've lost several family members and friends to suicide and I can empathize with the pure desperation all of them must have felt before their final act. I find peace in knowing they are no longer suffering, struggling to make their life work or hurting so deeply. This is not a popular opinion because my family is very religious; however, I don't see the benefit in worrying about where our loved ones ended up because there just any way to know. If there is a God/god, I can't imagine a loving, caring one, would condemn a person to Hell for being too tired to continue trying to cope when they've lost hope. I would think that would be more reason to embrace them and cradle them in His arms. The issue surrounding suicide and the pure hatefulness from some Christians was part of my reason to leave the fold and seek other answers. I have found much peace with that choice. I am sorry about the loss your brother and hope you can come to find peace.

Answer 3

Shame on the person with the 1st answer. As a former Christian, now enthusiastic agnostic, and chatting with some LDS proselytizers the other day, I am waking up to some of the "purity" of hypocrisy believed and spoken by supposedly loving religious peoples. "What if I said: of course suicide IS NOT A SIN, and your brother is most definitely NOT going to hell." Why is my statement any less legitimate than the other? Oh I know, "because it is written". By whom? By people who support oppression by means of authoritarianism, that's who. It amazes me now how willing people are to eagerly believe in something as deeply flawed as and contradictory as ANY code of religious laws is, (and note I am not specifying any particular religion or set of beliefs!), If you look at it objectively with the MIND God gave you. I say: overcome fear and open you mind and simply LOVE. Imagine no heaven, nor hell below us. I wonder if you can. (paraphrasing John Lennon there.) So where is your brother? I'm an agnostic, I don't know, and I doubt any one else living knows either. But I'm not an atheist mind you, ...I like to think you will meet again, on another plane, on a pleasant afternoon, where all pain is gone...we've been given imaginations too for some reason, let's use them constructively, eh? Just don't INSIST the imagined HAS to be the reality... as the authors and the enforcers of the doctrines do.
(If this is helpful I hope to hear so! Best regards.)

Answer 4

I feel sorry for you and your family.

The idea that your brother might be banned from Heaven because of suicide it is under my point of view wrong and coming from an anarchic way of applying the Ten Commands.
We all do everyday something that put our lives in risk...even knowing it.
The first idea that comes right now to my brain is the picture of an old smoker that after a huge surgery because of a terminal larynges tumor kept on smoking through the tracheotomy that the surgeons made to him so that he could keep on breathing. During my residence I was in charge to take care of him, and as a non smoker person, it always paid my attention that he was smelling cigarette. Once I followed him to the bathroom and I could see how he was enjoying infinitely lighting a cigarette and setting it before the hole on his neck, aspiring the smoke and releasing it. I saw him and immediately thought about the miserable life he carried inside the hospital and the dead so close to him and I decided to not report what I have seen, because I considered that was part of his free will to choose what to do during his last days on earth while not harming anybody but himself.
Is that not suicide? Probably yes, but would anybody condemn a person with a lung cancer due to smoking as a sinner? Same for people that drives without taking into consideration their safety or the one from the others on the road, etc.

Once said this story comes my conclusion. Jesus came to earth to give us Forgiveness and He gave us with his words and facts a testimony of compassion. That includes flexibility and understanding to accept any situation within one of His sons suffers.

Do you really think that somebody that commits suicide being a teenager is not deeply depressed, what means sick enough as to ignore the natural survival instinct?
It is completely understood and described in psychiatry the fact that suicide happens many times without any warning.

Certainly suicide is harder to accept than the death of somebody in an accident, even if this occurred out of imprudence.

I believe it is time to accept that we all are human beings, and that we were given a life and free will. Forgiveness goes beyond the rigid ten commands; they are just a guide to help us to live better in our society.

God bless you and your dear brother.
P.B

Answer 5

I am so sorry for the lost of your brother. PLEASE, PLEASE do not spend so much time wondering why that can only keep you sick. When I was a teenager I tried to commit suicide. And it was due to a relationship. At that time I thought that I was so much in love and people kept telling me that it was puppy love. But to me it was the real thing. And when he left the pain was so great that I wanted instant relief and I could not be with him I did not want to live. And another thought was I could not stand to see him no one else. So my only thought was to do that. Sweetheart their can be so many reason why people make the decision to end their lives whether it be a relationship or financial reason or something else. It is not for me to say it is a sin or not. But what I only can suggest to you is practicing concentrating on the wonderful memories that he left behind and that way as long as he is in your heart and your families he will live on until you guys meet again. PEACE AND LOVE TO YOU AND YOUR FAMILY

Answer 6

right enough crap from these religious fanatics. You will never know until the day you die, what has happened to your brother. Sad, but true. I do not in anyway belive that he has gone to hell. He made the decesion at the time. Obviously it was the wrong decision, but no one can take that back. For you to live, worrying about it, what life are you having. Do you really think that your brother is looking down, wanting you to be spending your whole life worrying about him, from some books that have no proof linked to them. You only have one life. Live it, and if there is a god out there, then that is what he wants from you. I don;t believe your brother is in a bad place,. He made the ultimate mistake, and if we weren't made to make mistakes and wrong judgements, then we wouldn't be human, and God wouldn't have created us. Live your life, and make your brother proud

good luck!!

Answer 7

Suicide is considered unnatural, because we got this quality of this life based on our past life karma, as ending it is like leaving a class room without learning the complete lesson. The lesson has to be learned in this life or next life, for cleansing our souls. We can't avoid or surpass the karma factor, it follows us life after life. So suicide is considered totally against the law of nature, as you are leaving the class without learning & in next birth the teaching process will be more tough & struggling. If sucide was not a crime the God may have programmed all the animals, to do it whenever they wanted. Even a terminally ill dying animal, who can't even communicate bears the pain but doesn't commit suicide. I would say they are much wiser than us humans.

Answer 8

I bet you feel really upsets about the hole situation, The Bible tell us is a sin but now you need to think about yourself. Stop trying to bring the past over and over that was a decision that your brother took and now for good or bad he needs to give God accountability. You and nobody else is responsible for his actions. You need to let him go and keep on with your life. Suicide is not a solution for anything, suicide is for people that dint want to fight. I'm a fighter and I will fight until the day I die.

Answer 9

I'm not religious so no, I can't call it a 'sin' as such.
Some people say it's the coward's way out, and it is true that a lot of young men take their own lives these days for seemingly silly reasons, i.e a girl. Imagine what she must be going through.....
I believe that when you die, there is oblivion - so he won't be suffering now - he has just left that for his family and friends. So maybe he was a coward.

Answer 10

Well personally, I do believe it's a sin. But this is only my conviction. One of the ten commandments state "thou shalt not kill", and I believe that means yourself too. I'm sorry for your loss. I don't want to judge your brother, maybe he had time to make things right. I don't know, but we can only hope. Suicide is a terrible thing....I've heard it described like this...it's a permanent solution to only a temporary problem. Whatever anyone chooses to believe is actually cool with me, if you don't believe it's a sin, then I'm cool with it. We can't judge people by our own convictions. What may be wrong for you, may not be wrong for me. This to me, is the main problem with the church.......judging people by our own personal convictions.......I wish you the best of luck.........

Answer 11

If your a Christian you probably know that committing suicide is "not the act of a person who is in possession of their full faculties. Human beings literally "fight for life" in most situations. I have seen people fight terminal illness with a tenacity you would not think possible. I have seen others survive unbelieveable injuries. We want to live! Therefore, to take our own lives, seems to me, to be the action of a person who has lost a grip on reality. I say this with compassion, not condemnation. For I believe that such people fall under a special grace of God.
They may have contemplated suicide themselves or have a family member who has and they haven't dealt with it. Maybe they don't know how you feel about it and so don't know how to talk about it. I wouldn't let myself be "stigmatized" about it. You didn't do anything, it was your brother. Letting others "stigmatize" you gives control of your life away. If you haven't talked with a counselor about this, do so. "