The Little Friar

My friend Angela asked that I write a bit about what Christians might have to say to the issue of suicide.  I'm going to go about this in two ways:  First, I want to lay out a bit of the theology behind what we Christians have had to say historically.  Then, I want to tell the story of how I as a pastor handled a suicide's funeral, in an effort to chart a course for a conversation about how Christians might think about suicide into the future. First, the history. Let's be honest here:  Suicide is confusing for Christians.  Although historically, Christians have thought that Scripture is clear in its disapproval, the few instances of suicide in Scripture make this case far less clear. Must we necessarily believe that those who have taken their own life in order to end suffering are somehow damned to eternal torment?  Not if you give Scripture a clear reading. Of the seven or so suicides reported in Scripture, most familiar are Saul, Samson, and Ju...