A friend sent this to me. This is part 1 of 2. It does a fantastic job of explaining and summarizing what I already believe. I have copied the transcript in its entirety, with no editing. The copyright belongs to TimeofGrace.org. I will include all of their contact information at the bottom of this post. - SZ
Pastor Michael Novotny -
Before the National Association of School Psychologists warned America that it was a dangerous show, I watched all 13 episodes of the controversial Netflix series “13 Reasons Why.” Have you seen it? If not, it’s the story of a teenage girl named Hannah Baker who takes her own life; she commits suicide. But before she does, she records audio tapes to let her classmates and her city know all the reasons why she did it.
We don’t often talk about suicide. It’s uncomfortable, it’s emotional; it’s not like during the meet and greet before the start of church you turn to the person next to you and say, “Hey, I’m suicidal. How’s your day?” We don’t talk about things like that in church and maybe that’s part of the problem because if we don’t talk about it, we can’t help each other. If we don’t talk about it in God’s house, then all we’re left with are rumors and lies and suspicions with questions like: If you commit suicide, do you lose out on eternity? Do you punch a one-way ticket to hell? You didn’t have time to repent and you have to be repentant to be in heaven, right?
If you’d open your Bible and read from cover to cover today, you would learn that there are five suicides that happened in the Bible; four in the Old Testament and one in the New. So what do we learn from those five stories? We learn, first, that suicide happens for lots of reasons. In King Saul’s case, it might be a fear that life is only going to get worse. In fact, it might get terrible and we want to end it before it gets there. Suicides then are like suicides now and they happen for so many reasons but other people would read those stories and they would add something. They would say, “Well, what we can learn from those five stories is that if you commit suicide you cannot be saved.” From what we can tell, these five stories are of unbelieving people; they didn’t have hope, they didn’t have faith in God, they didn’t trust his plan, and so they gave up; they had nothing to live for. You see, people would say, if you commit suicide it’s because you don’t have God; you have a lack of faith.
Do you think that’s true? Is that a good interpretation of what we find in the Bible? Well, to answer that question, you need to know the difference between a description and a prescription. Have you ever learned that principle about interpreting God’s word? A description is just something that is described in the Bible; it’s not God saying it’s always this way or always that, this is right and this is wrong. It’s just a simple description of what happened. “Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River,” is a description; it’s not God telling you you have to be baptized in the Jordan River. But “be baptized; keep this command,” that’s a prescription, where God is prescribing and telling us exactly what to do, what’s right, and what’s wrong. And when we look at these five stories, we find out that these are not prescriptions; there’s no passage that says this goes to prove that every suicide is a lack of faith. It’s just the description of what happened to these five men.
Now what we need to answer the question about suicides and eternity is a passage that would say, “This is a sin of unbelief; a sin that someone can commit only if they lack faith.” Can you think of a passage that says that in God’s word? Pastor Kurt Ebert cares about the answer to that question. He was in the office downstairs working when he heard the gunshot and he scrambled to the foot of the stairs and there was his son, Nathan, clutching his chest from a self-inflicted wound. “I’m sorry, dad,” he cried out. “I love God. I’m sorry.” And he died.
Is he in heaven or is he in hell? The apostle John can answer that question. It says in 1 John 1: “If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us,” – catch this word – “from all unrighteousness.” Isn’t that an amazing word? “All” unrighteousness. There’s no asterisk, “except for suicide.” Suicide is unrighteousness; it is sin and it is a sin that Jesus purified when he gave his life on the cross. He died for doubt, he died for despair, he died for murderers, and yes, he died for suicides. And that’s why pastor got up at Nathan’s funeral and preached that. Seven hundred family members and friends confused, wondering where Nathan was, gathered and the pastor’s theme that day was this: He did what?
Part one: He did what? Nathan shot himself? The pastor’s son? A Christian killed himself? He did what? “Yeah, he did that,” the pastor said. Part two: He did what? Jesus did what? He died for those who cause their own death? He forgives the sin of suicide? He purifies us from all unrighteousness, even that unrighteousness? Pastor said, “Amen.” And that young man is with Jesus because suicide is not a one-way ticket to hell. But, but, but, but, but – some would object – “But pastor, doesn’t the passage say ‘if’” I’ll read it again: “If we confess our sins, God is faithful and will forgive us.” And not every suicide is like Nathan’s; not every person has a chance to say “I’m sorry. I love God. I shouldn’t have done this.” What happens if you pull the trigger? If you jump and there’s not time to say sorry to God? That’s a good question. It’s the most common response I hear when we talk about suicide in the church. “Well, Pastor, you have to be repentant and some people don’t have time to repent. So what about that?”
Well, let’s test that logic for just a second. Let’s imagine when you leave church here today, you’re in a car with a family member or a friend and you get into an argument. And you’re being kind of stubborn and you’re being defensive and just when you’re digging in your heels and about to fire back, smash! The car barrels through the intersection and you die.
Are you in heaven or hell? You didn’t have time to repent. Now obviously, no, to be repentant doesn’t mean you verbalize every sin. To be repentant means if there’s a struggle in your heart, whether you have time to say it or not. And is it possible that at the moment someone makes that fatal choice that they can’t take back, that there’s a struggle in their heart? And the answer is absolutely.
You see, we have to understand the difference between faith and faith. Do you know the difference between Faith with a capital “F” and faith with a small “f?” Faith with a capital “F” is faith in Jesus; that I believe that I am right with God, I’m reconciled with him. By pure grace and mercy, it’s all about Jesus. But small “f” faith is trust in the promises of God. I’m not going to worry because God’s got this and he’s going to take care of this. Now, I would bet for those of us who are Christians, we have capital “F” Faith but have we ever lacked small “f” faith? Ever worry about your finances? Your health? How something’s going to work out? You know the difference then. And it’s very possible – in fact, it happens all the time – that a Christian who has capital “F” Faith in the moment loses hope. In the struggle with sin, they lose sight of small “f” faith and they make the choice. And so, I want to tell you today that despite all the rumors and all the mystery and all the taboo, that suicide is a damaging sin, it is unrighteousness, it is destructive but it is not unforgiveable. It does not separate us eternally from the grace of God. He purifies us from all unrighteousness.
Martin Luther agreed with that. Did you know in the early centuries of the Christian church, God-fearing people were taking their own lives all the time by choice? It became a fad, actually, that you would be baptized and then commit suicide so you can see Jesus faster. There was a great church father named Augustus who said, “No.” He wanted to stop it; he knew it was wrong. And he said, “No, if you commit suicide, you’re done.” That wasn’t in the Bible but he was trying to stop the flood of self-inflicted harm and so the rumor persisted and persisted and persisted and thank God, Martin Luther saw that that wasn’t true. In fact, one of his students was taking notes when he was kind of rifting it at a meal and Martin Luther said this. He said, “I don’t share the opinion that suicides are certainly to be damned. However, this ought not to be taught to the common people lest Satan be given an opportunity to kill.” It’s an interesting quote, isn’t it? So Luther would say “Amen!” to what I just preached to you, but he would also say, “But Mike, you shouldn’t preach that.” And you see his reasoning. I mean, if you came into church today and you’re deeply depressed and you have no hope and you could be in heaven by tonight, why wouldn’t you? Maybe the certainty of heaven instead of the damnability of hell is just one more reason why you would do it.
