It’s largely presumed and taught that if a Christian kills his or herself for any reason that they break an irreparable bond with God and are most certainly damned to hell, but what if one was in a situation where they faced the immediate threat of certain death in a much more brutal, painful fashion? I feel like I need to mention that this excludes martyrdom because we’ve seen examples throughout history of practitioners facing this exact scenario and as those cases have proved, it’s righteous to stand for God even in persecution.

But what if the situation had nothing to do with religion at all? What if you were a lone hunter about to get devoured by a pack of wolves? What if you were a woman during a situation like the Nanjing Massacre and soldiers were in your house about to kick down your door? What if a thermobaric weapon dropped in your city right now and it was either that or feel your lungs disintegrate inside your chest, even within the safety of a bomb shelter? These situations have happened to people and I just wonder if we as natural-born sinners could be forgiven for making a decision like that in surely a dire situation.

Additionally, what’s the difference between killing oneself for such a reason and killing someone else for a much more trivial reason? We’re told that if we truly are sorry and repent for even our most egregious sins, that we will receive grace and forgiveness. King David was blessed after confessing to God about his adultery and murder of Uriah, but what draws the line between that and taking one’s own life out of desperation? I’m not sure I might fully accept the saying, “God’s understanding vastly surpasses our own” as a raw answer because if that was truly accepted by the Church, then why has certain damnation from suicide regardless of context become such a pervasive doctrine throughout Christianity?