Church split on suicide
Published:Sunday | April 24, 2011 | 12:00 AM
Tyrone Reid, Sunday Gleaner Reporter
Jamaica's clergy is divided on forgiveness after death by suicide. Some of the island's theologians are unrepentant of their traditional view, but others have softened their stance on the position that committing suicide is a sure way to miss out on going through the Pearly Gates.
Dr Joseph Ade-Gold, bishop of Overcomers Word Ministries, believes death by suicide prevents a person from walking the streets of glory. "Once a person decides to take his or her life, it is not possible for that person to repent because they are dead," he said. "It is not an act that is pardonable at all," the bishop added.
Ade-Gold voiced his concerns about the increase in the number of suicides in Jamaica, especially among teens. "Maybe we are not doing enough as a church or as a society. We are not showing them enough love," he argued.
Chance of pardon
In his book Confronting Suicide: Helping Teens at Risk, Dr Donovan Thomas, founder and president of Choose Life International, intimates that Heaven could still be the eternal home of Christians who take their own lives. In the book, the author notes that research shows that at least 33 per cent of all suicides occur when the victims were experiencing severe emotional and mental disturbance.
Thomas propounds that no one can determine the state of mind of a person at the moment of suicide.
"If irrationality is the reason why a Christian commits suicide, then I see no reason why that person should not go to Heaven. For this and other reasons, I stress that it is God's prerogative to make such a decision," reads a section of Thomas' book.
Ade-Gold disagrees with Thomas' argument. The Overcomers Word Ministries bishop insists that suicide does not provide a route to paradise.
"I don't see any biblical view that Heaven is open for such a one," said Ade-Gold.
However, in Confronting Suicide: Helping Teens at Risk, Thomas concedes that "the idea of taking one's own life seems to run counter to biblical themes of faith, hope, and love".
However, the author clearly notes that in his opinion, "the Bible itself neither condones nor condemns the act as it relates [to] incidents of suicide".
Carla Dunbar, pastor of the Church of God of Prophecy in Orange Bay and Buff Bay, Portland, told The Sunday Gleaner that "suicide is in a sense murder" that is usually spawned by a feeling of hopelessness. The pastor does not think the Bible condones this act of finality. "If you kill somebody else, you may have a chance to ask for forgiveness because once there is life, there is hope," she reasoned. "But if you take your own life, what chance is there for forgiveness? Because the Bible does say that there is no repentance in the grave," Dunbar added.
Bishop Dr Delford Davis, head of Power of Faith Ministries in Portmore, St Catherine, disagrees with the view that a person who commits suicide can still make it into Heaven.
Lacking biblical support
Davis was unrepentant with his views on those who commit suicide. "I immediately differ with that view. I take offence to that as it is not supported by scripture," he argued.
Davis believes that asking for and receiving forgiveness of sins is a must if a person desires to go to Heaven. The Bible teaches that there is one unpardonable sin: blaspheming against the Holy Spirit. Davis said he was not arguing that suicide was another unpardonable sin, but pointed out that the act forfeits the privilege of asking for forgiveness.
The Reverend Dr Stevenson Samuels, pastor of the Escarpment Road New Testament Church of God, is on the fence on the matter. Once a holder of the traditional Christian view that Christians who committed suicide automatically surrendered the privi-lege of dwelling in the eternal city, Samuels told The Sunday Gleaner that he is currently reconsidering his views on the matter.
The pastor believes the view espoused by Thomas in his book is reasonable. But he was not prepared to come off the fence as yet. "The world has gotten more complex; society is far more complicated. Some things that would have been regarded as wrong in a far more stable and simple society with far more support systems available in today's world can't just be classified as wrong or right," reasoned Samuels.
He added: "God's principles of wrong or right have not changed, (but) the lines have become a little thinner between wrong or right."