Suicide is a sin: why does Orthodoxy prohibit suicide, is euthanasia possible, what to do if you want to end your life

All world religions consider suicide one of the worst sins a person can commit. This is a crime against the human soul, God, nature. Today we propose to talk about suicide. We will consider this phenomenon not only from a universal and religious point of view, but also from the esoteric side. We will try to answer the question of why suicide is considered a sin and what its consequences are. We will also give a number of tips for relatives of those people who want to commit suicide.

What is suicide?

It’s worth starting with what suicide is. This phenomenon can be called the same crime as killing another person. According to the traditional definition, suicide comes from the Latin sui caedere, which can be translated as “to kill oneself.” The definition is as follows:

Suicide is the purposeful taking of one’s life, usually voluntary (although there are also cases of forced suicide) and independent (in some cases carried out with the help of other people).

Let's say right away: suicide must be distinguished from self-sacrifice. The latter is appropriate in war, in any extreme situations. All religions of the world call self-sacrifice a manifestation of heroism, and therefore is not (unlike suicide) a sin, rather, on the contrary, a virtue. The thing is that the motives for self-sacrifice are completely different - they are not cowardice and weakness, but courage, valor and service. For example, a warrior who covers a grenade with his body, thereby protecting his comrades, is a hero, because he saves several other people's lives at the cost of his own.

The essence of suicide

Speaking about whether suicide is a sin or not, it is worth talking about the essence of this phenomenon. No matter how suicide looks, no matter how a person explains it to himself, it is just an escape from life, from struggle and from solving problems that higher powers pose to the individual. Orthodox Christians say: God never sends a person trials that he cannot bear. That is, a true believer will never take such a terrible step, because he knows: any problem can be dealt with, any troubles in life can be resolved.

Is there an excuse?

Psychologists note: the person who committed it tries to justify any evil. A murderer or maniac is always very convincing, citing arguments to justify himself. That is, if a person commits an atrocity, it means that in the depths of his soul he has already justified it for himself. However, we should not forget that any evil (even justified!) continues to remain evil. And sooner or later you will have to pay for it.

Believers say: the basis of any evil and bad deed always lies in its weakness or other vices, for example, envy and resentment, pride and cowardice. At the same time, the justification can look incredibly plausible and convincing, sometimes even righteous - often people say “I simply had no other choice.” However, do not forget - there is always a choice. Sincerity (first of all to yourself), fearlessness and courage will help you avoid evil.

Is suicide also sent by God?

Marina4 months agoReply

“I came in” to read the question and the answer to it, knowing in advance how I would answer. Once again I am delighted with the answer of Archpriest Andrei Efanov, his simple, easy-to-understand wisdom. Thank you very much, Father Andrey! I completely agree with you. But what strange comments from readers... Christianity, namely Orthodox Christianity, as a doctrine, as an understanding of man’s relationship with God, gives each of us colossal freedom - what we strive for so much if we translate this idea into a political, social plane. We crave freedom, we do not want to be limited by external frameworks (only by the laws of the state of which we are citizens). And God gives us such an opportunity. We choose the path that does not contradict our value systems, taken primarily from the family in which we were raised. Yes, God gives us circumstances, people to whom we relate somehow, creating new circumstances with our own hands. How we create them, how we relate to situations and people - this is only our will, which depends on what motivates us in our views on life and its manifestations: our passions (from demons) or God’s spirit in us? And this depends on who we let into ourselves. What are the causes of suicide in a mentally healthy person? Apathy developing into depression; attitude towards the disease (oncology in the last stages, which I learned about and despaired of); unrequited love; shame; fear; driving others to suicide. Something else personal, deeply individual... BUT!!! After all, the reason for most of all of the above is the passions that overwhelm us. I'll give you my example. Example about yourself. For many years I experienced apathy, absolute indifference to life. I had no goals, no desires. I had thoughts that I needed to somehow crawl to the age of 45 and it would be happy to die. Why up to 45? So that all my close relatives would have died by this time, I buried them, so I could finally find myself in a convenient situation, in convenient circumstances to experience death. Creepy thoughts, right? This is despite the fact that I am healthy, I have two higher educations, I work, I don’t have complexes about my appearance (no, of course, any woman will always find something in herself that she can be dissatisfied with), I know and see, that the opposite sex likes me. But I didn't need anyone. I never wanted a family. Moreover, I always knew and understood that I was a happy person, because God gave me the ability to be born in my family, God gave me intelligence so that I could study easily, God gave me health, God gave me the ability to speak and explain what is necessary in my work, God gives me people, thanks to whom I can develop intellectually, engage in science, and reveal my God-given potential. And I lived for years by inertia, tired of life, procrastinating in everything, angry with myself for this, but outwardly being quite friendly, sympathetic, if this was required by the people around me. Moreover, many came to me for advice, to pour out their souls. And I had wild apathy, without depression, probably. Although I don’t know, because I had to outwardly almost meet the expectations of my loved ones: I’m smart, which means I need to do science, grow my career, I need to fulfill the assigned functionality at work. But this is external, but inside there is emptiness: no goals, no desires, no dreams. The desire for loneliness, constant thoughts that I can ask myself a question and answer it myself. I'm smart, I'm a self-sufficient person. Apathy led to despondency, memories of another self, anger at oneself for procrastination in the scientific field, and putting off important things for later. But at the same time, there is constant confidence that I can do anything. And at the same time internal reflections: “now a car will hit me - so what, the main thing is to die immediately.” Look at the confusion of emotions about yourself. Where does it come from? Is it from God? God gives us His light, His mercy in order to realize His providence for us. What did I do? His mercy was repulsed. Because she was overwhelmed by the passion of pride. Pride gave rise to despondency and apathy in my case. But in my own dialogues with God, I always ask for His understanding of myself. In August 2021, I suddenly remembered that I once read about Tikhon of Zadonsk, to whom one should pray out of despondency. I found information about his life, which said that he suffered from the sin of arrogance. It's my sin, it's the same! Pride showed up in me. God gave me this understanding of my own sinfulness. This is where human free will lies - in the ability to understand ourselves, to recognize the dark or the light that moves us. Awareness of one's own sinful passion makes it easier to fight against it. I understood myself, I read a lot about pride, selfishness, selfishness. And my soul felt better. There is no apathy. For the first time in my life, I began to make plans for my own future, trusting in God, being absolutely sure that yes, whatever God does not do is all for the better. But do you know why? Because the task of our life on earth is to become better, purer, brighter, to bring our own bright essence closer to the image of God. And it’s so easy when you recognize the dark in yourself - the passion that allows demons to instill in us, among other things, thoughts of suicide, not to develop in ourselves the gifts given by God, but to destroy ourselves. Or be with God, carry God’s light within yourself and give it to others if they agree to take it. And the so-called unrequited love... Love is always mutual. Like any feeling. The rest is the image of a person we have invented and love for our invention with the expectation of reciprocity and worries about why they do not respond to us. Or an egoistic passion to take possession of a person because “I want to. for him/her to love me.” The feeling of love inspires, makes the colors of the world brighter, makes us softer, more open, simply better, but does not push us into the abyss of suicide. Love comes from God, when you yourself have learned to love without selfishness, without fanaticism. Sick, supposedly love is a passion from the evil one, an egoistic passion that leads to resentment, disappointment, conflicts, pain and, as a way out, suicide. What is our choice here? Again, whether to revel in suffering and anger, despair, or to understand myself, what motivates me (why do I demand a specific object to love me, am I ready to live up to this object’s expectations of me, and if we are too different, then how can we be one whole in love, like two halves of one apple?) Our freedom, given by God, lies in the choice to be with Him and develop ourselves, following His light, or to wallow in our own passions in order to think only about the burden of life. Believe me, the more you care about your own morality, the easier life seems, and the stronger your own spirit!

Bible on suicide

Let's figure out what the Holy Scriptures say about suicide. Is suicide considered a sin in Orthodoxy? It is difficult to believe that a Christian who committed suicide lost the possibility of his salvation and ended up in hell. After all, the Bible says: as soon as a person sincerely believes in Jesus Christ, he receives a guarantee of salvation! It is for this reason that Christians are confident that they have eternal life. And it doesn’t matter at all what happens to them in the future:

I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that by believing in the Son of God you have eternal life. 1 John 5:13.

You should also pay attention to the following words, which indicate that absolutely nothing can separate a Christian from God’s love:

For I am confident that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor the present, nor the future, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39.

It turns out that if not a single creation can separate a person who believes in God from the love of the Most High, then a Christian himself who commits suicide cannot become the reason for separation from God’s love. The Bible tells us: Jesus died for the sins of man, and therefore a true Christian who, in a moment of weakness or some kind of spiritual attack, decided to commit suicide, will commit the sin for which Christ already died. However, one should not think that suicide is not a serious sin against the Almighty. According to the Holy Scriptures, suicide is equivalent to murder, therefore the sincerity of the faith of a person who commits suicide raises religious doubts among people. The fact is that the Bible says: Christians should live for God. And only he can decide when they should die.

One of the best illustrations of why suicide is considered a sin comes from the book of Esther. In Persia there was a law according to which every person who appeared before the king without his invitation must certainly be executed. The exception was the case when the king himself extended his golden scepter to this man, thereby showing his mercy. That is, the suicide of an Orthodox Christian is tantamount to an invasion of the Heavenly King, without an invitation, prematurely. Believers say: God will extend His scepter to you, preserving eternal life for you, but this does not mean at all that He will be pleased with your action. About the sin of suicide, or rather about its consequences, you can read the Bible verse 1 Corinthians 3:15:

However, he himself will be saved, but as if from fire.

How to deal with thoughts of ending your life

When we are despondent and even begin to despair, then falling at the feet of the Savior in personal prayer, in the Sacraments, especially Repentance in Confession and the Eucharist (Communion), we get rid of these passions, which destroys the very desire for suicide in our soul. Therefore, if we want to help others avoid this, then the first thing we need to do is bring them to the Church. Which, by the way, does not cancel other, including secular, measures to combat suicide. But the latter are of secondary importance.

This is interesting: Why despondency is considered a mortal sin in Orthodoxy

On the unacceptability of euthanasia

A special issue in this topic is the so-called euthanasia. Which (I quote from a non-Christian source) is “terminating the life of a terminally ill person. It is called a “dignified” or “good death”, since its goal is to end the suffering of the patient with his consent or with the permission of loved ones.

The practice of voluntary death was welcomed back in Ancient Greece, when suicide of the elderly and disabled was encouraged.

Interesting fact

Today, the euthanasia procedure is hotly debated: in 5 countries it is legalized, another 5 states are pondering the legality of “voluntary killing”.

Here they usually press for pity: “hey, the terminally ill person is suffering a lot, he needs to be helped to die, etc. and so on.". There is even a French film, it seems, where “two spouses who touchingly love each other carry this love into old age. But, unfortunately, the old lady became seriously ill, she suffered greatly, and the old man, out of love for her, tenderly, with great love, smothered her with a pillow...”

The Orthodox Church does not accept such extremely dubious “mercy”, quite correctly considering euthanasia to be murder and, if it is performed with the permission of the victim, suicide. The flawed logic of this disgusting action is outlined above: they are relieved of temporary suffering in order to be subjected to much more serious, afterlife ones.

But this is clear to believers. Non-believers need to be asked: what is considered severe, unbearable suffering? The subjective opinion of the patient can hardly be a criterion here. Now he is in so much unbearable pain that he wants to die; but now I have let go, and I want to live again.

Interesting fact

By the way, in the practice of the famous “Doctor Death”, who kills such seriously ill patients at their request, there have been numerous cases when during the euthanasia itself they changed their minds and begged to be allowed to live!

In short, if we accept the opinion that the sick and suffering must be killed, then a totalitarian society will not be far off, when in this way they will get rid of “superfluous” people.

“Oh, you hurt your finger, you have a splinter, you are suffering a lot, my friend, you urgently need to be killed!” ...

Western civilization, which invented and steadily (under the supposedly plausible pretext of alleviating the suffering of the seriously ill) imposes euthanasia, is sinking more and more to the level of savagery of some primitive tribes, sending their old people to die in the tundra, “so as not to suffer” (see the corresponding story by Jack London).

But what does the Orthodox Church and Orthodox culture oppose to this Western savagery? Once upon a time, a long time ago, I saw a debate between supporters of euthanasia and two seemingly Orthodox middle-aged ladies. Who shouted: “No, no, you can’t kill; We say to our patients in our shelter: we must live, we must live!” The question is, why? Indeed, why should a seriously ill person live and suffer?! These ladies are clearly new to Orthodoxy!

Why don't they hold funeral services for people who commit suicide?

The next thing you need to know when trying to understand why suicide is a sin is the fact that there is no funeral service for suicides. Concepts such as sympathy and pity should not be confused with mercy and the Law of God.

Let's try to think: is it right to perform funeral services for criminals, atheists, traitors, because of whom innocent people suffered? The answer is on the surface. We should not forget that a suicide is just as much a criminal, not only before God, but also before himself. By his actions, such a person went against the Higher powers, handing over his soul to the dark ones.

Why suicide is a sin

Life is given to us by God. And only He can dispose of it, giving it to us in due time and taking it away from us in due time. For this reason alone, suicide, which willfully steals this gift of God, is the gravest lawlessness! And if the holy fathers classify despondency and its extreme degree as despair as mortal sins, then the most evil fruit of the latter, when a desperate person kills himself, is even more so the same mortal sin. Moreover, not only in a figurative sense, but also in a literal one. The one who commits this crime kills himself both spiritually and physically.

Lord Almighty

What is a funeral service?

A funeral service is a prayer for the soul of a person who has died. A prayer in which they ask God for forgiveness of sins, care for the soul, and its blessing. That is, the funeral service is a kind of ritual of seeing off the soul of a Christian to bright worlds, absolution of sins, and facilitating its further path. Can a suicide deserve such a prayer?

By the way, it is for the same reason that it is not customary to bury suicides in cemeteries. After all, the one who dared to commit suicide abandoned human destiny. Therefore, before, suicides were buried either along the roads - on the side of the road, or in places where domestic animals were buried. The fact is that the churchyard is a place that is under the auspices of the Church and the Higher Powers; there is no place there for those who have committed the most terrible sin - suicide. Such people are deprived of the Almighty’s protection and support for a long time.

Suicide is a terrible sin

In every religion in the world, suicide is considered one of the worst human atrocities. Why do theologians of the Christian and Muslim religions have a negative attitude towards suicide?

Ignore the Creator? There is such a parable: a suicide appears before the face of the Almighty, and the Creator tells him: “My children come to me only when I call them. Why did you come?” By rejecting life, a person consciously chooses non-existence and, one might say, takes a leap into the underworld. A person does not have the right to arbitrarily dispose of his life, which was given to him by the Almighty; only he can decide for us when to call us to heaven. Death will come to everyone, but at different times and at an hour unknown to us. That is why the ban on suicide was given to man by the Almighty back in ancient times. But why is suicide considered more terrible and worse than even the deliberate murder of another person? The fact is that suicide does not give a person the right to be forgiven. In case of sincere repentance, repentance and atonement for guilt, even the most cruel murderer can be forgiven by the Almighty. There are cases when bloodthirsty robbers suddenly realized the horror and disastrousness of their situation, repented and began a new life, becoming righteous. Others suffered a painful death and thereby fully atone for their deeds. But a suicide can no longer repent and receive forgiveness. He crosses himself out of the book of life and gets a ticket to hell. Some try to justify suicide by “hopeless situations and situations in life,” but this is not a justifiable argument. In fact, a decent way out of this situation can always be found. “A complete dead end” is just self-deception and the wrong attitude towards life. The cause of suicide can be a terrible invisible force that overcomes and tempts a person. This is the enemy of the human race - the devil, whose existence many do not want to admit. A believer will adequately assess any situation, but an atheist can have doubts and make a decision based on coincidence.

Exceptional cases There are also rare exceptional cases when a suicide is still buried with funeral prayers, given that he took his own life in a state of mental confusion. The famous poetess Marina Tsvetaeva, who committed suicide, was forgiven by the clergy. After a thorough study of all the circumstances of the suicide, the priests came to the conclusion that Tsvetaeva, who believed in God, committed suicide as a result of mental insanity due to extreme exhaustion of all mental and physical strength, provoked by loneliness, hunger and devastation. “That means,” the clergy decided, “she can be forgiven by God.”

Don’t flirt with death It’s dangerous to flirt with death by committing “fake”, show-off suicides in the hope of staying alive, but scaring others. Such “theatrical performances” usually end disastrously for the actors who get used to the dangerous role. Practice shows: in one hundred cases of “recklessness,” eighty players still go to the call of an unknown “dark force.” Recently, there has been debate: is euthanasia a method of suicide for a terminally ill person who is unable to endure ongoing suffering? It turns out - yes, it is. According to religious concepts, a serious illness is given to a person by the Almighty for humility and repentance; it is necessary to gather all vital forces into a single fist and oppose them to the internal influence on the human body. It is not up to the patient to decide when to leave this world. Sidebar According to the Prosecutor General's Office of the Republic of Tatarstan, over the past 2013, 604 people attempted to kill themselves. Of these, 567 people committed suicide. Suicidal statistics cover both the southern and northern regions of Tajikistan, and in the Bobojongafurovsky district of the Sughd region, more citizens come to suicide from social problems than in the Isfara region. Deeply religious, humble citizens, revering the divine word, do not immediately renounce the “canons of life.” If a person’s soul is closer to God, then his life is under the protection of the Almighty.

Religious view on suicide - the Koran prohibits suicide in any of its manifestations - this is a great sin that is never washed away, says Mavlon Mukhtarov, deputy chairman of the Committee on Religious Affairs under the Government of the Republic of Tajikistan, theologian, and expert on the canons of the Koran. “Allah gave us a soul, and only he has the right to dispose of it,” continues Mavlon Mukhtarov, “The Koran condemns everyone who goes against the will of Allah.” In the Muslim religion, suicide is generally prohibited. Self-immolation, playing with the gallows and other methods of committing suicide are refuted and punished by the Divine Book. And here is the opinion of an Orthodox theologian: - Orthodoxy clearly negatively evaluates suicide and considers this sin to be a particularly serious manifestation. The Church condemns people who commit such an act. For a believer, this is an indelible sin before God, for only the Almighty is given the right to dispose of our lives. To encroach on the sacred, to arrogate to oneself the right to dispose of one’s own life, which initially does not belong to anyone other than God, is a blasphemous decision. The socio-economic position of the laity in society determines the reasons that contribute to this process to one degree or another. The spiritual state of society as a whole is at a low level: uncertainty about the future partly gives rise to the idea of the necessity of our lives, providing an opportunity for a person to think about suicide. If we are talking about a believer, then he trusts only in God and lives in the name of gaining the Kingdom of Heaven,” the rector of St. Nicholas Cathedral in Dushanbe, Archpriest Father Sergius Klimenko, voiced the point of view of the Russian Orthodox Church on committing suicide. If you don’t need your life, give it to other people, do more good, not for fame and money, but just like that, for the sake of increasing good in this world. Nelly DEINAROVICH

Punishment

Now that you have already understood why suicide is a sin, let's talk about what punishment awaits anyone who ends their life in this way. Firstly, this is certainly purgatory. This is the name of the state in which human souls find themselves in need of cleansing from the consequences that have arisen as a result of sins. The souls that end up here are the souls of those people who died in peace with the Almighty. Let us note that modern theologians say that purgatory is not a place, but a process. The temporary characteristics operating on earth are completely inapplicable to him.

Are there mitigating circumstances?

What do the clergy say about whether there are any mitigating circumstances? Can suicides be buried in the church? It is worth saying that with the blessing of the bishop, suicides who were treated in psychiatric hospitals can be inveterate. In addition, it also happens that someone deliberately drives a teenager or child (a fragile personality) to suicide. In such a situation, the grave sin of suicide is replaced by murder at the hands of the victim herself. In general, each case of suicide must be considered separately. Let's give another example. Those who have seen the film “17 Moments of Spring” can remember the hero who took this step. Who is Pleischner really - a coward who committed suicide, or a man who accomplished a feat? Of course, the second, because he honestly weighed his strength and realized that if he got to the Gestapo alive, he would not be able to withstand the torture, and therefore more than one person would die because of him. That is, this motive can be called worthy of justification and even respect. Pleischner incredibly loved life and wanted to live; he committed suicide out of a sense of duty, and not in order to escape from life’s troubles.

Suicide from a Buddhist perspective

It is worth talking separately about whether suicide is a sin in other teachings or not. For example, Buddhists believe that suicide is incredibly dangerous. They claim: a person is always able to solve the problems that await him. For example, followers of this religion say that animals live in peace only because they are not looking for food for the next day today. People should do the same. Shantideva argued that if a problem can be solved, then it should be solved. And if there is no way out of the current situation, you should just accept it and not be upset, because everyone faces difficulties. Please note: Buddhists say that a person who runs away from problems sees them as incredibly large, but as soon as they meet the difficulties halfway, they will cease to be so terrible. Committing suicide is a great sin and an incredible mistake.

It is important to understand that from the point of view of Buddhism, one who kills himself kills a person, which means that for several lives he will not be able to gain human life! He will have to be a being of the lower worlds for many centuries. And there is, of course, much more suffering in such worlds than in the human world. What could the lower worlds be like? In some beings suffer pain, such as in hell, which Buddhists call the extreme form of suffering. Here souls are constantly on fire. Rebirth also deserves special attention. People who have committed the terrible sin of suicide are reborn and again find themselves in the same situations that they could not cope with! That is, suicide is senseless, and besides, it distances a person from nirvana.

However, there are also frequent cases when suicide, from the point of view of Buddhism, moves a person far forward along the chain of rebirths and even allows one to break it. For example, in the sixties of the last century, Buddhist monks self-immolated. In this way they opposed the American occupation of Vietnam. Of course, they could hardly count on the fact that such a terrible action would force the Americans to withdraw troops from Vietnam, but they believed that with this act of self-sacrifice they could achieve the status of sainthood. However, there is an opinion that such suicide could not lead a person to nirvana or enlightenment. Kawabata Yasunari, a Nobel laureate (and future suicide), wrote:

Even if you experience the deepest disgust for the surrounding reality, suicide is still not a form of satori. The most moral suicide is still far from being a saint.

On the misunderstanding of suicide in Christian circles

Suicide or suicide is one of those words that you don’t want to write, much less say. The fact that we hear it so often on the news doesn't make it any easier. Just recently, The Washington Times reported that, according to the results of another study by the American National Suicide Prevention Service, the number of suicides in all US states is growing at warp speed.

Is it possible to do something about such an increase in the number of these deaths? At a minimum, we need to fight prejudices and misunderstandings about suicide in society, and especially in church circles. Let's look at the main ones.

The reasons for suicide are clear

What has puzzled researchers of the suicide epidemic is that there are so many unknown factors at play. It is not so easy to isolate the main causes of suicide. Risk factors include mental illnesses such as depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia. Genetics or suicide in the family also indicate a predisposition, but not only these, but also aging, physical illness and low level of income. And, worst of all, suicide is “contagious.” Perhaps it is the last factor that most explains the outbreaks of suicide in Native American (Indian) settlements. In other words, death from suicide occurs extremely rarely due to one known cause.

Despite efforts to prevent it, suicide has become the tenth leading cause of death in the United States, ranking alongside Alzheimer's disease and drug overdose. Among people aged 15 to 25 years, suicide is the third leading cause of death.

Suicide happens to mentally ill people

Although mental illness plays the role of a conductor to suicide, it is not known for certain what role it plays, but it is already clear that this is not a role in a one-man show. Most people with depression do not end their lives by committing suicide. According to a study by The Washington Times, 54 percent of suicide victims were not diagnosed as mentally ill.

This does not mean that mental illness was not involved in the fatal decision. This indicates that a person's social relationships, financial status, substance abuse (including medications and alcohol), and occupational satisfaction should be examined along with mental health. It is important to remember that you can be depressed and not suicidal, and vice versa. Although suicide has been associated with mood disorders, it seems that other factors are also equally active participants, making it very difficult to identify the main factor leading to suicide.

Christians are not suicidal

No, Christians are not immune to the suicide epidemic. As much as we would like to think that faith in Christ provides an antidote to this disease, research shows that suicide cannot be avoided by relying on faith alone. And church parishioners prefer to avoid the topic of suicide for the same reasons as “non-church” people.

The Bible mentions several cases of suicide, the most famous being King Saul and Judas Iscariot. However, the suicides recorded in the Bible also include Samson, whom the writer of Hebrews (chapter 11) characterizes as faithful to God. Also in the book of psalms we read poems by God's prophets who, in a time of deep shock, wished for death. Even Jesus, during His forty-day fast, was tempted by Satan to commit suicide (see Gospel of Matthew, chapter 5, verses 5-6). To believe that “real Christians” are not subject to these types of attacks from Satan would be unreasonable, at least in the light of Holy Scripture.

Suicides go to hell

The Bible clearly states that suicide is murder, which is a sin and a serious crime against God's creation. But nowhere in the Bible does it say that contemplating or committing suicide can separate us from eternity with the Lord. The doctrine of the fatal consequences of suicide originated in the Middle Ages and is associated with Augustinianism, so it can be considered church, but not directly biblical.

The Apostle Paul himself says that even death cannot separate us from the love of Christ (Romans chapter 8 verses 38-39). The guarantee of eternal life is not repentance for every sin committed, but faith that Christ is able to atone for all our sins. Also, “in Him you also, having heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in Him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit...”, as Paul writes to the Ephesians (chapter 1 verse 13). Although the Bible does not give a clear position on suicide, it does not strictly indicate that suicides will not be forgiven.

Suicides are selfish and cowardly

The concept of the right to choose is the most dishonest thing in a suicide situation. It assumes that the suicide showed selfishness and deliberately caused pain to his loved ones with his death. Those who consider the decision to commit suicide cowardly and selfish need to understand the depth of a person’s despair, the inability to get out of which led the suicide to such a decision. This decision is not made out of self-love, but out of a desire to free your loved ones from the burden of yourself and thus make their world a better place.

Author David Foster Wallace, who suffered from severe depression for many years and committed suicide at a young age, wrote that “the decision to end one's life is like the decision to jump from a burning building to one's death. The solution is unbearably difficult, almost impossible. To understand and accept it, you need to be trapped in the fire yourself and understand that the fear of being burned alive is stronger than the fear of crashing to the ground.”

One of the most common myths about suicide is that it is impossible to predict and prevent. And although there is no complete picture of this phenomenon yet, it is clear that suicide does not appear out of nowhere. You can always find signs that a person is in a pre-suicidal state. Here are a few steps a Christian can take to prevent someone from committing suicide:

Learn to recognize the signs and stay alert. Pay increased attention to those who withdraw from friends and mention suicide, helplessness, or thoughts of death. Meet those from whom you haven't heard from for a long time. Act in advance, because it often happens that the suicide simply did not have enough human attention.

Be sympathetic. Listen to people carefully and respond with understanding. Give the person you suspect of suicidal thoughts as much time as they need to talk it out. Ask them about how they feel and try to support them. Pray with them. Let them know they are not alone.

Act quickly. If it becomes clear that a person is close to suicide, try to find out his specific intentions: whether he has a plan of action, the means to carry out the plan, a deadline for completing the plan, and a formed decision.

Contact a specialist. Try to do everything to ensure that your friend receives professional help. Find out for yourself from a specialist what exactly you can do. Schedule a meeting between your friend and a specialist and go to it with your friend.

Remember, knowledge is the key to suicide prevention.

Suicide from an Islamic perspective

Is suicide a sin in a religion like Islam? True believing Muslims know the answer to this question well: Allah Almighty has forbidden committing crimes - both against other people and against oneself. The Koran says:

Do not kill yourselves, for Allah is merciful to you. 4:29

And the Messenger of Allah said the following about this:

Let none of you desire death for yourself! And let him not pray to Allah for death before it comes. After all, truly, if you die, then your deeds and actions end there, and life (despite its ease or complexity) brings only good to the believer (after all, even the most terrible misfortune, with the right and correct attitude towards it and overcoming it, will turn out to be for the bearer the foundations of faith with goodness and indescribable grace in eternity and in this life).

Let's say right away: Islam not only prohibits any type of violence, but also aims to support a person in the most difficult moments of his life. Therefore, Muslims know well that any tragedy (illness, problems at work, loss of loved ones) is only a temporary test, relief from which will follow either in this or in the next (afterlife) life. What determines the outcome of such a situation? Muslims say: the main thing is how a person will endure his burden, hope for the mercy of Allah and, of course, believe in him. As in Orthodoxy, in Islam only the one who gives it has the right to take life. This means committing suicide is a mortal sin! On the pages of Bukhari's Sahih collection one can find the following words of the Prophet Muhammad:

Whoever throws himself from a mountain and kills himself will also be thrown from a height in hell; whoever kills himself with poison will burn forever in hell with poison in his hand; whoever kills himself with a weapon will kill himself with the same weapon in hellfire forever.

Despite the fact that this hadith speaks of eternal torture, commentators still believe that the Messenger of Allah rather meant a fairly long period, because not a single Muslim will remain in hell forever. It is worth noting that in Islam it is customary to classify suicide bombers as suicide bombers, although in this case another sin is added to the sin of suicide - murder. The fact is that these people end not only their own lives, but also the lives of completely innocent people. It is also important that by such an act they generate anger and contempt for Islam on the part of people of other faiths and atheists.

Opinion of magicians and esotericists

Have you ever thought about how much strength, energy and love must be invested by the Higher Powers so that the soul can incarnate into a body? Esotericists say: sometimes this process takes years, and the Patrons of the Subtle World take part in it, which include karma, constellations and planets, and ancestors. Long before acquiring a physical shell, the karmic tasks of the soul must be determined, and it must be endowed with patrons. In this case, suicide is an extreme manifestation of ingratitude, which undoes all the work of thousands of different forces and beings.

The same can be attributed to the relationship of a suicide with society. When committing suicide, a person proceeds only from his selfish view of the world; the problem in his eyes is inflated and seems unsolvable. However, if a person thought about how much his parents, relatives, teachers and friends invested their own strength and emotions into him, he would hardly stop fighting difficulties, would not cowardly run away from troubles, but would try to face his problems without undoing all the work of society.

That is why the sin of suicide is akin to betrayal, and the punishment for it is similar to that received by a traitor (for example, Judas). A person who commits suicide is automatically deprived of the protection of the Light forces and falls into the clutches of the Dark forces - for failure to fulfill karmic tasks and escaping from life. Magicians say: sometimes a suicide can be doomed to wander as a ghost - Higher powers literally “tied” him to a certain place, like a dog on a chain. Such punishment can last for hundreds of years! After a person commits the terrible sin of suicide, he will have to live several subsequent lives in the form of an animal in order to develop certain qualities.

About the sin of suicide and suicides

From the diary of Archbishop Nikon (Rozhdestvensky)

We are going through an amazing time! Questions are raised that were already resolved a thousand years ago; values that have been valued for centuries are revalued; decisions that have taken place since the first centuries of Christianity are being revised. And what is especially dangerous: they either forget, or even outright do not want to find out how and on what grounds these issues were resolved by Christian antiquity, and sometimes by the Church itself, the leader of Orthodox Christian thought in those distant times. It turns out that our generation considers itself smarter, more talented and more abundantly blessed with gifts than the great men, bearers of the Christian spirit, who lived in centuries distant from us. If such conceit is conscious, then it is criminal, it testifies to a departure from the Church, although it is still in thought, but I would like to think that all this is happening more unconsciously, as a sin of ignorance, as a consequence of insufficient education in the spirit of churchliness...

In recent years, unbelief in various forms has spread like a muddy, poisonous wave across our native Rus', and above all, unbelief in the Church as a living organism of love, headed by Christ the Savior as Love incarnate. And this lack of faith in the Church sometimes manifests itself even in those who consider themselves believers in God. For such people, it makes no difference how the Orthodox Church teaches about this or that subject of faith and life: they believe that they have the right to have their own judgment about everything, without inquiring about what St. Church. And modern life raises many such questions at every step. Here is an example of this: due to the decline of faith in general and the embitterment of both morals and characters, the number of suicides has increased. Young men kill themselves, 90-year-olds kill themselves. The soul is emptied, the last remnants of faith and idealism are stolen from the heart, the last traces of the image of God are erased, the spirit freezes, there is no support left for the fight against temptation, and the person decides: there is no point in living and suffering anymore, and is embittered at everything, like a rebel , voluntarily dies. This is the psychology of most suicides. It is based on disbelief in the providence of God, blasphemy against the goodness of God, despair - mortal sins, mortal because they do not give room for repentance, kill the spirit, remove, drive away from man the saving grace of God. Man voluntarily and completely surrenders himself to the power of the enemy of the human race, the enemy of God, blocks all paths for grace within himself: how will the influence of this grace be possible for him?

When it comes to salvation, we must always remember that God does not save us by force: He could create us without us, but He does not want to save us without us and, without violating His truth, therefore He cannot. It is necessary that a person, upon leaving this life, should have at least the beginnings of the will to salvation, so that at least he does not deny the possibility of his salvation, and therefore does not lose hope: we pray for those who rest in the hope of resurrection and eternal life , in whom at least a spark of hope remained for the Redeemer of the world. Then the Church also prays “for those kept in hell,” according to the words of Basil the Great. The general law of salvation is expressed in the words of the Lord: “What I find, in that I will judge.”

These are the general grounds for judging whether it is possible to pray for the souls of suicides. But regarding suicides, Saint Timothy, Bishop of Alexandria, in response to the question: “If anyone, being beside himself, raises his hands against himself or throws himself down from a height, should there be an offering (liturgy) for him or not?” - answers: “The clergyman must judge about this, whether he was truly out of his mind and did this. For often those close to someone who has suffered from himself, wanting to achieve that there will be an offering and prayer for him, lie untruthfully and say that he was beside himself. Perhaps he did this out of human resentment, or on some other occasion out of cowardice: and such an offering should not be made, for he is a suicide. Therefore, a clergyman must certainly test with all diligence, lest he fall under condemnation.” This is the only exception that allows church prayer for suicides! A man committed a terrible crime in a state of insanity. It is clear that one cannot judge him harshly for this. God, in the inscrutable ways of His providence, allowed such misfortune, such violence on the part of the enemy of the human race in relation to a person devoid of reason! Let God be his only Judge... The Church, bowing in humility before the incomprehensible destinies of God, betrays this man into the hands of God's mercy as deprived of the opportunity to fight the violence of the devil. However, I repeat: in each individual case, the question of whether church commemoration of a suicide can be allowed must be decided by church authorities, which take responsibility before God for permitting or prohibiting such commemoration. And this represents a heavy burden for every bishop.

Suicides have recently become extremely frequent, especially among young people. It is impossible to rely on the decision of doctors, who often do not believe in God: after all, such doctors are not at all obliged to enter into a judgment on the merits from a spiritual point of view about whether the suicide was in a state of acute insanity and out of mind at the time of the crime; their concern is to at least somewhat reassure the living, grieving relatives of the deceased - and so they usually attribute all suicides to acute insanity. And in a remote corner remote from the diocesan city, this issue has to be resolved by the local priest, who sometimes does not have the courage to refuse a Christian burial and commemoration of a suicide in view of possible complaints to the bishop for refusing this from the relatives of the deceased. Indeed, in our time, the laity completely forget the church rule about subordinating their intelligence to the authority of their shepherd and spiritual father: they look at him simply as a minister of demands, who is obliged to certainly, without any reasoning, fulfill their demands. They forget the rule known even in the Old Testament: obedience is higher than fasting and prayer, higher than offerings and sacrifices (1 Sam. 15:22). When they are reminded of church rules, they usually refer to former examples of permission and no longer want to reason... And the conscience of the priest is often violated by the laity, and the priest, contrary to his conscience, in order to avoid complaints and inquiries, fulfills their demand.

You can’t help but think: how far our life has deviated from the path shown to it by the Church! After all, it turns out that the relatives of the suicide seem to be forcibly, contrary to the will of the Lord Himself, who governs the Church and through the hierarchy shows it the rule of life, want - may it be allowed to put it this way - to push the unfortunate man into the Kingdom of Heaven!..

There is another side to the question of prayer for suicides, which is usually overlooked, although it is perhaps more important than all theoretical judgments, which, perhaps, so to speak, at their very core rely on it. This side is, so to speak, mystical.

We must remember: what is the Church in its essence? According to the teachings of the great Apostle Paul, it is the living body of Christ the Savior, of which He Himself is the Head, and all believers are members, so to speak, living cells of this great organism, animated by the Spirit of God. Prayer, in the words of the late A.S. Khomyakov, is the blood of the Church, which by its circulation attracts the forces of grace to renew the entire organism. She is also the breath of love that unites all believers with Christ and in Christ. Love moves prayer, puts it into action. Love brings the soul of the one praying into contact with the soul of the one for whom she is praying. But this contact is healing for the latter only when he has not yet died for the body of Christ, when he is still a living cell of this body, that is, he has not lost fellowship with Christ, although he is sick, although he has not been cleansed from sinful impurity, but I left here with faith in the prayers of the Church, with the hope of the resurrection in Christ. Then the prayer of love, ascending to the Redeemer of the world, carries from Him healing grace to the soul of the deceased, grace poured out by the love of Christ to one who has not yet lost faith in the redemptive power of the blood shed for him on the Cross. Such a prayer is pleasing to the Lord, as a sacrifice of love for the deceased, and useful for the one praying, as a life-giving work of his love, as the fulfillment of the Lord’s commandment. Such prayer merges with the prayer of the Church itself, the prayer—I dare say—of the Lord Himself, as the Mediator of the New Testament, as the Head of the Church. United with the sacrament of the Eucharist, it penetrates heaven and opens the doors of God’s mercy to our brothers who have fallen asleep in the faith and washes away their sins with the blood of the Lord. Wash away, O Lord, the sin of those who were remembered here by Your honest blood, by the prayers of Your saints

, the Church prays, when the particles taken out for the living and the dead are dropped into the blood of the Lord. Now apply this thought to that unfortunate person who was cut off from the Church by the invisible judgment of God for the mortal sin of despair, in which he died as a suicide. Can such a dead member of the Church, already cut off from it, benefit a prayer for him, even if it were the prayer of the entire Church? Of course he can't. And the reason for this is not outside this unfortunate man, but in himself, in the mood in which he passed into another life... And a change of mood... there, in another world, is impossible if there was no germ of such a change in this life.

God does not save by force. This is the first thing. Second: the light is unbearable for the eyes of those who are sick. It is unbearable to approach God for a soul that has died in unrepentant sin. Who knows? Perhaps our prayer for a person who died in a state of bitterness will only further disturb and strengthen his hostile feelings towards God... At least with regard to evil spirits, it is known that the Lord would be ready to accept these outcasts, but they themselves they do not want to be embittered by their pride. Therefore, instead of benefiting someone who left here in the unrepentant sin of despair and blasphemy against God, it can bring harm to both him and the one who prays for him.

Harm to such a prayer book is also possible from another side. Prayer is not a simple verbal intercession for another, as sometimes happens between people. No. When we pray for our neighbor, we pray not only with our tongue, not with words, but with our hearts, then we perceive the memory of his soul into our soul, into our heart; Out of love for him, we perceive the sorrows with which he is burdened, and, as if on our own behalf, lifting them up to the Lord, we beg His goodness to have mercy or to send him saving grace. The more heartfelt and sincere such a prayer, the greater the mercy of the Lord it can bring down to the soul of the one for whom we are praying. And the closer this person is to us, the more we have feelings of love for him, the more heartfelt our prayer for him becomes. And if he lived on earth piously and pleasing to God, then, remembering his soul in prayer, coming into close contact, uniting with it, we imperceptibly become partakers of the grace that was inherent in this soul during life on earth, and of those good properties, with which she was decorated.

Therefore, prayer for the departed righteous people is very spiritually beneficial and saving for us ourselves. They do not receive so much benefit from us as we receive spiritual joy and consolation from them. The word of Scripture is fulfilled over them: his prayer will return to his bosom.

. On the one hand, with one simple memory of a person known to us through a good life, our reverent thought about him is already delighted by the beauty of his spiritual appearance; on the other hand, he sees our love for himself and, of course, does not remain in our debt: he, so to speak, shows God our love and, out of his love for us, brings God his warm, pure prayer for us.

But it’s a completely different matter when you pray for a person who has committed grave mortal sins all his life and has not thought about cleansing them through repentance. Here prayer no longer brings joy, but, on the contrary, imparts burden, embarrassment, and anxiety to the one praying. Yes, that's how it should be. By perceiving the memory of the soul of the deceased, the one praying at the same time becomes, as it were, a companion of his spiritual state, enters the area of his spiritual yearnings, comes into contact with his sins, not purified by repentance, and takes upon himself a share of his mental suffering.

And this languor and suffering of the soul during prayer for a dead sinner, if he has not yet perished through the sin of despair, gives him joy and relief, inclining God’s mercy to him through the prayer of love. But if his soul passed into another world in a mood hostile to the Church, if it rejected the redemptive merits of the Lord Savior of the world, then how to pray for such? How can one allow himself to be somewhat touched by that god-fighting mood with which his soul was infected? How can one absorb into one’s soul all those blasphemies and crazy speeches and even thoughts with which his soul was full, perhaps even at the very moment of death?.. Doesn’t this mean exposing one’s soul to the danger of being infected by such a mood? It is not in vain that they say that suicide is contagious: with the mere name of a suicide, his image appears in the soul, and with this image is depicted how he ended his life...

Just as a person looking down from the top of a high cliff or bell tower has a fleeting thought from somewhere - to throw himself down, so something similar happens when remembering the suicide of a person, especially known to someone who remembers him and had a relationship with him. I'm talking about impressionable and weak people. But in prayer, as I said, we seem to touch with our soul the soul of the one for whom we pray... What if the prayer for suicide, generally prohibited by the Church, will be displeasing to God?.. If the grace of God withdraws from us for violating the commandment of obedience to the Church ? Because we put our opinion above the teachings and rules of the Church?

Let those who demand that ministers of the Church pray for heretics and suicides think about all this.

Is it possible, they will tell me, to pray for suicides and heretics in home, private, non-church prayer? I answer: home prayer cannot be in conflict with church prayer, especially since church prayer is incomparably higher than private, home prayer. What is my lonely, sinful, weak prayer in comparison with church prayer?.. In church prayer, my weak and, perhaps, unclean prayer is purified and carried to God on the wings of the prayer of the entire Church, the entire host of believers, the host of all the saints of God. For my many sins, I do not have the boldness to approach the Lord my God, much less the boldness to pray for the one who greatly angered Him with the mortal sin of despair; and how can I dare to do what the Church does not dare to do? For if she had dared, she would not have forbidden such prayer...

This is the general judgment about private, home prayer.

But they will tell me: how can one refrain from such a prayer, especially for a person who was connected with the suicide by ties of blood relationship or was very close to him in the spirit of love - how can one refrain from pouring out his soul before the Heavenly Father? How can you not tell Him the sorrows of your heart?..

But this is a completely different matter. No one can forbid each of us personally from “pouring out our souls” in prayer before the Lord, “telling Him our sorrows”: this is not the same thing as prayerful intercession for the deceased. Wise, spiritually experienced and possessed of the gift of reasoning elders-ascetics satisfactorily give a satisfactory answer to this. Thus, the famous Optina elder Leonid, who died in 1841, gave the following instruction to his student (Pavel Tambovtsev), who turned to him for consolation on the occasion of the news he received about the death of his father, which followed from suicide: “Commit to both yourself and the fate of your parent the will of the Lord, wise, almighty. Do not test the Highest destinies. Striving with humility to strengthen yourself within the limits of moderate sadness. Pray to the all-good Creator, thereby fulfilling the duty of love and filial duties.”

- But how to pray for such? - asked the novice.

- According to the spirit of the virtuous and wise:

Seek, O Lord, the lost soul of my father and, if possible, have mercy! Your destinies are unsearchable. Do not make this prayer a sin for me, but Thy holy will be done!

Pray simply, without testing, committing your heart to the right hand of the Most High. Of course, it was not the will of God for such a sad death of your parent: but now it is completely in the will of the Mighty One to cast both soul and body into the fiery furnace, Who both humbles and exalts, dies and gives life, brings down to hell and exalts. Moreover, He is so merciful, omnipotent and loving that the good qualities of all earthly beings are nothing before His highest goodness. For this reason, you should not be overly sad. You will say: “I love my parent, which is why I grieve inconsolably.” Fair. But God, without comparison, loved and loves him more than you. This means that you can only leave the eternal fate of your parent to the goodness and mercy of God, Who, if He deigns to have mercy, then who can resist Him?

This is how the godly elder taught and consoled his disciple, who was in great sorrow and sorrow.

In this instruction and for every Christian who is in a similar position, there is much comfort, reassuring the soul in the tradition of both oneself and the deceased in the will of God, always good and wise... And the faithful, humble son of the Church will not demand more from the Church.

Esoterics: who pushes a person to commit suicide?

The main reasons that push a person to commit suicide are a negative worldview, negative emotions and weak personal qualities. Usually such a person suffers from resentment, ingratitude, weakness and vulnerability. However, esotericists say: life is given to man precisely so that he learns to overcome weaknesses and vices, thereby becoming more successful and stronger. At the same time, magicians add that different forces fight for the soul of a person - both Dark and Light. The first ones tempt, feed weaknesses and push towards suicide. The latter try to teach the individual faith and responsibility. Voluntary taking of one’s life is a victory for the Dark Forces, a real devil’s feast, say esotericists. That is why suicide is a terrible sin!

Advice for loved ones of people who want to commit suicide

Psychologists divide all suicides into two categories: demonstrative and true. Speaking about the true ones, it is worth saying that they represent a carefully thought-out action, the purpose of which is to take one’s life. True suicide does not depend on the opinions and reactions of others - family, friends. But demonstrative suicide is not at all an attempt to leave this world; rather, it is a kind of cry for help, an attempt to draw attention to oneself and one’s problems. Such suicide is committed in a state of passion, psychologists say.

If you notice that your loved one has lost his mental balance and fallen into despair, you must take a number of measures to help him get out of this state. It is necessary to consult with specialists and call the helpline. It is also important to go to church - the priest will be able to explain whether suicide is a sin and how to build a spiritual life - for yourself or a loved one. You should know that it is the lack of spirituality, lack of faith or ignorance of the Sacraments of the Church, passion for superstitions that pushes a person to the brink of death. At least that’s what all the world’s creeds think.

Is suicide a sin or part of the evolutionary process?

Q: Religion says that suicide is the greatest sin. From the point of view of the universe, is suicide a sin, and does the soul after suicide hang between worlds, waiting for the time that was predetermined by the program to go to another incarnation?

A: This is neither a “sin,” nor a “greatest one.” Rather, it would be a “sin” for you to be in a depressed state for a long time, thereby creating an even more depressive reality around you. And most people who commit suicide do it, to put it mildly, not in a joyful or high-energy state. It is no secret that cultivating negative states within oneself is self-destructive and leads to degradation and loss of accumulated energy potential. When getting rid of the physical body in such a psychological state, the soul simply does not have enough “charge” to get to those planes of the universe in which peace, joy and love prevail. That is why all your religions consider despondency one of the “deadly sins” that disfigure not only the soul itself (more precisely, the experience it has gained), but also that inner world, that reality that the soul creates for itself in this state and which will not express anything except despondency, depression and hopelessness. And in a disembodied state, getting rid of them is much more difficult than in 3D reality. Because in the Subtle World it is several orders of magnitude easier and faster to create a subtle reality with the help of thoughts and internal states than in the “dense” world.

The reality of the dense world was created precisely for this: so that the soul has the opportunity to quickly correct its mistakes, here everything happens much more slowly and almost imperceptibly for consciousness, like the movement of the hour hand on a dial. Your thoughts can be compared to the second hand in terms of the speed of change, your internal states - to the minute hand, and external reality - to the hour hand. Of course, the analogy is conditional. In the subtle world, all three arrows move almost at the speed of a second: the connection between thought, internal state and external reality is almost instantaneous. So - learn to manage your thoughts, do not allow them to be chaotic, that is, dependent on external circumstances, otherwise you will engage in self-inflation and plunge into the reality of chaos and disorder, which will take a lot of energy to fight them.

Therefore, in most cases, suicides part with physical life due to the unbearability of staying in the reality in which they find themselves. If external reality is generated by their internal reality, then after leaving the body this internal reality, of course, will not go anywhere and will be constantly supported by their internal thoughts and internal state until they themselves want to part with this state, like a bad habit. This is why suicide is neither a “sin” nor a “non-sin.” If a person is depressed, then he punishes himself, and not “God”. He always has a choice and the opportunity to get out of this state as soon as he really wants it. However, it is more correct to consider each specific case of “suicide” separately, since, as we have already said, not a single law, not a single rule is generally valid , but reflect only the general trend and the greatest likelihood that the consequence will be exactly that, although this is not necessary. For example, Jesus Christ, when he was crucified, had the opportunity to come down from the cross, but he did not. Did he commit suicide? Or, say, a man in the dungeons of the Gestapo committed suicide so as not to betray his comrades under torture - would that be a sin? Socrates, who drank poison by court order, committed suicide? It is unlikely, rather, here suicide has the character of self-sacrifice in the name of the Highest ideals, when a person is placed in harsh conditions of choice between suicide and their betrayal. Such cases fit the interpretation given above: these souls are unlikely to find themselves, after leaving the body, in the reality of despondency and hopelessness.

Q: Jesus had certain intentions in his reality. He believed that he was doing the right thing, which means that this justifies him.

A: In a sense. I just gave examples that what seems like suicide is not always what it is in essence. And vice versa, he is, although outwardly it does not seem like one to you. Let's say, isn't constant negative, self-destructive thinking suicidal? Or the use of tobacco and other drugs and poisons? This, after all, can also be considered as suicide, only extended over time. Moreover, it is accompanied by a destructive effect on the psyche and soul as a whole.

Q: Everything is clear! That is, it turns out that what religion says there, that suicide is the greatest sin and that it completely contradicts the Divine nature of man, is all wrong, and we ourselves determine the degree of harm from suicide. But that's just what happens in the world, right?

A: Religion is one of the ways to manipulate consciousness, a way to control humanity. And again, it has a dual function: on the one hand, it somehow organizes people, disciplines them, creates a kind of collective consciousness, teaches constructive interaction with other people - but, on the other hand, up to a certain stage of development. If a person lives in fairly harsh conditions, constrained by strict rules of behavior regulated from the outside, and if he is told that suicide is not a sin, that you will “go to heaven” anyway, then naturally he may prefer to “escape to heaven quickly ", instead of doing hard physical labor. If you tell a careless student with poor grades that he doesn’t have to go to school, and he won’t get anything for it, then...

Q: ...he will simply withdraw from incarnation. O: Yes, he will simply stop going to school and engage in idle entertainment that will not give him development. Q: And the experience, in fact, will not be accepted, and he will have to go through the lesson again...

A: Yes, and if a poor student “missed” classes, then he will have to catch up with the rest in his group, that is, his further training program will be more difficult and strict. That is, the next time he visits school, he will be forced to “stay after school,” while his peers will kick a ball in the yard with a clear conscience. * Session with a new hypnologist

From the comments:

Each soul, upon coming here, is given a certain amount of prana-energy, so in the event of an interruption of life, the prana remains and spending it outside the physical body takes much more time, hence poltergeists and spirits suspended between two worlds.

On the subject: 7 deadly sins and self-awareness / Is it possible to justify murder in multidimensionality?

All posts tagged REINCARNATION

Reality is multidimensional, views on it are multifaceted. Only one or several facets are shown here, each of which should be considered as a special case, described through the personal prism of the narrator’s beliefs, worldview and available knowledge at the current moment. This prism may not coincide with yours or may differ significantly from generally accepted concepts, because everyone has the right to their own individual perception of reality and point of view. The narrator’s private opinion does not have to reflect other opinions, knowledge, expectations and “truths”, because the truth is limitless, and reality is constantly changing. We take what is ours and leave what is not ours according to the principle of internal resonance.

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Tags: soul, purpose, reality, reincarnation, sessions of new hypnologists, consciousness, part 10 - tools of control