What does the Bible say about suicide?

[Outdoorsman]

Are there any correspondence courses or books that explain the Bible in easy to understand English. I think my sister smoked herself to death, because she suffered from severe rheumatoid arthritis - she was only 56. I want to understand what the Bible says about suicide. Please help me because I'm desperate to know.

[WaldoMcFroog]

Nowhere in the Bible does it explicitly say suicide is against God's laws. Indeed, Jesus himself committed suicide, according to John 10:17-18; "Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself."

However, religious types can conjure up plenty of verses which they will tell you means that suicide is forbidden. This is pure interpretation, and as I say, the Bible does not explicitly say anywhere that suicide is inherantly bad.

[Octavius]

One can view suicide from a moral or personal perspective without referring to Bible definitions, interpretations or religious beliefs. What particularly ails you about suicide and the Bible Outdoorsman?

[Outdoorsman]

Thanks for your answers. I'm basically more into nature than religion Octavious, but I'm very interested in what the bible has to say in general. Most versions talk a lot a gobbledegook and back-to-front language but the easiest to understand version is, for me, the Jehovah's Witness bible. It is very Americanized though and rules out the cross in its teachings.

[Outdoorsman]

I suppose that I'm going through a bit of despair because I've lost my dad, in 1969 - mum, in 2004,and now my little sister and I was just looking for guidance really. I'm the last one left and I feel very lonely, even though we all lived seperate lives. I feel that I should turn to religion. My aunty and her son and daughter are Jehovah's Witnesses. But I don't want to go to church or kingdom hall and I don't want people visiting me here at home. I want to learn about the bible in my own time, and a correspondance course would be ideal. I find that the great outdoors are chapel or church enough for me. Thanks again for your help Waldo and Octaviuos, about suicide and the bible. I read through most of my aunties version and I thought I may have missed something.
Outdoorsman