Is it possible for a Christian to commit suicide?

I know myself, and I know I am constantly sinning. In the midst of despair, I do think a Christian could make the poor decision to commit suicide, just as Christians constantly make the poor decision to commit other sins. Unless there is something in the Bible that places suicide on a worse level than other sins, I do not see why a Christian could not commit suicide.

Hm. I feel as though suicide, though not "worse" in nature than other sins, represents the epitome of lacking trust in God. Taking your very life in your own hands, completely ignoring the fact that God is in control and that only He has the right to let anyone die–it simply seems to me that a Christian could not find himself in that state. Believers are characterized by trusting and obeying God; so performing such an act of blatant distrust and disobedience is a very non-Christian thing. While perhaps I cannot say with conviction that every suicidal is unsaved, one can at least fairly doubt the certainty of whether someone who has killed himself was truly a believer.

What I see is quite different. Do we not fail to trust God every day? During the darkest times of a Christian's soul, that would become extreme.

Indeed, we do often fail to trust God, and indeed a Christian in a "dark night of the soul" could lose much faith. But I simply can't imagine God allowing a true believer to sink so low that he would commit such an egregious act–which, as I said earlier, I see as the essence of distrust in God. Can someone whose heart God has radically changed truly lose all trust in God's greater plan, such that he is willing to take his own life? If it is at all possible, I believe it is at least extremely rare that such a thing could happen.

Oh I can imagine it. In such a time, a Christian wouldn't be taking all those things into consideration. They wouldn't see the act for everything it is.

Wouldn't they? God is in control of what a Christian realizes and doesn't realize at any given moment. I simply have a difficult time believing that God would allow His child to reach such a state of mind that they wouldn't understand the gravity of such an act. I suppose my own opinion isn't a lot to go on, but… well, that's what I've got. Do you happen to have an example of a suicidal who made a convincing profession of faith? I haven't heard of one, but if you can provide one then perhaps I'd be more likely to understand your side.

God allows much more horrific things to happen than that. That's what the fall did.

I don't know of any examples. I agree that it's rare.

God allows much more horrific things to happen than that. That's what the fall did. I don't know of any examples. I agree that it's rare.

But the horrific things that happen in this world are largely at the hands of the natural world or the unsaved. That's why salvation is so dramatic–we become as separate from the world as dark is from light. We stumble, yes, but the general direction of our lives is toward holiness. Something like suicide is nigh unspeakable even among unbelievers; can a follower of Christ truly do something so base that the vast portion of unsaved man wouldn't even dream of doing it? Everything in me grinds against the idea.

The criminal on the cross had committed crimes so horrible that even the sinful world judged him worthy of death. He was a murderer. Jesus, however, promised him that he would be in paradise. While I agree that one should be sceptical on the spiritual status of someone who committed suicide, I definitely think that it is possible for a Christian to commit suicide.

You emphasized the word "largely," which I agree with. And I see know reason to believe the vast portion of unsaved man wouldn't dream of doing it. Like I said, a Christian who commits suicide would have to be in such a state of utter depression so as to fail to take all these things into consideration. What you're saying would be great to say to someone contemplating it!

@JOSHUA~ I wouldn't use that argument, because the thief of the cross wasn't a Christian WHEN he committed those crimes.

Good point. I should use David instead. I know he was not technically a Christian, but I don't think Christians have a special immunity to sin that Old Testament believers did not have. David had a better relationship with God than many Christians have. David, however, committed two sins that were punishable by death under the Mosaic Law: adultery and murder. God forgave David of both those sins after he repented (although there were still consequences).
I think using the argument that a person who commits suicide cannot repent is getting too legalistic. Hebrews 10 says that the Old Testament sacrifices were insufficient because they had to be offered again and again, year after year. Christ's sacrifice was perfect. It only needed to be offered up once. While a true Christian will be constantly repenting, the sacrifice was already offered.

I actually think it would be easier for a Christian to commit suicide than it would be for a Christian to have extramarital sex. With suicide, you just get depressed, which harasses your common sense, and you probably have easy access to some tool to slit your wrist. The same goes for things like pornography, because many Christians can use the internet any time they want. But with extramarital sex, you have to set up all kinds of plans–a date, a time, a place–that will lead up to it. Surely in all that time you'll be ever aware of its sinfulness, and you'll have to be actively and consistently shutting out your conscience.

And yet, no one treats extramarital sex as a sin that guarantees a person is not saved. True, you can repent of it after you do it; but the issue we're discussing now seems to be what happens before the sin.