The Bible has a number of references of men seeking to take their own lives either by taking direct action or begging God to kill them on the spot. In the ancient world, suicide was often accepted as appropriate response in order to avoid shame, escape evil or to avoid dishonor or capture in war.

Nevertheless, suicide was condemned. In the Old Testament, there are six examples of suicide: Abimelech to avoid shame of death at the hands of a woman, Samson, to defeat those who imprisoned him, Saul, to avoid the dishonor of being captured after he was wounded, Ahitophel, in despair over deception being perpetrated around him and Zimri, to avoid capture by the army.

In these passages, the Bible does not appear to consider suicide to be a great moral sin. The act of committing suicide or of asking that God kill them are simply reported in a factual manner—not interpreted as sinful. They seem to be regarded simply as straightforward personal decisions. 

But in modern times, there has been increasing cases of people committing suicide over wide range of issues. Pamela Jaoko was not any ordinary woman you could associate with normal stresses of life. She was a female lecturer at a public university in Kenya and had just completed her doctorate degree. However, when all things were looking bright for her and her family, she drove herself to a river and plunged herself to death, something that even shocked her family because according to the husband, they had never seriously quarreled apart from normal domestic tiffs.

So why do people kill themselves? Do those who kill themselves commit sin in the eyes of God? And have we the living failed in our responsibilities to ensure that a person doesn’t go to the level of entertaining suicide?

The Christian church has traditionally considered that suicide is a great moral sin. There are a number of denominations that have even refused to bury people who have committed suicide because they consider the ground itself to be holy and consecrated. 

There are many of us who have contemplated suicide when we cannot handle the stresses of life any more. Some have gone the distance and taken their own lives.

According to Pastor James Kalinda of Kicukiro Evangelical Church, Christians should take the example of Job in the Bible. "Job lost everything he accrued in life, including his entire family. Job contemplated suicide at one point, but he never committed the act. Instead, he relied on God to release him from his misery.”

In the New Testament, the only mention of suicide is of course Judas Iscariot after his abominable act of betraying Jesus. Thus, according to pastor Kalinda, the infrequency of suicide in the Bible is a clear indication that it was frowned upon.

But sometimes, do we fail to read the signs and help those who are on the verge of committing suicide? The Bible says that we should be our brothers’ keepers. However, sometimes we fail to see that a person is so much stressed with life and what he only needs is to be understood. " As Christians, we should always be there for someone who is mentally suffering. We should be there for others to dispense advice that all hope is not lost, that suffering is just something that will soon go away,” says pastor Kalinda.

The Catechism of Catholic Church teaches that suicide is "gravely contrary to the just love of self and is forbidden by the fifth commandment.” 

But the big question remains whether those who take their own lives are condemned to Hell.