383. Is Suicide Wrong?

Life is a precious gift from God and should be so valued. Pain and suffering are to be regarded as discipline. There is no Scriptural authority to justify the view that we have a right to shorten or terminate our existence. Suicide is a crime under human law, and in the early Church it was condemned by repudiation and the denial of Christian burial. See Paul's advice to the Philippian jailer. (Acts 16:28; also Job 14:14.)