If Jesus were really an immortal being who can resurrect himself (or be resurrected), he didn’t die. In the same way when playing as kids and you fall over because someone shot you with their finger pistol, you’re just faking it.
So Jesus didn’t commit suicide because he didn’t die. He also only ‘suffered’ because he choose to. If he really could miraculously make the lame walk, etc, he could turn off his nerves for pain.
Jesus is divine, but he is also 100% human. So the human who is Jesus can die, even if his spirit remains alive. Which is the reason that Christianity says that we are all immortal beings. Hence death means death of the physical body.
Also, yes, Jesus could have made himself unable to feel the pain, but the Bible makes it very clear he didn’t. In fact, there are no instances of Jesus doing a miracle on himself.
The Bible makes it clear Jesus died, and that’s the source of the story we are discussing. So I don’t think arguing he didn’t die is fruitful. The question is whether he committed suicide.
My answer is merely that it depends on the definition of suicide. It definitely was not Jesus himself directly killing himself. Those who killed him chose to do so of their own free will. So is it suicide if you know it’s going to happen? He at the very least knew Judas would betray him, and that very much seems to mean the ultimate betrayal, given the climate at the time.
Jesus also makes it clear there are things God the Father knows that he doesn’t, so AHunter’s idea that he knew he’d have to die but not that it would be this particular time is attractive to me, too. (He doesn’t have to know when Judas will do what he will do or if he’ll even succeed.) So is it suicide if you know that eventually your actions will get you killed?
I prefer suicide by cop to be limited to when you are deliberately scaring the cops into shooting you by being a threat to their lives. And Jesus was not that. Other than that, I think suicide requires you to be the one who took your life, or to have told someone else to do it for you.
So I would argue no, he did not commit suicide, even though he did indeed die.
And here is where you will try to explain how making himself walk on water doesn’t count.
That’s another whole issue. God is omniscient. He knows everything. And he’s everywhere as well.
So doesn’t God experience every crucifixion? And every other execution? And every murder and rape and assault and torture? If God just turned off his feelings so he didn’t experience the suffering, then he wouldn’t know what it feels like. And therefore, he wouldn’t be omniscient.
What scriptures make this so clear? How do you know he wasn’t doing his best acting?
Although no one has ever given a really clear definition of the Holy Trinity, what you just said is not actually what most Christian churches teach. The Trinity is “One God in Three Persons,” whatever the heck that means. It permits the Son to be dead while the Father and the Holy Ghost aren’t.
Died on a Friday and was resurrected on a Sunday, so…
Jesus died for your…uh, gave up his weekend for your sins.
Sure he couldn’t at least pop back to heaven over the weekend while waiting for a suitably dramatic time to respawn?
For that matter, what’s with this “sins” business. If something that is a sin feels really, really good, and God created our brains that regulate that, isn’t God, not us, responsible for any sins we may or may not commit?
It’s like saying “You are forbidden to eat these poison pills I created which taste like chocolate that I have coated with a candy shell and marked with an ‘m’!”
“Also, the notice that it’s forbidden I’m going to just tell it verbally to a few random people thousands of years ago. Sucks to be you if you read the wrong translation, don’t speak the language, or the dudes with the holy books never get to you before other dudes with different holy books arrive. Have fun guessing which religion is the true one.”
Wasn’t he busy solo-raiding… I mean harrowing Hell?