I just finished reading your article on suicide not canceling salvation, and I think you are quite right. However, given the following scripture I am interested in your explanation of how this fits in. “Don’t you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you? God will destroy anyone who destroys this temple. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple. (1 Cor. 3:16-17 NLT)
The answer lies in the verse itself. When Paul said “all of you together” he was talking about the whole Church. The Greek word is in the second person plural and literally means “you yourselves”. When he said “temple of God” he was talking about a single structure since the Greek word there is singular.
In other words the entire body of believers makes up one temple. We don’t have millions of temples running around, we have millions of components that together make up a single temple. The death of an individual believer, by whatever means, can not destroy the entire Temple. Therefore, these verses do not contradict my view that committing suicide will not cancel a believer’s salvation.
Suicide is a form of murder. If God can forgive the murder of another person, how could He not forgive the murder of self? Remember also that when we become believers all the sins of our life are forgiven, past present and future (Col. 2:13-14). That even includes the one we’re no longer alive to seek forgiveness for.