On the Discord app during the week of 21 November 2023, I had a discussion with an atheist named Tom Rabbittt. I don’t believe that’s his real name (three ‘t’s? ). Typically, atheists don’t use their real names. I suspect that they don’t want to reveal their true identities, so there’s no accountability. Nevertheless, Tom Rabbittt proposed the following argument. He presented it in a graphic that I copied and presented below. I will analyze it and show why it does not work.
Following is the argument written with his typos [sic].
- If someone intentionally causes their own death that is suicide.
- Death is the separation [sic] of the soul from the body.
- Jesus intentionally seperated [sic] his soul from his body.
- Jesus’ death was a suicide.
Having laid out his argument, I will now analyze it step by step.
1. “If someone intentionally causes their own death that is suicide”
Within this statement are two important points. Intention and action. Intention means that a person wants to die, and the word “causes” means that they perform an action that leads to their death. But does this fit the condition of Christ’s death on the cross? I don’t believe so, and I’ll explain why. But before we get into it, let’s look at some definitions of suicide.
- Suicide: “the act of killing yourself intentionally.” (https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/suicide)
- Suicide: “the act or an instance of taking one’s own life voluntarily and intentionally” (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/suicide)
- Suicide: “the intentional taking of one’s own life.” (https://www.dictionary.com/browse/suicide)
- Suicide: “the act of killing yourself deliberately” (https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/english/suicide)
You’ll notice that in these definitions, the two commonalities deal with 1) intention and 2) action. So suicide is both an intention to kill yourself and an action taken to kill yourself. But this does not fit the situation with the death of Christ. After all, Jesus stated that He did not want to die. You can find this in Luke 22:42, where He said, ‘Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done.’ That alone negates the idea that Jesus committed suicide. Nevertheless, let’s take a look at the second requirement, action.
Jesus did not nail Himself to the cross. Others did that to Him. He let them do it, but He did not directly cause His own death. If, nevertheless, someone said that by His own inaction, He caused his death, then the person must also admit that the Romans who nailed Him to the cross caused His death. Their action was direct, and His action was not. He simply let them do what they were going to do. But wait, there’s more.
Not all self-caused deaths are suicide.
There are different types of self-caused death. There can be accidental, purposeful, self-inflicted intended, self-inflicted not intended, inflicted by others, assisted intentional, and DNR.
- Self-inflicted, Accidental – A person does not know that a body of water is electrified. He steps into that water and is killed. The person caused his own death by his direct action. This is not intentional. It is an accident. It is not suicide.
- Self-inflicted, Intentional – A person shoots himself in the head. This is intentional. It is by a person’s direct action. It is not an accident. This is suicide.
- Inflicted by others, Accidental – Someone runs a red light and causes the death of an individual. The person who was killed contributed to his own death by being in a particular place at a specific time. This is an accident that would not have occurred if the person who died hadn’t performed the action of driving his car that day. This is not intentional. This is death by the cause of another. This is not suicide.
- Inflicted by others, Intentional – A person forces another to kill him. An example would be suicide by cop, where a person raises a firearm and points it at the cops, who then return fire, resulting in death. This is intentional. This is caused by one’s own action. This is not an accident. This is suicide.
- Assisted, Intentional – Medical personnel provide drugs which the person then self-administers, resulting in his own death. This is intentional. This is caused by one’s own actions. This is not an accident. This is suicide.
- DNR – Do Not Resuscitate is a set of instructions given by a person to a medical staff telling them not to take “heroic measures” to extend the person’s life. For example, a person could be very old and dying of natural causes and instructs the staff to ‘let him go.’ This is intentional. This is the result of instructions to let the natural course of events occur. This is not suicide.
In these six different types of death, where one’s actions and inactions lead to one’s own death, we can see a variety of situations. Number 1 and number 6 would not be considered suicide since neither of them contains both requirements of suicide: intention and action. Number 1 is simply an accident. Number 6 is allowing the natural and inevitable course of events to occur. As a matter of fact, my own father told me that upon his death, he did not want heroic actions to be taken. He wanted to be allowed to pass naturally, which is what happened. I would not consider his death a suicide.
2. Death is the seperation [sic] of the soul from the body
This statement presupposes what’s called substance dualism. This means that the soul/spirit can live apart from the body. They would be of different substances. Property dualism is the position that the soul/spirit is a property of the physical brain so that when the brain dies, the Spirit ceases to exist. It must be the case then that Tom Rabbittt holds to substance dualism.
If I were to discuss this with him at another time, I could use his definition of death, which necessitates substance dualism. I would like him to defend his position that the soul can exist separately from the body, given his atheism. If he denies that the soul can exist separate from the body, then he refutes his own argument presented in this article.
3. Jesus intentionally separated [sic] his soul from his body
Intentionality can be understood in different senses. You can have an intention to do yourself harm by your own direct action, and you can also intend to let nature take its course and die of natural means. Does the DNR situation, where a person lets the natural course of events occur, resulting in one’s death, mean that a person has directly taken action to kill himself? Of course not. He is not the direct cause of his own death. He is simply allowing the natural course of events to lead to their conclusion. At this point, we need to discuss different aspects of causation which relate to culpability.
Ultimate, Efficient, and Proximate Causation
There are different kinds of causation. There’s ultimate, proximate, and efficient causation. Ultimate causation is the condition or cause that must exist for everything else to exist. Proximate causation is the immediate context of an event. Efficient causation is the direct cause of the event. Let me illustrate.
- Efficient Cause: Adam freely ate the fruit of the tree. No one forced him to do it. He did it of his own free will. Therefore, he is the efficient cause of his own sin.
- Proximate Cause: God created the garden, put Adam and Eve in it, and allowed the serpent to enter. The serpent tempted Eve, who ate the fruit, and then gave it to Adam, who ate it. So, the proximate cause is the conditions in which the efficient cause occurs. But God is not responsible for Adam’s direct action since he caused it by his own intention and action.
- Ultimate Cause: God is the one who created the universe, the planets, etc. He is the ultimate cause of everything that occurs in the universe, though He is not the efficient cause of peoples’ sins.
“Intentionally seperated”
The understanding of causation is important because when Tom Rabbittt states that Jesus intentionally separated His soul from the body, he is speaking of efficient causation. But this is problematic for the following reasons.
Tom Rabbittt uses an unclear statement, “Intentionally separated,” and attributes it to the person of Jesus. What does it mean that “Jesus intentionally seperated [sic] his soul from His body?” Did Jesus exert an effort and separate His spirit from His body? Or did He intend to let the natural course of crucifixion release His spirit? Which type of intention is the case and why? If Tom Rabbittt cannot logically defend, which is the case, then his argument fails.
Jesus yielded up his spirit.
To yield is to give way to a pressure, a demand, an event or series of events, influence, etc. We know that Jesus recognized the moment of His own death and yielded up His spirit. Matthew 27:50, “And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit.” Likewise, Luke 23:46 says, “And Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, ‘Father, into Your hands I commit my spirit.” Having said this, He breathed His last.” John 10:30 says, “Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.” These references do not say that Jesus performed an action of separating His own spirit from the body. But, we can say that Jesus both yielded and gave up His spirit. I would conclude that His giving up of His spirit was the act of His yielding to what was happening to Him as the necessary result of death due to crucifixion.
4. Jesus’ death was a suicide
Given his argument’s lack of clarity and precision, Tom’s conclusion is not warranted. It is, at best, his opinion. He is certainly entitled to it, but so what?
Conclusion
Tom Rabbittt’s argument that Jesus committed suicide fails for the following reasons. 1) His definition of suicide was not very clear. It lacked the commonality of intention and action. 2) He did not sufficiently explain what the intention of Christ was – in seeming contradiction to Scripture (Luke 22:42). 3) He did not explain how he would know the intention of Jesus regarding His death on the cross.
Finally, Mr. Rabbittt presupposes substance dualism and the fact that Christ was crucified. Otherwise, why would he offer such an argument if he didn’t believe it happened? Or does he deny that Christ existed, was crucified, and resurrected but only wants to postulate an argument to suit his own needs rooted in his atheist worldview? Perhaps. But given the fact that he is an atheist who is antagonistic to the Christian faith, I would expect such inconsistencies.
