Is suicide a sin?

-Removed-

I see. Of course the Christian should be careful not to add to God's words.

Do you ever get to a point where it becomes apparent that many unbelievers are repelled simply because they want to be repelled ?

Originally posted by DeepThought
This is why various emperors and kings would convert towards the end of their reign rather than at the start - they'd fight their battles as pagans and only convert when they thought their position was sufficiently secure that they wouldn't have to worry about things like "Thou shalt not kill." being a policy defect in a ruler.

My own understanding is that baptism meant a more serious commitment to Christianity rather than a conversion as such. So the kings would have been Christian not pagan throughout their reign and battles. Sort of like the difference between a lay Christian and a Monk. The lay Christian can get married etc but is not a pagan.

From Wikipedia:

Despite the fact that he seems to have considered himself to be a Christian during his lifetime, for reasons unknown, Constantine chose to wait until he was on his deathbed to be baptized.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_late_ancient_Christianity

Originally posted by twhitehead
My own understanding is that baptism meant a more serious commitment to Christianity rather than a conversion as such. So the kings would have been Christian not pagan throughout their reign and battles. Sort of like the difference between a lay Christian and a Monk. The lay Christian can get married etc but is not a pagan.

Look up Penda, he clearly intended to be baptised, but lost his last battle badly and was treated as a Pagan by history (or at least Bede). The point is that baptism is a ritualized washing away of sin, so there is no point in doing it if one is then going to do the kinds of things that kings and emperors have to do to maintain their reigns. They would all fight their battles as Pagans and then be baptised.