"Suicide is the act of intentionally causing harm or death to oneself. The Bible is very clear that murder is against one of the Ten Commandments. Although there is a notable increase in the number of mass suicides within the American community we cannot label them all as evildoers under this law. Say no to plagiarism Get a custom essay on "Why violent video games should not be banned" Get an original essay Una what we often don't know is in what context the Bible refers to this. Some, like the people of Jonestown, were forced to commit suicide or be killed resulting in death either way. It is often easy to say that those people will not be punished when we do not realize that there were similar situations that happened in the Bible, such as one of God's closest followers who shunned him out of fear for his life had agreed to acknowledge it, he would intentionally end his own life knew what the consequences would have been but instead God punishes him for avoiding it. In cases like these we see that it is not the act of suicide itself that is wrong but the meaning a person has behind it. The Lord states that those who do not understand their spiritual truth cannot sin because they do not truly know what sin is. If a child were to intentionally do something that resulted in harm to himself and without God telling him that it was wrong, he would not be judged unfairly. Suicide is often a complex issue with many psychological aspects that most people tend to oversimplify. If we look at both the events of Jonestown and Heaven's Gate, we tend to blame everyone for their stupidity and expect them to face their sins alone. Many times these people in the occult are ignorant or completely manipulated to believe everything their "pastors" believe. For these people the saying when a person jumps into a lava lake takes you to a new level where they are ready to give their lives for religion. If anything God would have blessed these people based on the fact that they did so in good spirit, but those leaders and others who were aware of the sins would have been treated as sinners. As more and more people found themselves encountering suicide encounters in the name of Christianity, especially people who are just learning about the religion would find it a social norm for them to interpret the Bible in their own way, just as Jim Jones had done by advocating to be able to communicate directly with God. It may seem that people are easily manipulated and led like stray sheep, does this really mean that they are not responsible for their actions? Jim Jones had a long history of substance abuse and evidence that he was not in a healthy state of mind, indicating that according to the Bible he cannot be punished. The followers around him remained with a stable mind and decided to follow the words of a man instead of the Bible. A relevant note to pay attention to is the amount of mass suicides for revolutionary causes during this period. Self-immolation is a well-known tactic of Vietnamese monks to rebel peacefully and sepukku was also present depicting both peaceful ways of protesting and honorary ways of dying. Jim Jones in case leading people to die by drinking flavorings was an honorary way to die as they took revenge on the army who supposedly wanted to steal the children of the community. This is an example of how chronology helps us place this event in the context and relevance of this time period. This justification can be taken into another gray area within the American Christian community concerning.