Do suicides go to hell?

[unwantedbygod]

Not sure where else to post this question, since most of the forums are restricted to Christians only but this is a subject I've been trying to learn about for quite some time and it seems that the answer is...a whole bunch of different things.

Some of the thoughts I've seen on the subject:

1. As long as you've accepted Christ, you're saved, even if you commit suicide.

2. Suicide is breaking one of the ten commandments; therefore; hell.

2b. Yes, it IS breaking one of the commandments, but, see #1.

3. Since people who commit suicide are likely mentally ill, they cannot fully understand their actions and are likely to be "pardoned" for them.

3a. Because of this they will go to heaven but "lose some rewards," whatever that means (hey, while I'm here, what DOES that mean? I see people say it a lot but I don't really understand it.)

4. There are no specific mentions of the consequences of suicide in the Bible, so there's no way to know.


So the answer seems to be a big honking "Yeah, we actually have no idea."

I was just wondering what y'alls' thoughts were on the subject and if there was an angle I haven't yet come across that you could enlighten me on.

 

[Messy]

Well, I always thought if you were a christian and prayed for forgiveness just in time, you'd go to heaven. I checked it out for you. I was under influence of wrong medication and was just told my ex would take the kids and divorce, so I did an attempt. I had liquor and a lot of pills and I thought: I first take them all, then I'll pray that I'm sorry, so the Lord will forgive me and it will be too late to still live, so I'll go to heaven. But I got so sleepy from the liquor and pills, I thought: I have to pray now (hadn't taken them all), otherwise it's too late. So I prayed Lord I'm sorry for this suicideattempt, forgive all my sins and come in my heart and then I met the Lord at the side of the water where I hid and I really felt His Presence and He showed me it was very bad what I was doing and told me that if I took the other pills and not phone for help, I'd be a hypocrite. So I stopped and phoned and later they found me, not conscious.
I once had to pray for someone at the office, didn't know who, but the Lord told me to pray and that someone there was about to die. So I prayed for a few hours and the next day I heard a collegue had died and later it turned out he committed suicide. Well, I wasn't sure if he was in heaven, he mocked my faith and was an unbeliever. Years later I got a dream of him coming to the office with new clothes and he was very happy and he told me he had become a christian two years ago and in my dream I cried and held his hand and said: Why hasn't anyone told me you're still alive? They said you were dead. I woke up and it turned out to be 2 years ago that he jad died. So I never judge about a person being in heaven or not, you don't know, maybe the Lord could convince them in time of His existence.

 

[Stevelee44]

It is not about the Law. We are not under the Law anymore. The 10 Commandments don't apply. We are under Grace now.

When anyone recieve Jesus as Lord and Savior their Nature Changes. They are not sinners anymore. They will never go to Hell unless they choose to. Out rightly Denial of Jesus and choosing to go to Hell by choice. This is the only way.

Our Nature has changed. There is a difference between The Act of Sin and The Nature Of Sin. We as Christians will never go to Hell.

I don't believe Christians who commit suicide will ever go to Hell because they recieved Jesus as Lord and Savior. They are still saved. It doesn't matter what act of sin they did. Their nature is still The Nature of God. The Holy Spirit is still in them. Their conscience is still telling them not to comitt suicide. God is still helping them in every way. God still Loves them.

Their Heart is still trying to tell them not to. If we Walk in The Spirit we will not fulfill the lusts of the Flesh.

 

[drich0150]

Their is only one unforgivable sin, and Jesus did not identify suicide as being that sin.

 

[theophilus40]

When a person puts his faith in Christ God knows every sin he will ever commit and forgives all of them. If the person will end his life by suicide God already knows it and even though the act is a sin it is forgiven. This doesn't mean that there are no consequences when a Christina kills himself. After death our works will be judged and we will be rewarded for whatever we have done for God after our salvation.

According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw—each one's work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.
(1 Corinthians 3:10-15 ESV)

A Christian who commits suicide will still enter heaven but he will miss out on much good that he would have received if he had been obedient.

On the other hand if a person who professes to be saved kills himself his action could be an indication that he was never really saved. A saved person is still capable of sinning but he also has received a new nature that wants to obey God so he is less likely to kill himself than an unsaved person it.

 

[Willie T]

You planning on committing suicide?

 

[unwantedbygod]

The question wouldn't matter if I were, since I'm not a Christian!

Thanks for the insights, guys. It's interesting to me. But depression and other mental problems that lead to suicide could probably also lead someone to give up their faith (I've heard a lot of people wonder why God stopped loving them or if God doesn't exist when depressed) - if they no longer have faith in Jesus in them when they die, is that what sends people to hell?

I probably sound like a complete idiot. All those years of Catholic school never really taught us anything that complex, though.

 

[Messy]

The question wouldn't matter if I were, since I'm not a Christian!

Thanks for the insights, guys. It's interesting to me. But depression and other mental problems that lead to suicide could probably also lead someone to give up their faith (I've heard a lot of people wonder why God stopped loving them or if God doesn't exist when depressed) - if they no longer have faith in Jesus in them when they die, is that what sends people to hell?

I probably sound like a complete idiot. All those years of Catholic school never really taught us anything that complex, though.

Someone chooses to serve the Lord or not out of free will. If one chooses out of free will to reject the offer of Jesus, that's why he can't go to heaven. I doubt a psychiatric patient has a completely free will, having been one myself and I also almost gave up my faith. It's not a license to sin, but God is capable to convince people and save them.
I saw a story of Ian McCormack, an atheist who died and went to heaven, because he said the sinner's prayer in his last breath, because the Lord started to talk to Him. You never can judge if someone is in heaven or not.

 

[Dre99]

I believe those who commit suicide go to hell, since they cannot repent for their sin. Which by the way, is murder. I don't follow the "once saved always saved" nonsense, people can lose their faith in Jesus, and save a small minority of people who truly have mental illness, those who commit suicide are slapping Christ in the face. It's not nice to think about but that's what they're doing.

 

[SiyoNqoba]

I believe that we don't have the right to say whether or not anyone will go to hell. I trust that God is just and fair, and that He judges according to a person's heart, but I don't think we can know what that results in for each individual.

 

[funtimes]

Default Why is Suicide a Sin?

I. A man asked, “Why is suicide a sin?”

A. At first it seems a strange question because the answer is so obvious.

B. But he was struggling with how to explain this to someone he knows.

C. You can’t turn in your Bibles to a passage that says “You shall not take your own life.”

II. Suicide is murder

A. Suicide is the ending of your own life. An individual decides his life should not continue.

B. But this is no different from a person who decides to end the life of another person.

C. You shall not murder - Exodus 20:13

1. Not to be confused with a government administering the death penalty for a crime - Romans 13:4

a. Governments were given the right to execute evildoers by God.

b. The act is only done after careful consideration that evil had been committed that is worthy of death.

2. The person committing suicide cannot claim the right

a. He has not been given the right to end his own life by God

b. He is not in the position to accurately weigh whether a death sentence should be applied.

D. Once you acknowledge that suicide is a form of murder, then it is straight forward to prove that murder, including suicide, is a sin - I John 3:15

III. A better question: “Why would someone want to end his life?”

A. Despair

1. Today we usually call it “depression”

a. It is the attitude that life is not worth living.

b. It is the decision that there is no future and no hope of a better tomorrow.

2. Job - Job 3:3-4, 11

a. In his sufferings, Job wished he never had been born.

b. Yet, in the depths of his despair Job did not commit suicide

c. Job 2:10 - Some things are out of our control, including the choice of when our lives should end.


4. Judas - Matthew 27:3-5

a. Judas was a man always looking for a way to make quick cash, legally or illegally.

b. He had observed how Jesus always managed to escape when the Jews attempted to arrest Him or kill Him

c. Perhaps Judas thought to cash in on this by offering to betray the Christ, fully expecting Jesus to simply walk away as He had done in the past.

d. But it didn’t as planned

(1) Jesus was arrested and condemned to die

(2) Judas could not face his own guilt and he hanged himself

5. Compare Judas to Saul - Acts 7:57-8:1

a. Saul was present at the death of Stephen. He encouraged the mob in their murder of a righteous man.

b. He lead the persecution of the church, dragging many into prison and to their death - Acts 8:3

c. But Jesus sought out Saul and Saul was granted salvation.

d. Looking back on this Saul, now called Paul, said - I Timothy 1:12-15

e. Paul didn’t wallow in self-pit or despair for long. When he learned the truth he took hold of the opportunity to redeem himself in the eyes of God.

6. Christianity is a religion of hope; a hope that does not disappoint - Romans 5:5

a. At one time we did not have God and had no hope - Ephesians 2:12

b. Now we are called to hold on to our hope - Hebrews 10:23

c. Those who commit suicide are declaring that they have given up hope in God.

B. Control

1. The reason many people in the Bible committed suicide was a vain attempt to control their destiny.

2. Abimelech - Judges 9:53-54

a. Abimelech was fatally struck by a rock thrown by a woman.

b. He did not want it to be known that a woman killed him, so he ordered his armor bearer to strike him dead.

c. But it didn’t work. We remember that a woman was the cause of Abimelech’s death - II Samuel 11:21

d. He tried to change history and failed

3. Saul - I Samuel 31:4

a. Saul was in the midst of battle, his sons were killed, and he was fatally shot by a Philistine archer

b. Saul feared that the Philistines would abuse his body after his death

c. But it didn’t work - I Samuel 31:8-10

d. You see, once you are dead, you have no control. You give up all possibility of affecting the world.

4. Ahithophel - II Samuel 17:23

a. Absalom rebelled against his father, King David. One of David’s advisors, Ahithophel turned traitor and began advising Absalom.

b. However, in a critical matter Absalom took the advice of another over Ahithophel.

c. Ahithophel knew disaster was coming, so he decided to control his own death.

d. Funny thing is, nothing changed. He would have died one way or another.

e. By taking himself out of the picture early on, he insured the defeat of Absalom by removing any possible good advice he might have gained.

5. Zimri - I Kings 16:18

a. He killed King Elah of Israel, but soon faced defeat at the hands of a rival general

b. Zimri chose the method of his death, but in his death he gave his enemy exactly what he desired.

c. Zimri’s suicide only made Omri’s triumph easier.

6. Suicide doesn’t give men control.

a. It is a means of abandoning any control of your future.

b. It makes no change. It cannot cause an improvement.

c. It is a coward’s escape.

d. Oh! But do they truly escape? - Revelation 21:8
Suicide holds no solution

A. It fixes no problems

B. It gives no control

C. It is not heroic, but cowardly

D. It brings wrath upon the one seeking vengeance

E. It brings no comfort to the suffering soul

V. The true solution

A. When the jailer sought to take his life - Acts 16:28

1. The cry brought the jailer back to his senses

2. He wanted to know how he might be saved from his predicament

3. Perhaps he was only focused on his immediate problems, but Paul pointed him to a greater need - Acts 16:31

B. How can a man believe in what he never heard? - Romans 10:14

1. So we find the jailer and his household learning about Jesus in the middle of the night - Acts 16:32

2. That word made a difference! - Acts 16:33

C. Here, then, is the solution to your problems, no matter how overwhelming they may seem.

1. Suicide doesn’t bring joy into anyone’s life

2. But Jesus is the key to eternal joy

 

[funtimes]

Default Why is Suicide a Sin?

I. A man asked, “Why is suicide a sin?”

A. At first it seems a strange question because the answer is so obvious.

B. But he was struggling with how to explain this to someone he knows.

C. You can’t turn in your Bibles to a passage that says “You shall not take your own life.”

II. Suicide is murder

A. Suicide is the ending of your own life. An individual decides his life should not continue.

B. But this is no different from a person who decides to end the life of another person.

C. You shall not murder - Exodus 20:13

1. Not to be confused with a government administering the death penalty for a crime - Romans 13:4

a. Governments were given the right to execute evildoers by God.

b. The act is only done after careful consideration that evil had been committed that is worthy of death.

2. The person committing suicide cannot claim the right

a. He has not been given the right to end his own life by God

b. He is not in the position to accurately weigh whether a death sentence should be applied.

D. Once you acknowledge that suicide is a form of murder, then it is straight forward to prove that murder, including suicide, is a sin - I John 3:15

III. A better question: “Why would someone want to end his life?”

A. Despair

1. Today we usually call it “depression”

a. It is the attitude that life is not worth living.

b. It is the decision that there is no future and no hope of a better tomorrow.

2. Job - Job 3:3-4, 11

a. In his sufferings, Job wished he never had been born.

b. Yet, in the depths of his despair Job did not commit suicide

c. Job 2:10 - Some things are out of our control, including the choice of when our lives should end.


4. Judas - Matthew 27:3-5

a. Judas was a man always looking for a way to make quick cash, legally or illegally.

b. He had observed how Jesus always managed to escape when the Jews attempted to arrest Him or kill Him

c. Perhaps Judas thought to cash in on this by offering to betray the Christ, fully expecting Jesus to simply walk away as He had done in the past.

d. But it didn’t as planned

(1) Jesus was arrested and condemned to die

(2) Judas could not face his own guilt and he hanged himself

5. Compare Judas to Saul - Acts 7:57-8:1

a. Saul was present at the death of Stephen. He encouraged the mob in their murder of a righteous man.

b. He lead the persecution of the church, dragging many into prison and to their death - Acts 8:3

c. But Jesus sought out Saul and Saul was granted salvation.

d. Looking back on this Saul, now called Paul, said - I Timothy 1:12-15

e. Paul didn’t wallow in self-pit or despair for long. When he learned the truth he took hold of the opportunity to redeem himself in the eyes of God.

6. Christianity is a religion of hope; a hope that does not disappoint - Romans 5:5

a. At one time we did not have God and had no hope - Ephesians 2:12

b. Now we are called to hold on to our hope - Hebrews 10:23

c. Those who commit suicide are declaring that they have given up hope in God.

B. Control

1. The reason many people in the Bible committed suicide was a vain attempt to control their destiny.

2. Abimelech - Judges 9:53-54

a. Abimelech was fatally struck by a rock thrown by a woman.

b. He did not want it to be known that a woman killed him, so he ordered his armor bearer to strike him dead.

c. But it didn’t work. We remember that a woman was the cause of Abimelech’s death - II Samuel 11:21

d. He tried to change history and failed

3. Saul - I Samuel 31:4

a. Saul was in the midst of battle, his sons were killed, and he was fatally shot by a Philistine archer

b. Saul feared that the Philistines would abuse his body after his death

c. But it didn’t work - I Samuel 31:8-10

d. You see, once you are dead, you have no control. You give up all possibility of affecting the world.

4. Ahithophel - II Samuel 17:23

a. Absalom rebelled against his father, King David. One of David’s advisors, Ahithophel turned traitor and began advising Absalom.

b. However, in a critical matter Absalom took the advice of another over Ahithophel.

c. Ahithophel knew disaster was coming, so he decided to control his own death.

d. Funny thing is, nothing changed. He would have died one way or another.

e. By taking himself out of the picture early on, he insured the defeat of Absalom by removing any possible good advice he might have gained.

5. Zimri - I Kings 16:18

a. He killed King Elah of Israel, but soon faced defeat at the hands of a rival general

b. Zimri chose the method of his death, but in his death he gave his enemy exactly what he desired.

c. Zimri’s suicide only made Omri’s triumph easier.

6. Suicide doesn’t give men control.

a. It is a means of abandoning any control of your future.

b. It makes no change. It cannot cause an improvement.

c. It is a coward’s escape.

d. Oh! But do they truly escape? - Revelation 21:8
Suicide holds no solution

A. It fixes no problems

B. It gives no control

C. It is not heroic, but cowardly

D. It brings wrath upon the one seeking vengeance

E. It brings no comfort to the suffering soul

V. The true solution

A. When the jailer sought to take his life - Acts 16:28

1. The cry brought the jailer back to his senses

2. He wanted to know how he might be saved from his predicament

3. Perhaps he was only focused on his immediate problems, but Paul pointed him to a greater need - Acts 16:31

B. How can a man believe in what he never heard? - Romans 10:14

1. So we find the jailer and his household learning about Jesus in the middle of the night - Acts 16:32

2. That word made a difference! - Acts 16:33

C. Here, then, is the solution to your problems, no matter how overwhelming they may seem.

1. Suicide doesn’t bring joy into anyone’s life

2. But Jesus is the key to eternal joy

 

[Messy]

My husband had a time he wanted to commit suicide, when he was trying to quit with drugs. He doesn't believe. His life was so terrible and he had psychiatric problems.
I said: Well, if you think this is terrible, it can always get a lot worse. I don't usually like to threaten people with hell, but in this case I had to and if his mother knew, she would be grateful I was so 'insensitive' at the time. To someone who has lost someone that committed suicide, I'd say you never know if they repented in time. But I'd not recommend to check this out, it was very wrong and dangerous that I did it myself, even if it was under influence of wrong medication.

 

[theophilus40]

It's interesting to me. But depression and other mental problems that lead to suicide could probably also lead someone to give up their faith (I've heard a lot of people wonder why God stopped loving them or if God doesn't exist when depressed) - if they no longer have faith in Jesus in them when they die, is that what sends people to hell?

Salvation is a work of God, not something we receive or maintain by our own efforts. God simply won't allow someone who is saved to lose his faith.

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
(Philippians 1:6 ESV)
​

A person who has made a profession of faith but hasn't genuinely repents of his sins might lose his faith because he is was never saved in the first place.

A Christian who is depressed might feel that God has abandoned him; I know that from experience because I have often been depressed. But no matter how depressed I was I have never doubted the existence of God. If you want to know how a depressed believer feels I suggest you read Psalm 88. It is obvious the author of the psalm was severely depressed but he still retained faith in God.

 

[unwantedbygod]

God simply won't allow someone who is saved to lose his faith.

In my experience, that isn't true.

 

[someguy14]

Not sure where else to post this question, since most of the forums are restricted to Christians only but this is a subject I've been trying to learn about for quite some time and it seems that the answer is...a whole bunch of different things.

Some of the thoughts I've seen on the subject:

1. As long as you've accepted Christ, you're saved, even if you commit suicide.

2. Suicide is breaking one of the ten commandments; therefore; hell.

2b. Yes, it IS breaking one of the commandments, but, see #1.

3. Since people who commit suicide are likely mentally ill, they cannot fully understand their actions and are likely to be "pardoned" for them.

3a. Because of this they will go to heaven but "lose some rewards," whatever that means (hey, while I'm here, what DOES that mean? I see people say it a lot but I don't really understand it.)

4. There are no specific mentions of the consequences of suicide in the Bible, so there's no way to know.


So the answer seems to be a big honking "Yeah, we actually have no idea."

I was just wondering what y'alls' thoughts were on the subject and if there was an angle I haven't yet come across that you could enlighten me on.

Only God is judge.

 

[Messy]

In my experience, that isn't true.

I also thought this was true and that if someone lost his faith, he was just never really saved, but I really was saved. I had a relationship with the Lord, it was a true repentence and following the Lord. But like the parable of the one sawing seed, trouble came, I had been a pastor's wife for 12 years and I was saved for 20 years, but my ex wanted a divorce and I lost the children in court because of the suicide attempt. I started living together with an atheist and heard all his thoughts and God didn't answer my prayer to get my children back and I was very depressed and on a lot of antidepressants and oxazepam, so I came to the point I didn't believe he existed anymore. But God will never leave you, though you may experience it. He wanted to help me, but first I had to stop sinning (living together). The devil blinded me from the truth. I converted again, just because I saw evidence enough that the devil existed and I asked Him to come back in my heart again and forgive my sins. Then He also could answer my prayers again.

 

[unwantedbygod]

Are there people who think that depression and the urge to kill yourself are the result of the devil's influence or something? I feel like I read that somewhere but my mental health drugs have pretty much fried my ability to retain information and killed my memory, so half the time I don't know if I'm just making stuff up or not.

 

[someguy14]

Are there people who think that depression and the urge to kill yourself are the result of the devil's influence or something? I feel like I read that somewhere but my mental health drugs have pretty much fried my ability to retain information and killed my memory, so half the time I don't know if I'm just making stuff up or not.

God is all goodness. Wickedness only does wickedness.
God = good.
Wicked = wicked.

God = eternal. (for those that are His).
Wicked = deletion. (for those that rejoice in wicked).

 

[someguy14]

Again, God is judge.

God is good. God is life.
Wickedness seeks to destroy all. And also steal and kill goodness. Wickedness rejoices in doing wickedness and stealing credit from the good. God is good. Fair and just. God is truth. God throws every wicked in the fire.