Can a person really go to hell for commiting suicide?

Curly CoCo

New Member
I've always heard that if someone kills themselves, they will go to hell for it. But years ago, at my church, my youth leaders said that suicide is a sin and Jesus died for that sin as well, so I'm just confused about this subject. Anyone has any input out there?
 
It's murder. God does take into consideration of the state of mind of the person who would kill himself. It's thought in some circles that no sane person would and that whoever commits it cannot be held to full and conscious intention of a grave sin. It's one of those things that depends upon God's mercy. There is forgiveness, but unfortunately, one can't confess that sin for absolution after the fact.
 
It's murder. God does take into consideration of the state of mind of the person who would kill himself. It's thought in some circles that no sane person would and that whoever commits it cannot be held to murder, basically. It's one of those things that depends upon God's mercy. There is forgiveness, but unfortunately, one can't confess that sin for absolution after the fact. .
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Thanks for your reply, the bolded is exactly my opinion on it.
 
My personal thought is that to be saved we have to believe in Jesus as the son of God, as our Lord and Saviour. Our actions tend to be outward declarations of things going on in our heart. Someone that chooses to commit suicide obviously see's no way out. It shows a lack of belief in Jesus as their saviour, as a way and as the Lord of their lives. I'm not going to delve into whether or not the person goes to hell because its not my place to judge ... God sees the heart and is a righteous judge.
 
My personal thought is that to be saved we have to believe in Jesus as the son of God, as our Lord and Saviour. Our actions tend to be outward declarations of things going on in our heart. Someone that chooses to commit suicide obviously see's no way out. It shows a lack of belief in Jesus as their saviour, as a way and as the Lord of their lives. I'm not going to delve into whether or not the person goes to hell because its not my place to judge ... God sees the heart and is a righteous judge.


But I thought you asked the question. BTW, my answer wasn't definitive. But per the bolded, that is not true. The person who commits suicide is in a state of mental illness. The act is murder but there are so many other aspects to it that the bolded is just not true. Becoming frightened to the point of freting and giving up hope on a situation is not the same as not believing Jesus as savior, even of their lives. Mental illness. I agree with other posters because we can't always have a black/white answer for gray areas, even in the faith. That would be where reflection, mercy, compassion and prayer would be necessitated.
 
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BTW, I think it's an important question. I didn't think about the direct and indirect suicide issue until I read another article but here's a general one on the subject:

http://www.ctlibrary.com/ct/2000/julyweb-only/42.0.html

Suicide and the Silence of Scripture
Though the church has come to opposing conclusions about the fate of victims, we have a mandate to minister to those left behind.
Thomas D. Kennedy

July 1, 2000

Some years ago one of my better students came by my office for a chat. Several times before, she had talked of her troubled past. However, her faith had showed marked development.

But on this day she announced that she had recently planned for her suicide. I was shocked and confused.

Suicide is confusing for Christians. Although the general thrust of scripture is clearly opposed to the taking of one's own life, it provides no clear disapproval of the few cases of apparent suicide it recounts. Suicide also confuses us because some of those we believe to be strong in the faith have considered it as a "way out."
Samson and St. Augustine

Must we believe that hose who have taken their own lives suffer the eternal punishment of God? Nothing in scripture drives us to that conclusion.

Of the seven or so suicides reported in Scripture, most familiar are Saul, Samson, and Judas. Saul apparently committed suicide to avoid dishonor and suffering at the hands of the Philistines. He is rewarded by the Israelites with a war hero's burial, there being no apparent disapproval of his suicide (1 Samuel 31:1-6). And while there is no hero's burial for Judas Iscariot (Matthew 27:5-7), Scripture is once more silent on the morality of this suicide of remorse.

The suicide of Samson has posed a greater problem for Christian theologians. Both Saint Augustine and Saint Thomas Aquinas wrestled with the case and concluded that Samson's suicide was justified as an act of obedience to a direct command of God.

Objections to suicide have a long history in the church. But the idea that suicide is an unforgivable sin is less easily traced. Among the church fathers, Saint Augustine was the most prominent and influential opponent of suicide. And early church synods declared that bequests from those who committed suicide (as well as the offering of those who attempted suicide) ought not to be accepted; and throughout the medieval period, proper Christian burial was refused those who committed suicide.

Saint Thomas Aquinas believed that suicide, by excluding a final repentance, was a mortal sin. Dante is likely to have influenced Christian thought at least as much as Saint Thomas, placing those who committed suicide in the seventh circle of the inferno. Luther and Calvin, despite their abhorrence of suicide do not suggest that it is an unpardonable sin. John Calvin is perhaps the most helpful on the issue, concluding that blaspheming against the Holy Spirit is the only unpardonable sin (Matthew 12:31), and suicide need not be viewed as blasphemy. The pedigree of the view that suicide is unforgivable seems to lie in the medieval church and its distinction between mortal and venial sins.
Freely Chosen

We must understand suicide as free and uncoerced actions engaged in for the purpose of bringing about one's own death. Once we define it this way, it is easy to grasp the church's clear teaching throughout the centuries that suicide is morally wrong and ought never to be considered by the Christian. Life is a gift from God. To take one's own life is to show insufficient gratitude. Our lives belong to God; we are but stewards. To end my own life is to usurp that the prerogative that is God's alone. Suicide, the church has taught, is ordinarily a rejection of the goodness of God, and it can never be right to reject God's goodness.

If we define suicide as consisting of only free and uncoerced actions, we must ask a series of questions as we try to understand any particular suicide: To what extent do we know the suicide in question was genuinely free? Could pain (either physical or emotional) have coerced the individual to do what he otherwise might not have done? But even if we could know that an act of suicide was genuinely free, can we know that the aim of the act was indeed one's own death rather than a misguided cry for help? Can we know that the suicide believed this action would really kill?

These questions lead us to withhold judgment in many cases; but more telling yet is this question: Did the individual aim at removing himself from God's goodness by suicide? Was this an act of suicide directly aimed at saying no to God? Or was it rather a tragically misguided attempt at saying yes to God? Eternal punishment is reserved, Christians believe, for those who directly reject God and reject God as a consistent pattern in life, not merely in a solitary final act. Every suicide is not a rejection of God's goodness. Indeed, in many cases suicide is mistakenly chosen to bring one nearer to God. We cannot say that such a motive for suicide is correct. Nor can we say that a person who makes this tragic mistake has removed herself forever from the grace of God.
The Church's task

When I comes to dealing with suicide, the church must do more than teach about it, for the church's primary task is to be the people of God.

First of all, the church must commit itself to being a community of truth, a community in which believers tell the truth about their own lives. A church must hear the stories of pain, suffering, and failure in the lives of its members; and those who tell the stories must receive from the church both lamentation and the healing balm of Christ. When the church is open and honest about pain and suffering, it can then confront in love even the most difficult of human crises and failures--suicide.

Second, the church must commit itself to being a community of love, not quick to judge. Since suicide often brings with it the stigma of "unpardonable sin" and feelings of shame and guilt for the surviving family members, those currently free of pain must welcome those who suffer in the name of Christ; and with the aid of the Holy Spirit, they must place themselves at one another's disposal. A church might well have a team ministry to contact and inquire daily about those who are troubled. A church might also designate certain gifted individuals to whom one might turn in distress. A community of love bears patiently with those who contemplate suicide and those who grieve and feel guilty as a result of suicide.

Third, the church must commit itself to being a community of joy, a community in which the new life of Christ is celebrated, a community that calls others to celebrate in the new life of Christ. By living as a community of joy, by regularly celebrating God's goodness to us in Jesus Christ, the church ministers to those who are saddened, joyfully acquainting them with the One who has known their sorrows.

My student friend seems to be doing well these days. This is due in no small part to the fact that she worships in a church that has been a community of truth, a community of love, and a community of joy. I am not sure she is able to give a clear theological explanation of her troubles; but I do think she know that her life is worthwhile. And this, with the Holy Spirit's aid, will sustain her.
 
Although one cannot confess the sin of suicide before death, I believe it is possible that God can choose to have mercy on them. HE is the omnipotent one. HE is not confined to even the commandments/laws that HE himself ordained and HE has the ability to choose to have mercy whenever HE sees fit to do so. God is not ( at least I don't believe so anyway) watching over us saying,"Kim confessed this sin, but not this one. To hell she shall go." So to clearly answer the question, IMO it is possible for a person that commits suicide to go to heaven or hell at God's discretion.
 
^I agree, Authmanifest.....

Jesus is Lord over both the living and the dead. We know that satan is roaming the earth, seeking who he can devour. I know that when people are at the point in their lives where they want to give up and commit suicide, they have lost ALL HOPE. It's not necessarily a mental health issue.

We as people don't know to what extent a person may be at their breaking point. We do know that the Lord is merciful to whom He will be merciful. I pray everyday that His mercies are new every morning in my life.
 
Great question.

But, God IS limited to His Law and His Word, even He in His Omnipotence is subject to them.
He won't violate them.
Didn't he say this in scripture?

Please correct me on this with scriptural text, if I am mistaken.

Another question,
"If someone is saved and then gets killed during a robbery attempt, do you think this person is condemned to hell?"

Thanks for your replies in advance.
 
Although one cannot confess the sin of suicide before death, I believe it is possible that God can choose to have mercy on them. HE is the omnipotent one. HE is not confined to even the commandments/laws that HE himself ordained and HE has the ability to choose to have mercy whenever HE sees fit to do so. God is not ( at least I don't believe so anyway) watching over us saying,"Kim confessed this sin, but not this one. To hell she shall go." So to clearly answer the question, IMO it is possible for a person that commits suicide to go to heaven or hell at God's discretion.

I agree with you too authenticitymanifesting.

Also, how would GOD treat someone who is being treated for a mental illness? Some of the medication has the side effect of suicide. And I have known of a case of someone being on depression medication and drinking alcohol and committing suicide. Even acne medication (Accutane) has the side effect of suicide.

I believe that GOD judges suicide on a case by case basis.
 
I think in the end its for god to decide. Never know what mental state the person was at the time.
 
Great question.

But, God IS limited to His Law and His Word, even He in His Omnipotence is subject to them.
He won't violate them.
Didn't he say this in scripture?

Please correct me on this with scriptural text, if I am mistaken.

Another question,
"If someone is saved and then gets killed during a robbery attempt, do you think this person is condemned to hell?"

Thanks for your replies in advance.


I don't understand. If God was limited to his laws, then Jesus would not have allowed the adultress to go freely when she was brought to him to be chastised.

If God chooses to show mercy, personally I don't see that as him violating his own laws. :perplexed



BTW, I don't make a habit of judging someone else's salvation, but I doubt a saved person would be attempting to rob someone.
 
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I don't understand. If God was limited to his laws, then Jesus would not have allowed the adultress to go freely when she was brought to him to be chastised. Okay, I understand.

If God chooses to show mercy, personally I don't see that as him violating his own laws. :perplexed No, I didn't mean it that way.



BTW, I don't make a habit of judging someone else's salvation, but I doubt a saved person would be attempting to rob someone.
Thank you for responding.

I have been pondering these questions and I really wanted to get a few viewpoints on it.
 
Jesus died to pay for our sins, whether they're confessed or not. Suicide is just murder. Murder is a sin, just like thinking about murdering someone is a sin. If we die without confessing our sins, we're not hell-bound. Jesus' blood covered that for us:grin:
 
^

Jesus died to pay for our sins, whether they're confessed or not. Suicide is just murder. Murder is a sin, just like thinking about murdering someone is a sin. If we die without confessing our sins, we're not hell-bound. Jesus' blood covered that for us:grin:
The bible says in Romans 10: 9-10

9 because if thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord, and shalt believe in thy heart that God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved:
10 for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. NASB


And
1 John 1:9
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
God will cleanse man from ALL unrighteousness if they will only confess that they need to be forgiven of their sins.
 
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