Do People Who Commit Suicide Go to Hell?
What the Bible Says about Suicide, Sin, and Eternal Damnation
Aug 23, 2008
Seven people in the Bible committed suicide. The two most famous suicides are perhaps Judas, who killed himself after betraying Jesus, and Samson, who asked God to restore his strength one last time, so he could literally "bring down the house." These stories illustrate that people take their lives for different reasons -- something that has been the case since the dawn of human history.
Is Suicide a Sin?
In his first epistle, the Apostle John defined sin as a "transgression of the law" (I John 3:4) as well as anything that was "unrighteousness" (I John 5:17). The Apostle Paul wrote that "all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23) and that "[w]hatsoever is not of faith is sin" (Romans 14:23).
According to the Bible then, sin is anything that is outside of God's will and glory - any action, thought, or deed that is displeasing to Him. John MacArthur, a popular mega-church pastor and well-regarded Christian scholar, says that sin "is any violation, any violation of the character or law of God, the moral character or the law of God."
The standard then for determining whether suicide is sinful is to ask whether suicide is pleasing to God. In the case of Samson, we have a wayward Israelite judge, who had allowed himself to be compromised and thus humiliated and imprisoned by Israel's enemies. Samson's prayer and subsequent suicide was apparently pleasing to God, who seemingly viewed Samson's act as a sincere and redemptive act of contrition. Samson's suicide was on the same moral level as a soldier who gives his life to strike a blow to his nation's enemies and perhaps save the lives of his fellow comrades-in-arms.
In most cases, however, suicide is not a sacrificial act of service to a higher cause, it is rather a desperate attempt to escape depression, misery, or suffering. Suicide then becomes a temptation (and, for some, a choice) when the person's life has already slipped away from God's desire.
The Gospel of John records Jesus as saying that "the thief comes to steal and kill and destroy, but I have come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly" (John 10:10). In other words, the "thief" (and Jesus was calling Satan by that name) is responsible for the death and suffering of this world. It is God's desire that we all enjoy a spiritually and emotionally fulfilling life.
Suicide is a sin, not because the person wants to escape suffering. Suicide is wrong, because it cheats the person out of an opportunity to see God work in his or her life -- and bring the joy and abundance that Jesus says he wants to give.
Is Suicide a Mortal Sin?
If suicide is a sin, is it a mortal one? Is it an unforgivable sin that will condemn the person to hell? The Christian community is divided on this question, because of a difference in interpretation over how sins are forgiven.
The Roman Catholic Church teaches that "Christ conferred the power to forgive sins only upon the apostles and their successors" (Spirago, Francis and Clarke, Richard. The Catechism Explained: An Exhaustive Explanation of the Catholic Religion, TAN Publishing, 1994). The Anglican and Eastern Orthodox communities generally agree with the Catholic Church on this position, though they challenge the Vatican's assertion that it solely represents apostolic authority today.
The Protestant Reformation unleashed a repudiation of this (and other) doctrines. The Protestant view is that Jesus forgives sins -- not the church.
What does all this have to do with suicide? Well, the Catholic position holds that, since only the Church forgives sins, a person must do all that he can to insure that he enters eternity with his sins forgiven. This is why "last rites" are given. So, if a person commits suicide, then presumably he or she has not had "last rites" administered, and he or she enters eternity with unconfessed sins (including and especially the final act of taking one's own life).
The Protestant view of how sins are forgiven is much more in line with Scripture than the Catholic position. Since Protestant denominations (especially evangelical communities) hold Scripture to be greater in authority than the church - any church - they point to Christ only as the redeemer of mankind.
According to the evangelical view, a person's sins are forgiven the moment he or she confesses Jesus as Savior (see John 3:16; Romans 10:9-13; Ephesians 2:8-9). The sins include past, present, and future transgressions. Therefore, if a person has accepted Jesus, all of his or her sins are forgiven, including suicide.
This of course does not mean that God wishes or desires one to commit suicide. On the contrary, Jesus wants all God's followers to have an "abundant" and "joyous" life - a life that can rest in the knowledge that, no matter how hard life might get, one is never outside of the love of God.
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For more on this subject, read "Do NOT Commit Suicide."
If you need further assistance, visit SuicideHotlines.com and get the help you need right away.
You may also be interested in the Lysamena Project on Self-Injury.
