Subject: Will suicide condem my soul to hell? |
Bible Note: GeorJoy - "Will someone who commits suicide go to heaven or not?" you ask and add, "There is no maybe. It is a simple yes or no." ..... Without attempting to delve into doctrinal differences surrounding the issue of the eternal destiny of one who takes his life, I submit that the issue is not such that it can be answered by a simple yes or no. It begs of other questions. For example, Was the victim of his own hand a regenerate believer in Christ? Was he of sound mind at the time he took his life? Does the Bible teach that regenerate believers -- those who have been made partakers of eternal life by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ -- have any more power within themselves to "lose" their salvation than they did to "gain" it in the first place? Or does not Scripture teach that salvation -- eternal life -- is solely of God, from start to finish? Does Scripture teach that works save us or keep us saved? And finally, if a redeemed person took his life and thus sealed his fate and doomed himself to hell, would he not have effectively committed an unpardonable sin, since he cut himself off from the remedy of forgiveness by confessing his sin? Does suicide come under the purview of the unforgivable sin of which Jesus spoke? No, George, in your theological economy, I see the question as being anything but a simple yes or no. Now I happen to espouse as quite biblical the doctrine of the security of the believer: God either gives eternal life or He doesn't. If He does, eternal is eternal. If He doesn't, then no one has eternal life, because one can't give it to oneself, not by good works, not by a thousand confessions of sin, not by anything under the sun. --Hank |