Bible Question: long long ago, i tried twice to commit suicide. many years later (after i was saved) i asked my pastor if a person could get into heaven if they comitted suicide and the pastor told me....a person who comitts suiside only murders themselve, and the Lord forgives murders and every sin a man could ever comit. Is this true and where can i read about suiside not damming one to hell in the Bible? |
Bible Answer: While your question may be appropriate in that you are specifically asking for what the bible says on the topic, it would be highly inappropriate and potentially dangerous for anyone here to offer opinion and personal thought on this issue. On all matters, and especially that of life and death and the eternal condition of one’s soul, we do best to stop where Scripture stops. In fact, Scripture demands that we do. In other words, we shouldn’t attempt to offer more than what Scripture has to say about it. I would like to offer the below quote from theologian Charles Hodge for your consideration. “It is conceivable that men who do not believe in God or in a future state of existence, should think it allowable to take refuge in annihilation from the miseries of this life. But it is unaccountable, except on the assumption of temporary or permanent insanity, that any man should rush uncalled into the retributions of eternity. Suicide, therefore, is most frequent among those who have lost all faith in religion.3 It is a very complicated crime; our life is not our own; we have no more right to destroy our life than we have to destroy the life of a fellow-man. Suicide is, therefore, self murder. It is the desertion of the post which God has assigned us; it is a deliberate refusal to submit to his will; it is a crime which admits of no repentance, and consequently involves the loss of the soul.” (Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology). “Our life is not our own”. Murdering one’s self is the same as murdering another human being. It is a violation of God’s law as well as secular law. I can’t be sure but I believe the last sentence in the above quote by Hodge is speaking of an unsaved person regarding the suicide leaving no opportunity for repentance resulting in the loss of the soul. There is only one unforgiveable sin; blasphemy of the Holy Ghost, Matthew 12:31. Referring back to Charles Hodge, and to support my assumption that he is referring to an unsaved person in the above quote, Mr. Hodge does acknowledge blasphemy against the Holy Ghost as THE unpardonable sin. If you are not familiar with this sin, blasphemy of the Holy Ghost, do a search of the topic here on the SBF Forum. Your examination there is likely to bring you to the understanding that this unpardonable sin can not be committed by a saved person. All other sins carry the penalty of death as well, but to the saved, that penalty has been paid in full by the finished work of Christ Jesus through his death on the cross and resurrection from the dead. |