If
a believer commits suicide, can he still be forgiven?
This might seem like a difficult matter,
but it does have a biblical answer.
Though the Christian who has committed suicide has committed a grave
sin, it appears that he can still be forgiven.
However, in order to appreciate why a Christian who commits suicide can
still be forgiven, one must first understand what salvation is and what it is
founded upon.
Salvation
is the state of being saved from God's judgment upon the sinner. In Romans
3:10, the Bible is extremely clear when it states, “As it is written, There
is none righteous, no, not one. “
Therefore, we know that every human being is a sinner and has fallen
short of the Glory of God. Therewith,
the only way to be saved is to trust in Jesus for the forgiveness of one's
sins. In John 14:6, the Son of God, openly and directly declares that He is
the only Saviour that there is and that only He can take sinful man to a Holy
God, “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man
cometh unto the Father, but by me.” In Acts 4:12, we again here this truth,
“Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other Name under heaven
given to mankind by which we must be saved.”
That being as it is, all who do not trust in Jesus alone, by faith, are
not forgiven and so go to hell when they die.
One’s religion, church association or denomination will not save
them. Salvation is only found in the
Person and Life of Jesus, who is the Risen Saviour of all who truly believe in
Him. Otherwise, Matthew 25:46, comes into play “And these shall go away into
everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.” Along with, John 3:18, “Whosoever believes in Him is not condemned, but
whosoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not
believed in the Name of God’s one and only Son.” When Jesus forgives someone, He forgives all
their sins and gives them eternal life and they shall never perish, as John 10:28, so lovingly states, “And I
give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man
pluck them out of my hand.” He does not
give them temporary eternal life, otherwise, it would obviously not be
eternal. Isaiah 53:6, strongly puts our salvation and punishment on the back
of Jesus Christ, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone
to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” And, our belief in His death upon the cross,
His resurrection and saving grace and mercy, cleanses us from all forms of sin,
whatever they might be. 1 John 1:9, confidently relates to us
how complete that work upon the cross is, “If we confess our sins, He is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness.”
The
truth of the matter is that God is not willing that any should perish (go to
hell) but that all should come to a repenting knowledge about how God was in
Christ reconciling the world to Himself, 2
Peter 3:9, “The Lord is not slack (slow) concerning His promise, as some
men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any
should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” And, as is shown in, 2 Corinthians 5:19, “To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling
the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses (sins) against them, and He
has committed the message of reconciliation to us (as preachers).” Plus, we must grasp the idea in our souls
that the mission of Jesus was to find, and save the lost and hell-destined
person, converting that soul and making of him or her, a saved, sanctified and rescued
individual, Luke 19:10, gives
testimony of the mission of Jesus, God’s Son, “For the Son of man has come to
seek and to save the lost.”
Salvation is not based upon what any one
does. So, perhaps if you are a
religious, works-for-salvation oriented-type of person, this truth might strike
fear in your mind, but the Good News of the Gospel message means, you don't
have to obey any Law of God in order to become saved. Ephesians
2:8&9, “For it is by grace that you have been saved, through faith, and
this is not of yourself, it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one
can boast.” This is because no one is
saved by keeping the Law of God. Galatians 2:21, “I do not frustrate the
grace of God; for if righteousness came by the law, then Christ died in
vain.” Isaiah 64:6, sets the standard, one that no human could ever reach,
showing that we are all equally incapable of self-salvation, no matter who we
are or what we’ve done or have not done, “But we are all as an unclean thing,
and all our righteousness is as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf and
our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” Therefore, before God, no one is better or
worse than anyone else. Being, that as
sinners, we are all still savable due only to the blood of Christ on the cross
and our honest faith placed in the act of atonement found only in the
Sacrificial Lamb of God. God does take
our sins seriously but He takes even more seriously the shed blood on the cross
of Christ, Hebrews 10:16-18, “This
is the covenant that I will make with them (God, Himself, makes this pact with
us) after those days, says the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and
in their minds, I will write them on their minds, then He adds, their sins and
their lawless deeds I will remember no more.
Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering
for sin.” That is, Jesus is the only
sacrifice we need to get into heaven. As
in verse 10, “By that will (God’s plan of salvation) we have been sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all.”
Can
a man add anything to the work of Christ on the cross? The answer is a resounding, NO! Romans
3:24-28, shows that God wants us to understand that salvation is not done
by us reaching up to God, it was Him, in Christ, that reached out to us, “And
all are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by
Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a
sacrifice of atonement, though the shedding of His blood to be received by
faith. He did this to demonstrate His
righteousness, because in His forbearance, He had left the sins committed
beforehand unpunished, He did it to demonstrate His righteousness at the present
time, so as to be just and the One who justified those who have faith in Jesus.
Where, then, is boasting? It is
excluded. Because of what law? The law that requires works? NO, (but) because of the law that requires
faith. For we maintain that a person is
justified by faith apart from the works of the law.”
But that does not mean that you can go and
sin all you want. No, we love Him since
He first loved us, however, since we didn’t get our salvation by what we did,
we cannot lose it by what we do.
What
about the unforgivable sin? Is that
suicide? No. Suicide is not the unforgivable sin. Jesus spoke of the unforgivable sin in Matthew 12:31, “Wherefore I say unto
you, All manner of sin and
blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy of the Holy Ghost shall
not be forgiven unto men.” The clear
context is that the Pharisees accused Jesus of casting out demons by the power
of the devil. They were trying to say
that Jesus was working for satan, as the devil’s agent. Therefore, suicide is not the unforgivable
sin.
Repentance
is a prerequisite to the saving work of God, yet not the cause of
salvation. If repentance brought
salvation, then salvation is by works; or rather, the ceasing of bad works
would then make one saved. Yet, that
isn't how it works. God, at His liberty,
grants repentance to the Christian. In Isaiah 6:23, the Bible shows us that
God is, “mighty to save.” Some people
are easy to save and others, not so easy.
But, God can save even the least powerful Christian out there, because
salvation depends upon our faith in Jesus and what He did for us and does not
depend on anything we do for Him. We
can’t earn our salvation not even by repenting.
Repentance simply means that the Christian turns from his sin; that is,
he gives a 180 turn away from doing wrong, and he or she works at not
sinning. Then they are able to repent
because they are saved, but not to get saved.
And, even though we come to Christ, let’s face it, we still sin! Critical Christians should be reminded of
this, 1 John 1:8, “If we say that we
have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” So, if God’s unrestricted gift of salvation
is free to us, it is free to everyone else, too. John
6:37, Jesus tells us, “All that the Father gives me shall come to me; (it’s
a sure thing) and him that cometh to Me I will in now wise cast out.”
Salvation
is a true gift from God and only He can truly judge who is saved and who is
lost. We do have many guidelines in the
Bible and can trust what He says in His Word.
Nevertheless, many churches are extremely rough on the shakier
believers, where God is not. Isaiah 42:3, shows a great tenderness
in the heart of God towards even the weakest believer out there, “A bruised
reed shall He not break, and the smoking flax He will not quench, He shall
bring forth judgment unto truth.” That
is, God will be the final judge of everyone, yet it appears here that He has
more heart and patience and compassion for His children than do many followers
of Jesus.
In 1 John 1:9, it says, "If we
confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us
from all unrighteousness."
Confession of sin, and its natural result of repentance, are necessary
elements of the Christian's life. But,
what about the sins that we do not know we commit? If we do not confess them and do not repent
of them, are we still saved? Of course
we are! Otherwise, we would be forced to
confess and repent of every single sin we ever commit. In effect, we'd be back under the Law, living
by a rule of absolute repentance of every detail lest we be damned. This would be legal bondage, not
freedom. John 8:36, shows us that, “If the Son therefore shall make you
free, ye shall be free indeed.” Jesus
said His yoke was easy to bear, not hard, Matthew
11:27-30, “For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” This again shows us that God makes salvation
easily available and not a hard burdensome thing to find or to live out.
As
we see then, repentance is not the cause of salvation, but it is a result of
salvation. The believer repents from his
sins upon trusting in Christ and thereafter, continues to repent of further
sins as the Lord reveals to him.
Suicide
can be called, self-murder. The
unfortunate thing about it is that the one who commits it cannot repent of it. The damage is done. Yet, we can see in the Bible that even
murderers have been redeemed by God, such as Moses, David and the Apostle Paul,
etc., but they had opportunities to confess their sins and repent. With a successful suicide, the person does not
afford themselves that chance. But,
does that mean that the person is lost?
Jesus, biblically bore all that person's sins, including their final act
of suicide. If Jesus bore that person's
sins on the cross some 2000 years ago, and if suicide was not covered on the
cross, then the Christian was never saved in the first place and that one sin
of suicide would then be able to undo the entire work of the cross of
Christ. This cannot be. Jesus either saves completely or He does
not. Without showing the Scriptures,
here they are in brief, the sacrifice of Jesus is sufficient, Hebrews 10:10-14; His righteousness is
sufficient, Philippians 3:9; His
intercession is sufficient, Hebrews 7:25. Never underestimate the power of God to save
a sinner. That would be a very wrong thing to do.
I cannot give a once-and-for-all final
answer as to whether or not all believers that die of suicide are forgiven. I
am not God, nor am I anyone’s ultimate Judge, simply because I cannot know
every possible situation that caused them to take their own lives. But, it seems to me that suicide is a bad way
to deal with our problems, though I do see it as any other sin, it seems
scripturally forgivable.
Some
believers commit suicide to prevent prolonged torture in their lives. Let's say that someone was being tortured in
an excruciating manner for an unbearably long period of time, is suicide then
an option? Perhaps. In the Bible, 1 Samuel 31:3-6, King Saul, to keep from being tortured by the
Philistines did take his own life. Saul
was a bad king over Israel, he even sought help from a witch, which, of course,
is wrong before the Lord. Nevertheless,
God saved him as He does us, with, “An everlasting salvation,” Isaiah 45:17, and He gives us His
promise, in Hebrews 13:5, “He will
never leave us, nor forsake us.”
Quite
honestly, if someone is dealing with incredible pain for a long period of time,
and then decides to end his or her life due to the inability to bear-up under
that much anguish and torment: I would believe
that this, too, would come under the deep and abounding grace and mercy of the
Lord..
Suicide
due to depression, doesn’t seem like a good reason for such recklessness. As all sorts of emotional seasons come and go
in our lives and so does depression. The
one who is depressed should look to Jesus and get help. Still I know that depression can be a real
and powerful beast that can devour us and turn us inside out and is best fought
with help from close contact with family, friends and with good professional
help from a qualified person like a pastor.
However, I do understand that very severe depression robs the mind of
clear thinking. People that find
themselves in such dejected states are often extremely despondent, and are not
in their right mind. I am convinced that
God also understands their psychological state and all of their emotional
conflict that they just can’t seem to resolve.
Psalms 103:14, clearly shows
that God is aware of how delicate we are, “For He knoweth our frame, He remembereth
that we are dust.” He knows what we are
made of and He remembers that we are simply dirtbags.
Suicide
is sometimes due to a chemical imbalance in the brain. Even legal chemicals and medicines that we
take, with prescriptions, can cause us to not think correctly. The human brain
is incredibly complex and the medical community is full of accounts of
extraordinary behaviors by people whose, "circuits got crossed." A sad situation like this I think simply makes
certain suicides more explainable. And,
not all imbalances are drug caused. The
mind and the human body is just a profusely complicated organism that can get
unbelievably out of whack, causing people to go haywire and at times, take
their own lives.
Sometimes
people even accidentally kill themselves.
This could be something like leaning over a balcony too far and falling
to one's death, or actually, purposefully taking a stupid risk like playing
with a gun or skydiving. Of course, with
either, I am convinced that foolhardiness does not remove us from the grace of
God.
Some believers even eat themselves or drink
themselves to death, though they shouldn’t.
Nevertheless, it happens. This is
thought of as a slow, self-inflicted death and is considered by some to be a
form of suicide.
Can a Christian be forgiven for
suicide? Yes. But choosing suicide as the best way to deal
with our trials and tribulations is not the finest option open to us. We must remember that everything we are
belongs to God.
Psalm 103:9-11, “He will not always
strive with us, nor will He keep His anger forever. He has not dealt with us according to our
sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the
earth, so great is His loving-kindness toward those who fear him.”
Galatians 2:16, “Yet we know that a
person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ,
so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in
Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be
justified.”
1 John 5:12, “Whosoever has the Son has
(eternal) life, whosoever does not have the Son of God, does not have (eternal)
life.”
Titus 3:5, “He saved us, not because of
works done by us in righteousness, but according to His own mercy, by the
washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.”
2 Corinthians 13:14, “The grace of the
Lord Jesus Christ and the Love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be
with you all.” (Totally inclusive)
Always
remember that God’s invitation, “Whosoever,” means just that! All are invited to be saved.
