Ask Your Preacher - Archives

Ask Your Preacher - Archives

“Victim Was The Assailant”

Categories: GOD, HEAVEN & HELL, RELATIONSHIPS, SALVATION, SELF

I have been told that a person who commits suicide would go straight to hell, even if they were a christian.  This doesn't seem to make sense to me seeing as the Bible never explicitly says that salvation can be over-ridden by certain actions.  While someone who wants to commit suicide needs to seek help, are there certain actions that can negate a person's salvation?

Sincerely, Eternal Salvation

Dear Eternal Salvation,

People can lose their salvation. Heb 6:4-6 and Heb 10:26-27 outline that if someone rejects God’s Word (even after becoming a christian), they will go to hell just like any other unbeliever. And that is the key to the whole thing – is suicide an example of rejecting God’s Word and sinning willfully?

The Bible never specifically addresses suicide as being worse then another sin. Suicide certainly is condemned. Suicide is murder, self-murder, and is therefore very clearly a sin (Rev 21:8). The only difference between suicide and murdering someone else is that you don’t get a chance to repent after suicide. Suicide is a final decision and leaves no room for correction or for asking forgiveness. Therefore, in most cases, it would be fair to say that suicide will send you to hell. It is a willful act of disobedience against God without opportunity for repentance.

We here at AYP only hesitate to say, “All people who commit suicide go to hell,” because God never specifically makes that statement. The final judgment belongs to God (Heb 12:23), but we certainly wouldn’t want to face that judgment with our own blood on our hands.