Does Suicide Lead to Hell? - A Biblical and Logical Answer
Given the recent trend of suicides in Hollywood, I thought it would be a good idea to share this video and article I created three years ago after the passing of actor Robin Williams.
To be honest, I was hesitant to even comment on this, but after seeing some of the recent posts on social media concerning the tragic deaths of Chester Bennington, Chris Cornell, and much earlier, actor Robin Williams, I noticed a common trend. Some posts were very heartfelt and others were rather ugly. My concern was many of the ugly comments, at least the ones I personally read, were from fellow Christians. I’m not here to only comment on how we Christians should be representing Jesus, keeping in mind unbelievers are going to see these posts, and it may give them the wrong impression of the Church as a whole. I will touch on that aspect in this post, but that topic alone would take far too long for a post such as this. Instead, I want to primarily address a common question that I saw come up time and time again. Does suicide damn a person to Hell automatically?
Concerning some of the more unsavory, ugly, and I would even go as far as to say unchristian comments I saw, I do not believe the majority of them were written out of hate, though they might seem to be conveyed in that manner. Rather, I believe they were written out of ignorance. I sincerely mean that respectfully. Ignorance only means uninformed; it does not mean stupid or dumb.
My hope is that by bringing the Bible and a little bit of common sense into the matter, we can lessen the ignorance and strengthen our resolve to reach the lost in all we do, even things like posting on social media. Now, I’m not perfect in these regards, I am far from it in fact. But my prayer is we can set aside our prejudices, put the Bible first, and all learn together.
There are only a few examples of suicide in the Bible. I want to look at two especially. First, that of Samson. Judges 16:29-31 reads:
29 And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars upon which the house stood, and on which it was borne up, of the one with his right hand, and of the other with his left.
30 And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines. And he bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that were therein. So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life.
31 Then his brethren and all the house of his father came down, and took him, and brought him up, and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the buryingplace of Manoah his father. And he judged Israel twenty years.
It is no doubt that Samson sacrificed his life for his country and people by destroying the enemy. The context of the story also conveys the idea that God granted Samson the strength to do this. We should ask ourselves, would it be reasonable to say that Samson was damned to Hell because of his suicide?
Now, of course, the suicide of Robin Williams and Samson are different, and I will address that shortly. First, I want to look at another biblical description of a suicide: that of Judas Iscariot. Matthew 27:5 states:
And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself.
Due to the fact that Judas betrayed Jesus and later killed himself, most would accept the idea that Judas is not in Paradise. I am not here to debate where Judas is in regards to eternity, only to state that most would accept he is in Hell.
This shows us that suicide is not as black and white as we sometimes claim it is. There are things we can state as truth, however. Jesus is the only way to the Father; we know this by His own words. If a person does not accept Jesus as their savior, regardless of the means of death, that person will not have the opportunity to be with God in eternity.
As far as to try to make the determination if Robin Williams was saved or not, none of us know what the state of his heart was at the point of his death. Even if he was not saved before he took his own life, we do not know if he cried out to Jesus in his heart in his final moments, such as the thief on the cross. We simply cannot make that determination ourselves. That is something only God knows.
Some have claimed that suicide is an unforgivable sin. To that, I am aware of only one sin that is deemed unpardonable by Jesus Christ. Speaking of Jesus, Matthew 12:22-24 reads:
22 Then was brought unto him one possessed with a devil, blind, and dumb: and he healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw.
23 And all the people were amazed, and said, Is not this the son of David?
24 But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils.
Then Jesus states in Matthew 12:31-32
31 Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men.
32 And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.
This describes the unforgivable sin and it has nothing to do with suicide; it has to do with blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. This specific blasphemy is defined as attributing the works of the Holy Spirit to the enemy. This does not convey the idea that if a Christian commits suicide, they are negating their own salvation. This is describing a different sin altogether.
There is another aspect to consider: mental illness. If a person is mentally ill or suffering from severe depression, as seems to be the case regarding Robin Williams, is that person held accountable if they take their own life? I believe it would be extremely presumptuous on our parts as Christians to make that determination. What we need to focus on is Jesus Christ and what He said in regards to Heaven and Hell.
As far as I can tell based on the biblical evidence, the sin of suicide is comparable to, if not the same as, the sin of murder. We must ask ourselves, is the blood of Jesus sufficient to cover the sin of murder if a person submits to Him and accepts His gift of salvation? It is obvious that things like murder and suicide are not pleasing in the eyes of the Lord. But again, we must remember, without the saving grace of Jesus, any transgression against God is considered damnable. Not a single one of us would be able to be in the eternal presence of God if it wasn't for His offer of salvation through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. We need to ask ourselves, are we more concerned with determining if an individual is in Hell, or are we more concerned with preventing those still alive from ending up there? In everything we do, everything we say, and yes, even everything we type in social media, we need to keep this in mind. Is this thing helping a person to accept Jesus, or is it possible this will cast a negative light on Jesus and become a person’s excuse for not accepting Jesus?
Concerning things that have been said about the possibility of this tragedy being an example of an Illuminati ritualistic sacrifice and the strange coincidence of the Family Guy episode, featuring a Robin Williams character and themes of suicide, that aired during the time the actual tragedy occurred, I am not here to comment on that. I just simply do not know enough about it to make any claims one way or the other. I will say, however, that as Christians we need to be careful not to fall into sensationalized or fear-based tactics to get our message across. If there is any truth to these claims, anyone making them is going to need a lot of evidence to convince people of the legitimacy of such a thing. As Carl Sagan once said, "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence."
Again, we need to keep in mind that unbelievers are going to be looking at these things. I am not saying we should not post anything that is actually true. We should always proclaim the truth, but we need to do so with sufficient evidence and in a manner that is with gentleness, understanding, respect, and most importantly, love. In everything we say and post, we should always keep in mind 1 Corinthians 13:4-8, which states:
"Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends..."
If we are going to post things and, though out of love, do not have sufficient evidence, we need to admit within the post that it is just an opinion, idea, theory, or a thought; we could be wrong and regardless of how it turns out, the one thing we know we can be right about is how to attain salvation through Jesus Christ.
I will leave you with a quote of Ray Comfort in response to how some Christians have reacted on social media in regards to the suicide of Robin Williams. From his Facebook page, Ray Comfort wrote:
“If you believe that those who commit suicide go to Hell, I have a few questions for you. Is there such a thing as “slow” suicide—where someone takes poison over a period of time until it kills them? If you say that there is, then consider the fact that smokers and alcoholics commit suicide when they die because they continually consumed known toxins. What about the person who was told by the doctor to cut back on food or it would kill them, but they took no notice and died because of obesity?
Or how about those dear people who jumped off the World Trade Center? Their clothes caught fire, their flesh burned, and they deliberately leaned forward just a little. Or what about the brave soldier who takes cyanide to end his precious life, rather than be responsible for the deaths of his fellow soldiers by giving information under torture?
There are only a few suicides mentioned in the Bible. Only one makes a reference to his eternal destination. So if we want to play God for a moment on this issue, we could probably do so for Judas. But when it comes to others, we should leave that judgment in the hands of our Creator, and use a little discretion rather than add to the grief of relatives.”
With that I say thank you for reading, take care, and God bless!
Josh Peck
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