Can a person who commits suicide be forgiven?

by Jeannie
(Denver, CO)

My heart grieves over the loss of your beloved son. I know the pain a family experiences when a loved one commits suicide. It is gut-wrenching and feels like the sadness will never end. God our heavenly Father also knows the heartache of losing His beloved Son. Although Jesus didn't commit suicide, He did voluntarily lay down His life as the sacrifice for our sins. God our heavenly Father knows the grief, the sense of loss you feel because His loving heart experienced the loss of His only begotten Son.

In the New Testament, salvation is always by grace alone through faith alone in the Lord Jesus Christ alone. No works of ours are involved in getting saved or staying saved. Every saved person is kept by the power of God until we get home to heaven with Jesus. It works like this.

God wants us to be disciples of Jesus but all of humanity is under the wrath of God because of our sin and rebellion against God. The good news is, God made a way for us to escape the wrath of God, to escape going to hell. That way is the cross of Calvary.

The best preparation for being a disciple of Jesus is to know for sure we are saved. Everyone needs to be saved from sin and hell and the wrath of God. Here is what Jesus taught about hell and God's wrath.

What is the wrath of God?

Jesus teaches Hell 101

Getting saved and becoming a disciple of Jesus means not trusting our good works, baptism, sacraments, confirmation, being a cultural Christian or grace allegedly flowing from a church and instead, trusting by grace alone through faith alone in the Lord Jesus Christ alone to save us.

What must I do to be saved?

Once we know for sure we are saved, it helps to understand what happened when we got saved.

What happens when you get saved?

Once we understand what happened when we got saved, it helps to understand how long we are saved for. According to the Bible, when God saves us, He gives us eternal salvation.

Is eternal security in the Bible?

The next thing for us to understand is justification by faith. When God saves us, a great exchange takes place. When Jesus died on the cross, God put all our sins upon HIm. Jesus suffered and died for our sins, as our substitute, dying as us for us, taking upon Himself the wrath of God that we deserved. God accepted the penalty Jesus paid for our sins. We know that for sure because God raised Jesus from the dead to prove that He accepted Jesus' payment for all our sins. When we ask Jesus to save us, the Holy Spirit applies the work of Christ on the cross to us.

In plainer words, that is the great exchange. When a sinner repents of his sin and receives God's salvation, God gives the sinner the righteousness of Christ as a free gift. The great exchange is: Jesus took our sins, 1 Peter 2:24, and we get the righteousness of Christ in exchange for our sins.

"For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." 2 Corinthians 5:21

In a practical sense, that means that when God looks at us, He sees the perfection of Jesus, not our sins. My five part series on justification by faith is worth reading and putting notes in the margin of your Bible so you learn this important doctrine.

What is justification by faith?

The truths I've linked to help us answer your question about suicide. Any Christian who commits suicide is still saved and goes to heaven, based on the teaching of scripture that we cannot lose our eternal salvation.

My younger brother David, a born again Christian, took his own life on January 19, 2000, a day seared in my memory. The answer to your question is, Yes, one who commits suicide can be forgiven and Yes, Christians who commit suicide do go to heaven.

I've learned by personal experience, some things to remember about suicide.

1. I know that God's comfort is real.
   
2. I know that a measure of understanding does eventually come.
3. I know that broken hearts do eventually heal.

Based on the promises of God in the Bible, I also know my brother David is with the Lord now. The Bible does not have an exception clause for suicide, which says, If you commit suicide you can't go to heaven. Some churches teach that but that is not what the Bible says.

Eleven days before he took his own life, I spoke with my brother by phone. He was in a happy mood and talked about heaven and how great it would be to go there. I had no clue that he was then planning to take his own life.

There are seven suicides
in the Bible.

1. Abimelech - Judges 9:52-54
   
   
2. Samson - Judges 16:25-30 - The way we know that Sampson's suicide did not send him to Hell is that he is mentioned positively in Hebrews 11:32 as one of the heroes of the faith, not as someone who is in hell.
   
   
3. Saul - 1 Samuel 31:4, 1 Chronicles 10:4
   
   
4. Saul's armour-bearer - 1 Samuel 31:4
   
   
5. Ahithophel - 2 Samuel 17:23
   
   
6. Zimri - 1 Kings 16:15-20
   
   
7. Judas - Matthew 27:3-5, Acts 1:18

If you are thinking about
committing suicide, DON'T!

God has something better than suicide for you and your family. Seek counseling help where you live, keep trusting God, pour out your heart to God in prayer and fill your heart with the promises of God. He will begin to heal your hurt and restore your joy.

Suicide is a permanent solution for a temporary problem. Don't compound your family's problems by responding to suicide by taking your own life.

"But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus." - Philippians 4:19
Please memorize this verse.

What is God's grace?

Return to Gay Christian FAQ

From the suicide question,
return to Gay Christian 101 Home Page




This page updated June 22, 2015