Dear Rich,
If a born again Christian commits suicide because they have major depression and have struggled to sleep every night for 20 years and are on antidepressants and in terrible pain, they will still go to Heaven won’t they? My Mom committed suicide on New Years Day 2011. I believe she’s with the Lord Jesus who she loved and served all her life until she was in too much agony to go on. I wondered what your thoughts are on this subject.
Sincerely
Dear _________,
You raise a legitimate concern, one that I have heard before. Let me get right to it. No. The suicide of Christian does not send him or her to hell. I am going to give to you some passages from God’s Word which will hopefully relieve your thoughts about this.
Matt. 10:28 – “Do not fear those who are able to kill the body but are not able to kill the soul. . .” Your mom killed her body – yes, but she did not have the power to touch her soul. Only God has that ability.
1 John 1:7 – “. . .the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.” We never know when our time on earth will be up, right? Death can happen at anytime and in many different ways. So many Christians therefore die with unconfessed sins. You may have a heated argument with a loved one and then on your way home get into a car accident and die before you were able to confess it to God. Does unconfessed sin at the time of death, send Christians to hell? Not even in the slightest. Why? Because the blood of Jesus keeps cleansing us from all our sin – past, present and future. This is a wonderful promise of God.
Now, there are scores of other passages that I can give, but I think you are getting the picture. However, let me save the canon ball for last. Are you ready for this? Get your bible out and mark this in your bible and never forget this one.
2 Timothy 2:11-13: Here is a trustworthy saying:
If we died with him, we will also live with him;
12 if we endure, we will also reign with him.
If we disown him, he will also disown us;
13 if we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot disown himself.
Notice what is being stated here. If we died with him, and we died with Jesus at the time we received Him into our lives (Rom. 6), what is the next promise? We shall also live with Him.
Next, if we endure, and every believer is an overcomer who endures by the grace of God through faith (see 1 John 5:4-5), what is the promise? We will reign with Him.
Next, if we disown Him. That is, if we refuse to believe in Jesus and confess Him as our Lord (Matt. 10:32-33), God will also deny knowing us (cf. Matt. 7:21-23). This is obvious. God only know those who believe in Him.
Now watch this: “If we are faithless.” Are there times in our lives when we become “faithless?” So many times, right? Every time we commit a sin that is a sign of faithlessness. Okay now watch this: When your mom committed suicide she had a moment of “faithlessness.” Suicide is sin. It is self-inflicted murder. Much of it probably was caused by the drugs she had been taken for so long. But nevertheless -- What then is the result? “HE (God) remains FAITHFUL.” How come? Because, “He CANNOT DENY HIMSELF.”
What does this mean? Even in moments of faithlessness on our part, God remains toward His own “faithful.” Because for God to be anything less than faithful of His promises to us – promises such as the ones we read above. Promises such as, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Heb. 13:5). When God makes these promises who is He swearing by? He swears by Himself, for there is no one greater than He. It is therefore impossible for God to break a promise that He makes to us because to do so would mean that He would deny Himself in the process. God cannot do this. He cannot deny Himself by breaking a promise. So, even when we are faithless and do something wrong, God still remains faithful to us and thus will never ever break a promise to us and be anything less than faithful, even at the time of a Christian’s death.
Paul wanted to drive this point home, so he wrote in verse 11, “Here is a trustworthy saying.” You can trust these words. You can count on God to keep His promises. What a wonderful promise to hold onto.
One final note: Who saved your mom? God did, right? How much of your mom, did God save? All of her, right? How much of God did He play in saving your mom – some or all? God played a one hundred percent role in saving your mom. He even gave her the faith to believe in Jesus – for even the saving faith to believe in Jesus is a gift from God (Eph. 2:8-9). Therefore, since God’s role in saving your mom was one hundred percent on His part and nothing on her part, how could she do anything on her part to unravel it? See my point?
I hope you find comfort and encouragement in the power and promise of God’s Word.
Much Blessings,
Rich
