SUICIDE: THE RESULT? HEAVEN OR HELL

Suicide is the intentional taking of one's own life. It may also mean the sense of the willful destruction of self-interest. Suicide may occur for a number of reasons, including depression, desperation, guilt, shame, physical pain, financial problems, etc.

According to the World Health Organization, over one million people commit suicide every year, and it is one of the leading causes of death among teenagers and adults under 35. There are also an estimated 10 to 20 million non-fatal attempted suicides every year worldwide.

The object of this article is not to discuss why suicide occurs, but rather the aftermath of the suicide and whether the person will go to heaven or hell after the person commits the act. There are endless disputes for and against suicides being saved.

The Bible mentions six specific people who committed suicide: Abimelech (Judges 9:54), Saul (1 Samuel 31:4), Saul's armor-bearer (1 Samuel 31:4-6), Ahithophel (2 Samuel 17:23), Zimri (1 Kings 16:18), and Judas (Matthew 27:5). Five of them were wicked, evil, and sinful men but we cannot judge Saul's armor-bearer as to his character. Nothing much is written about his character.

Some consider Samson an instance of suicide (Judges 16:26-31), while others think otherwise. Samson's goal was to kill the Philistines, not himself.

Abimelech

• Judges 9:52 -54 Ahimelech slew his brethren (70)

Samson

• Judges 16:25-30
• Samson died for a cause he believed in and for revenge on God's enemies. He prayed to God for strength to destroy the Philistine. He left the decision entirely in the hands of God. He wasn't hopeless, and had hope and faith. By contrast, those who commit suicide are without hope, and are intent on taking their own lives regardless of what God's intends or what His will may be. Samson's object was not specifically to kill himself, but to be avenged by God in his killing of the Philistines. This was in full accord with the purpose of God, who allowed it. Samson died as a soldier in battle carrying out the will of God. He brought judgment upon God's enemies, and he should not be considered as a suicide.

Saul

• 1 Samuel 19:10-11; 1 Samuel 28,31
• Saul sinned against God by tryinng to kill David, unable to live up to certain expectations; he consulted a witch, felt rejected and was a failure as king.

Saul's armor-bearer

• 1 Samuel 31:5 Impulsive, he wanted to die with his boss. 40% of teenage suicide is because of impulsiveness. He believed in his boss, Saul rather than God.

Ahithophel

• 2 Samuel 17:23 Ahithophel was bitter and angry because his advice was rejected.

Zimri

• 1 Kings 16:15-20 Rebellious Zimri of Israel had a problem with authority. He reigned only seven days in Tirzah.

Judas

• Matthew 27:3-5 Depressed, Judas felt trapped by his own action and hung himself. The biblical suicides sinned against God and His commandments and thus ended their own lives. Can those who sinned against God be saved? How do you classify a Christian who disobeyed God in his last moments of life? Is he still considered a Christian in his last throes?

The Biblical suicides were evil men and did not obey the commandments of the Lord. Towards the end of their lives, they commit suicide because they saw no hope in the future.. To continue living in despair is not an option for them, and they took the easy way out. Little did they know that they will live forever in darkness.

Man was given the freedom of choice from the very beginning of his creation in the book of Genesis 2:17. God gave the warning to Adam: "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." Man can choose to obey God or die and he chose death.

Eve disobeyed God and listened to the serpent and ate the forbidden fruit and then gave it to Adam who willingly also ate it. Because of disobedience, they were banished from the garden of Paradise. If Adam and Eve were punished for their disobedience, then should not the suicides be punished as well? Some may question those who are not in their right mind and have no control of themselves. One may question how they arrive at this stage of mind. They did not ask God to deliver them from evil. They did their own thing. They chose to obey their own minds rather than seek God for solutions to their problems. Are these people still Christians at heart?

When a person commits suicide, he dies and life ceases. There is no more movement in him for he has ceased to function. He has committed a crime against himself and against the commandments of God in self murder, which is another word for suicide (Exodus 20:13). He has disassociated himself from God by his very action. When a man rejects God, God will reject him, but when he repents, God would forgive him. The suicide is dead, so how can he repent? Can he ask for forgiveness when his life ceases and there is no pulse in him? His body is dead and every part of him is dead. No reaction whatsoever.

Deuteronomy 30:16 states: "In that I command thee this day to love the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply..."

To live in death is to be with Jesus and to sit with Him to worship Him in eternity. Can those who died by suicide claim that they were obedient to the Lord Jesus until they died?

Believers' thoughts on Suicide

Will God forgive suicide?

"My premise for believing that a person once saved can still fall into judgment at the hands of God, is that God gave us free will. I don't believe that God takes away our free will when we are saved. I believe we have to choose each and every day whom we will serve; ourselves or God. Let's look at another passage: (John 10:27-30 NIV)

My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.

{28} I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.

{29} My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all ; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand.

{30} I and the Father are one." Notice that Jesus says no one can snatch us from His hand. But is that the same as saying I will never let them go? I don't think so. I don't think Jesus is saying that we cannot choose to leave our position, I believe He is saying that Satan nor anyone else can cause you to lose your salvation. We are secure as long as we want to be secure.

First let's look at the Old Testament. (Ezekiel 18:23-28 NIV) Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign LORD. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live?

{24} "But if a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits sin and does the same detestable things the wicked man does, will he live? None of the righteous things he has done will be remembered. Because of the unfaithfulness he is guilty of and because of the sins he has committed, he will die.

{25} "Yet you say, 'The way of the Lord is not just.' Hear, O house of Israel: Is my way unjust?

Is it not your ways that are unjust?

{26} If a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits sin, he will die for it; because of the sin he has committed he will die.

{27} But if a wicked man turns away from the wickedness he has committed and does what is just and right, he will save his life.

{28} Because he considers all the offenses he has committed and turns away from them, he will surely live; he will not die. God does not pull any punches at all, He clearly says here that if a righteous man turns away from Him, He will not remember the righteousness any longer. He also states that He does not take pleasure in death, but wants everyone to come to Him." "The Bible views suicide as equal to murder, which is what it is—self-murder. God is the one who is to decide when and how a person should die. To take that power into your own hands, according to the Bible, is blasphemy against God."

Here is how John MacArthur, a very respected Bible teacher today, answers the question: Can one who commits suicide be saved?

Suicide is a grave sin equivalent to murder (Exodus 20:13; 21:23), but it can be forgiven like any other sin. And Scripture says clearly that those redeemed by God have been forgiven for all their sins--past, present, and future (Colossians 2:13-14). Paul says in Romans 8:38-39 that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. So if a true Christian would commit suicide in a time of extreme weakness, he or she would be received into heaven (Jude 24). But we question the faith of those who take their lives or even consider it seriously--it may well be that they have never been truly saved. I say that because God's children are defined repeatedly in Scripture as those who have hope (Acts 24:15; Romans 5:2-5, 8:24; 2 Corinthians 1:10, etc.) and purpose in life (Luke 9:23-25; Romans 8:28; Colossians 1:29). And those who think of committing suicide do so because they have neither hope nor purpose in their lives.

Furthermore, one who repeatedly considers suicide is practicing sin in his heart (Proverbs 23:7), and 1 John 3:9 says that "no one who is born of God practices sin." And finally, suicide is often the ultimate evidence of a heart that rejects the lordship of Jesus Christ, because it is an act where the sinner is taking his life into his own hands completely rather than submitting to God's will for it. Surely many of those who have taken their lives will hear those horrifying words from the Lord Jesus at the judgment--"I never knew you; Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness" (Matthew 7:23). So though it may be possible for a true believer to commit suicide, we believe that is an unusual occurrence. Someone considering suicide should be challenged above all to examine himself to see whether he is in the faith (2 Corinthians 13:5).

[End of MacArthur's quote]

Matthew 10:22; 24:13; Mark 13:13

• But he that endureth to the end shall be saved.

James 1:12

• Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.

Psalm 119:33

• Teach me, O Lord, the way of thy statutes; and I shall keep it unto the end.

A person who believes in Jesus Christ has hope in the future. A person may be tempted temporarily and stumble, but repents when he recovers and when he becomes stronger can ask Jesus for forgiveness and will be forgiven. Take Peter who denied Jesus three times, he was forgiven. King David committed adultery, murder and covetousness which are mortal sins but was forgiven by God when he repented. However, he was punished severely for his sins. His daughter, Tamar was raped by his step-brother, his two sons rebelled against him and he had to flee for his life, his ten wives were raped by his own son, his adultery with Bathsheba resulted in the death of the baby. David, however, was a man after God heart for he sorely repented. He wrote many of the Psalms in the Bible. He repented sorely and cried to the Lord for repentance. The suicide has no chance of repenting and therefore there is no chance to make up for his sin in suicide.

May the Lord Jesus have mercy on the family of the suicide and give them strength to battle against depression and sorrow caused by their beloved ones. Jesus Christ is just and without prejudice and righteous in His judgment of everyone in the world. All glory to the Lord God of the universe.

Suicide Videos - YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL703930DC2524AF56Please these videos are of real people. Who really did end their life. May their faces live on and never be forgotten. May no one else have to face the pain ...