If your religion is "Christian" and you commit suicide, will that be a sure way to hell?

Question

please forgive me if I sound rude for this but please don`t offer me advice on getting help or finding another solution. Some times the only thing that stops me from doing what I believe is the only real solution for me and my family is the fear of going to hell.

Answer 1

The tragic news of a suicide does not close a chapter in the lives of relatives and friends; it opens one, a chapter of mixed feelings of pity and anger, sorrow and guilt. And it raises the question: May we entertain any hope for our friend who took his or her life?

Although self-inflicted death is never justified, never righteous, the apostle Paul did hold out a beautiful hope for even some unrighteous ones. As he told a Roman court of law: “I have hope toward God, that there is going to be a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous.” Acts 24:15.
Many theologians have long dismissed any suggestion that the resurrection of the unrighteous might offer hope for those who commit suicide. Why?

Centuries ago, churchmen introduced a non-Biblical concept: immortal souls that leave the body at death and go straight to heaven, purgatory, Limbo, or hell. That concept clashed with the Bible’s clear teaching of a future resurrection. As Baptist minister Charles Andrews asked: “If the soul is already blissfully in heaven (or is already justifiably roasting in hell), what need is there for anything further?” He added: “This inner contradiction has remained to plague Christians throughout the centuries.”

One result of such errant theology was that “since Augustine’s time [354-430 C.E.], the church has condemned suicide as a sin,” says Arthur Droge in the Bible Review, “a sin beyond redemption, just like apostasy and adultery.”

Jesus told a criminal sentenced to death: “You will be with me in Paradise.” The man was unrighteous, a lawbreaker rather than a distraught suicide victim, guilty by his own frank admission. (Luke 23:39-43) He had no hope of going to heaven to rule with Jesus. So the Paradise in which this thief could hope to come back to life would be the beautiful earth under the rule of Jehovah God’s Kingdom. Matthew 6:9, 10; Revelation 21:1-4.

For what purpose will God awaken this criminal? So that He mercilessly can hold his past sins against him? Hardly, for Romans 6:7, 23 says: “He who has died has been acquitted from his sin,” and “the wages sin pays is death.” Although his past sins will not be accounted to him, he will still need the ransom to lift him to perfection.

Only God can fully understand the role of mental sickness, extreme stress, even genetic defects, in a “suicidal crisis,” which, the National Observer noted, “is not a lifetime characteristic [but] often a matter only of minutes or of hours.”
Granted, one who takes his own life deprives himself of the opportunity to repent of his self-murder. But who can say whether one driven to suicide might have had a change of heart had his fatal attempt failed? Some notorious murderers have, in fact, changed and earned God’s forgiveness during their lifetime.
Thus, Jehovah, having paid “a ransom in exchange for many,” His Son, is within his right to extend mercy, even to some self-murderers, by resurrecting them and giving them the precious opportunity to “repent and turn to God by doing works that befit repentance.”

I apologize for the length, but you may wish to read what Jesus said about death.

Jesus Christ spoke about the condition of the dead. He did so with regard to Lazarus, a man whom he knew well and who had died. Jesus told his disciples: “Lazarus our friend has gone to rest.” The disciples thought that Jesus meant that Lazarus was resting in sleep, recovering from an illness. They were wrong. Jesus explained: “Lazarus has died.” (John 11:11-14) Notice that Jesus compared death to rest and sleep. Lazarus was neither in heaven nor in a burning hell. He was not meeting angels or ancestors. Lazarus was not being reborn as another human. He was at rest in death, as though in a deep sleep without dreams. Other scriptures also compare death to sleep. For example, when the disciple Stephen was stoned to death, the Bible says that he “fell asleep.” (Acts 7:60) Similarly, the apostle Paul wrote about some in his day who had “fallen asleep” in death.


The Bible teaches that the dead “are conscious of nothing at all.” They are not alive and have no conscious existence anywhere. The account of Lazarus confirms this. Upon returning to life, did Lazarus thrill people with descriptions of heaven? Or did he terrify them with horrible tales about a burning hell? No. The Bible contains no such words from Lazarus. During the four days that he was dead, he had been “conscious of nothing at all.” (Ecclesiastes 9:5) Lazarus had simply been sleeping in death.
The account of Lazarus also teaches us that the resurrection is a reality, not a mere myth. Jesus raised Lazarus in front of a crowd of eyewitnesses. Even the religious leaders, who hated Jesus, did not deny this miracle.

Think about this too: If Lazarus had been in heaven for those four days, would he not have said something about it? And if he had been in heaven, would Jesus have made him come back to earth from that wonderful place? Of course not!

Yet, many people say that we have a soul, and they say that the soul lives on after the body dies. They say that Lazarus’ soul was alive somewhere. But the Bible does not say that. It says that God made the first man Adam “a living soul.” Gen. 2:7, Adam was a soul. The Bible also says that when Adam sinned, he died. He became a “dead soul,” and he returned to the dust from which he had been made. The Bible also says that all Adam’s offspring inherited sin and death too.

The Scriptural teaching of the resurrection, however, is not compatible with the doctrine of the immortality of the soul. If an immortal soul survived death, no one would need to be resurrected, or brought back to life. Indeed, Martha expressed no thought about an immortal soul that was living on elsewhere after death. She did not believe that Lazarus had already gone to some spirit realm to continue his existence. On the contrary, she showed her faith in God’s purpose to reverse the effects of death. She said: “I know he will rise in the resurrection on the last day.” Likewise, Lazarus himself related no experiences of some afterlife. There was nothing to report.

Clearly, according to the Bible, the soul dies and the remedy for death is the resurrection. You enjoy the best sleep ever, until Jesus resurrects you, sometime in the future.

Answer 2

. . . I'll be honest, I have trouble considering homosexuality to be that massive of a sin. I mean, you found love, and it's in someone of the same gender. Good for you for findin' it. I do know that suicide is a pretty hefty sin, as you're essentially 'giving up', as opposed to taking the chance and risk associated with living. I don't know the specifics, as I really don't see that it matters. I figure, after death, we're more or less weighed on the good and bad that we did. Yet, I do believe that, if the reason behind why we did the bad thing is valid--or vice versa--then it lessens the weight of that sin. ...I'm not the person to ask about this, though. I'm an Anglo-Saxon Protestant Christian who believes small bits and pieces of many other religions and cultures out there. (I also believe that reincarnation may be valid, yet I've no clue. I don't exactly recall what happens once we shuffle off this mortal coil, y'know?) Oh, and I know what you're talking about. My aunt--the one I hate because, she's been mean to me ever since I was like.. 3 months old, give or take.. is also a lesbian. I don't like her personally, but I'm not about to say that's she gonna go to hell for her taste. I mean, with all the **** I've done, I'd say I'm more apt to go to hell than she is. Again, though, I'm really not the person you'd want to ask about this.

Answer 3

It has always been taught that yes you go to hell for committing suicide because it's like murder. Since we are not God and there is nothing in the bible that says taking your own life will put you in hell, no human can answer that question.

Answer 4

I understand (really do) the feeling. Instead of fearing hell, I fear that my children or family will feel the same helplessness because of my decision. It hurts me more to think they would have to live with the memory of a mom who did such a thing. It may even cause them despair also.
I have problems with clinical depression and mood swings, that is why I think this.

Answer 5

Jesus committed political suicide and at last census count, he's in Heaven waiting for us. God and his son Jesus forgive all.....many suicide victims have written a note to God asking for forgiveness before they performed the act......I am sure they were forgiven.

Answer 6

You hypothesis has to many variables to be answered yes or no. That is as scientific as it gets.
a question for you to ponder If you plan a suicide and work out all the details are you planning to murder someone?

Answer 7

You will go straight to hell because you were not strong enough to go through temptations and did not have faith upon your creator

Answer 8

no