“YOU BELIEVE CHRISTIANS WHO COMMIT SUICIDE DESERVE TO AND ARE GOING TO HELL”
I don’t say anything about where someone is going when they leave this world. Here’s what the Bible says about it.
Let’s start with Exodus 20:13 and Deuteronomy 5:17—”You shall not kill.” There are numerous other Scripture passages that condemn killing, such as Genesis 9:5—”For your lifeblood I will surely require a reckoning: of every beast I will require it and of man”—or Ezekiel 23:7—”Keep far from false charge, and do not slay the innocent and the righteous, for I will not acquit the wicked.”
In the New Testament, Christ takes this command even further when he says, “You have heard it said to men of old, ‘You shall not kill; and whoever kills shall be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother shall be liable to the council, and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be liable to the hell of fire.”
Perhaps some are not convinced that these passages apply to taking one’s own life. If that’s the case, consider Matthew 22:39, where Christ says that you must love your neighbor as yourself. If loving yourself means that you could kill yourself, then it would follow that you could do the same to your neighbor, and clearly that is condemned.
A person who takes their own life is not in a rational state of mind. Much of the everyone who kills themselves doctrine stems from Judas. Judas was not depressed. Judas wanted power and money and would betray to achieve it. He knew who he was betraying and chose to do so. Judas is a very far cry from a person in torment due to the pain of mental illness which all too often is not in the persons control and has ZILCH to do with the relationship with GOD. Do you hear their prayers? Well do you? Remember Christ telling about the Pharisee who went in the Temple to pray thanking GOD he was not like that tax collector and reminding GOD of what he did. The tax collector not looking up says "Father forgive me for I am a sinner".
I got a news flash for you. Piling more guilt more accusations of failure, more dogma demands, upon one with mental illness is not going to help them. They carry enough guilt they don't need yours or anyone else's added to it. They need skilled help often beyond that of even clergy unless they have taken quite a few psychology courses. It takes someone far more skilled than you to help them. Many can be helped and some can't be helped even by the best. GOD Bless the ones who day after day try to help them. I know a Christian LCSW or two. Some patients because of the disorder can not feel or understand emotions and thus are incapable of understand The Gospel. Their reasoning is dysfunctional thus spiritually they have no comprehension of sin much like a child does not.
Some have several personalities within them. Are the personalities demons? They actually could be but I would say the exact same thing about Cancer or Dementia as well. How many mentally ill people did Christ condemn when he healed them? Read Mark Chapter 5 where is the condemnation? Matthew Chapter 17 a guy the Disciples could not heal who had seizures. Yet posters demand someone mentally ill do what the disciples could not?
The taking of ones own life is a desperate act. Think for a moment how much pain could you endure 24/7/365? When the pain of living overwhelms the fear of dying you have a person in very severe pain indeed. The thing about it is this. Someone can see a patient with cancer in torment and say Oh that poor soul. They turn around and in the next room is a person in severe psychosis who thinks they hear someone talking to them and the person says they need to get right with GOD?
You see it more today because years ago persons with these disorders were put away. It's not that it has increased as such it's just more visible.
My dad had OCB and depression. He was a Christian and loved the Lord as well as a man could. In his later years the OCB and depression became more serious finally to the point he needed help and I found it for him. A prescription and 30 days later he felt great. My wife has clinical depression. Those same medications will push her into drug induced psychosis. She nearly died form such a reaction and no the doctors could not figure it out. Prayer and a computer look up helped me find the answer. Yes she is right with The Lord. She has faced adversity upon adversities all of her life and I do mean all of it. Yea before we met her pain got to a breaking point. The man who constantly beat her caught her in the act. She knows pain well both physical and emotional day after day she has it. You know some Charismatic Zealot had the nerve to walk up to her and say your lack of faith keeps you in a wheelchair. Do you have any comprehension of the damage stunts like that cause? Oh the zealot? A few months later he was having an extramarital affair with a nurse.
Not one of us is perfect. Not a one of us. None are without sin not a one of us. We all are guilty and need Christ. I'll try to help someone who is mentally ill, depressed, etc. But I'll not condemn them nor judge them because I know not their heart and you need to realize the fact that you don't either. If you can't offer compassion then do them a huge favor and say nothing.
To those who are so hurting that they feel the need to do themselves serious harm I say to them please seek out professional help. Many things can be treated and some things can be overcome all together.