Posted on 12/24/2018 8:22:14 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Responding to the question of whether or not Christians who commit suicide go to Heaven, ethicist Russell Moore said that because the blood of Christ covers sins past, present and future, the “last thing we do” does not determine where we will spend eternity.
Moore, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, said he’s often asked the question by worried individuals whose loved one committed suicide.
“They worry,” he said. “Does this mean because this person essentially the last act on earth was a sin, does this mean that that person is in Hell? And the answer to that is no.”
“This person is in Christ. That means that the blood of Christ covers that person's sins, past, present and future. And so we're not saved on the basis of the last thing that we do being something that is acceptable to God. We're saved by the grace and mercy of God.”
But sometimes, Moore said he’s hesitant to weigh in on whether or not Christians who commit suicide go to Heaven because he fears some will view it as permission to commit suicide.
“It’s not OK,” he underscored. “A suicide is murder. Suicide is the attacking of the image of God. And suicide is horrible. It’s not only a sin but a sin that leaves wreckage and devastation all over the place.”
“And so if you're someone who's asking that because you're contemplating suicide, I would just plead with you to talk to people in your life and get help because life is worth living."
Many individuals who commit suicide are in a place of “deep, deep anguish and distress of various sorts” or suffering from mental illness, Moore pointed out, adding we “ought to view them with compassion.”
“The response that we ought to have when someone we love commits suicide is not to blame people, not to blame that person, not to be angry at that person,” he concluded. “Nor is it to wonder, ‘Does this mean that this person is outside of the reach of God's grace?’ God's grace covers a multitude of sins, including those that are so hurtful that we hesitate to even talk to them.”
Amid a dramatic increase in suicide over the last two decades, a number of faith leaders have weighed in on whether or not those who commit suicide are condemned to Hell.
Recently, a Michigan priest came under fire for suggesting at the funeral of an 18-year-old college student that he might not go to Heaven because he took his own life.
"It was his time to tell everybody what he thought of suicide, [and] we couldn't believe what he was saying," the teen's father, Jeff Hullibarger, told the Detroit Free Press. “He was up there condemning our son, pretty much calling him a sinner. He wondered if he had repented enough to make it to Heaven. He said 'suicide' upwards of six times.”
Apologist and New Testament scholar Dr. Jeremiah Johnston has argued that suicide is not the unforgivable sin.
"The only sin that God cannot forgive is the sin of rejecting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior," he told CP earlier. "Do people who commit suicide go to Hell? Some people teach that suicide is the 'unforgivable sin.' God forgives that sin. Is it a sin? Absolutely. But the salvation we receive from Jesus Christ is eternal, regardless of our mental state or our spiritual maturity or immaturity. Otherwise, the Gospel is void. Do you know how many Christians die unexpectedly with unconfessed sin in their life?"
Kayla Stoecklein, widow of late Inland Hills Church Lead Pastor Andrew Stoecklein, who died after attempting suicide at his California church in August, also debunked the commonly held view and wrote on a blog, "This is a common misbelief about suicide and it breaks my heart ... I believe with 100% of my soul that Andrew is in heaven. Andrew had a real, raw, authentic, and infectious relationship with Jesus. Thousands of people will be in heaven because of him."
Saddleback Church co-founder and best-selling author Kay Warren whose son, Matthew, died by suicide at age 27 in 2013, has also emphasized that suicide doesn't condemn a Christian to Hell.
"God's promised us that Matthew's salvation was safe and secure. Matthew gave his life to Jesus when he was a little boy. And so, I'm absolutely 100 percent confident based on the work of Jesus that Matthew is in Heaven," she told The Christian Post in an earlier interview.
Consider their life....not their death.
I wouldn’t want to bet eternity on it.
God is ALL MERCIFUL! If you believe this, then all souls will have an OPPORTUNITY through merit in this life or the next, to enter the gates of Heaven.
The love of God is infinite. Let God sort it out.
“Are Christians who commit suicide condemned to Hell?”
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No!!!
.
Jesus committed suicide by refusing to fight, is he in hell?
I always thought the answer was YES. However a person who takes his own life is not in their ‘right’ mind, so is YES still the correct answer? Just askin’.
It’s like fleas arguing over who owns the dog.
Crocodile Dundee.
I don't think it's something that can be earned (if you accept that man is a fallen creature).
Until we die, we’ll never know.
Besides, Hell is defined differently by everyone.
Jesus committed suicide by refusing to fight, is he in hell?
______________________________________________________
Jesus would have committed Harakiri if the Romans refused to crucify him? I don’t think so. It’s a stretch to call Jesus’ death “suicide”.
Yes!!!
And neither one of us knows for sure. The only solid example of suicide we have is Judas killing himself over guilt of betrayal. It is significant to say the Bible does not record him as having ever repented. The argument probably needs to be over repentance, not suicide. I don't know....
We really don’t know, because judgment is not ours to make and only God knows the truth.
The prosciption against suicide (at least in the Catholic Church and traditional Christianity) is very severe, and suicides were generally not buried in consecrated ground (the church cemetery, that is). But basically this was this was meant to discourage others from taking that route, and also to underline the seriousness of rejecting God’s gift of life and God’s mercy. Remember, Judas committed suicide when he realized what he had done...even though, had he repented, the Lord would without doubt have pardoned him.
Now that suicide is practically an epidemic in the US, it is very good to reinforce the idea that suicide is the ultimate rejection of God’s gift. Also, in purely secular terms, I once heard it described as a permanent solution to a temporary problem. So people need the carrot (hope) and the stick (damnation) to get past it.
But nobody really knows how God judges anybody, suicide or not. And that was actually the point the priest was trying to make in his homily in Detroit, except that the parents...who no doubt felt very guilty or perhaps were trying to assuage their guilt for not having dealt with whatever problems the boy had that led to his suicide...basically wanted to pretend it had never happened, probably because they don’t actually believe in eternal life.
I don’t think a sacrificial death (i.e., giving your life to save others) falls within the definition of “suicide.”
Jesus didn’t commit suicide anymore than a soldier who throws himself on a grenade to save his fellow troops commits suicide. Anymore than a husband who shields his wife from bullets commits suicide.
God man, show some common sense.
No.
Dangerous question. It’s not a good idea to assure people who are contemplating such a thing that they will not be condemned for it. The thought of winding up in hell may stop many suicides. OTOH, a person who has suffered a spirit-crushing life is certainly known to a merciful Father.
Deliberate murder, including self murder, is a grave sin... “but the Lord pondereth the heart.” -Proverbs 21:2
As with many things, it is best not to making assertions above our paygrade and leave the judging of souls to Him.
“No one goes to Hell on a technicality.” -Popular expression among Orthodox elders.
It's about wanting to escape the hurt, pain, doubt. Doubt in God most of all. When you hate yourself for doubting that God is there or that He hears you or that your life is a mistake He made... then death becomes all the more tempting. Maybe you'll end up in Heaven. Maybe you'll go to Hell. Either is preferable to the pain. If God sends you to Hell, at least He cared enough for that one fleeting moment in His eternal mind to think about you. It's enough of a comforting thought to lead one over the edge or pretty damn too close to it.
I want to believe that He has mercy on those who take their own lives, but otherwise would never contemplate it had their minds not been so wracked with hurt that can't be flicked off like a light switch, no matter how some Christians think it can.
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