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Suicide

 Submitted: 4/19/2005
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Question: If a person commits suicide even though he or she is baptized and saved, will they still go to heaven or do they automatically go to hell?
Answer: The question you have asked may not be the right question. Perhaps we should ask, Is it possible that a person who is truly saved would commit suicide? After all, if a person is trusting in Jesus for eternal life, why would this person give up on Jesus for the present life? Life is a gift from God, and for a believer to reject the gift would seem to be tantamount to rejecting the Giver.

The Bible mentions at least three people who committed suicide. The first is Saul, who was the first king of Israel. After being defeated by the Philistines, he 'took a sword and fell on it' (1 Samuel 31:4-6). This did not happen while Saul was sincerely serving God, but after he had rejected the word of the Lord and been rejected by God from being king. It was also after the Lord had taken His Spirit from Saul and sent an evil spirit to distress him (1 Samuel 15:26; 16:14). Based on this information, we cannot consider Saul to be representative of a 'saved man.'

The second person was Ahithophel, who was the counselor of Absalom, the rebel son of David, kind of Israel (2 Samuel 17:23). This man had counseled Absalom to allow him to raise up an army of twelve thousand men against David. It is interesting that both Saul and Ahithophel had attempted to destroy David, who is clearly a type of Jesus in His role as the King of kings.

The third person is Judas Iscariot, who was clearly a rejecter of the Savior and His grace (Matthew 27:3-5).

These biblical examples lead us to conclude that the issue is not what happens to a 'saved person' who commits suicide, but whether suicide an infallible evidence that a person has rejected, and been rejected by, the Savior?

Due to the absence of a clear biblical statement, we are not willing to make an absolute declaration concerning the eternal destiny of everyone who commits suicide. But we do believe that the examples we have cited suggest that suicide is the territory of the unsaved rather than the saved.



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