ECM is actually an extremely intelligent, cultured fellow who reads far more deeply than I do on a wide variety of topics, including philosophy, history and science. He likes to puzzle about difficult questions, and you never know what he will ask from one day to the next.
Today he wanted to know what I thought about Protestants and suicide. In Roman Catholicism, suicide is a mortal sin, so you go straight to Hell since you can’t confess it and do penance for it. [UPDATE: My Catholic commenters say that you might still go to Heaven after some time in Purgatory. However, Protestants don’t believe in Purgatory]. But I didn’t think that that would be the case in Protestantism because we emphasize grace and the sufficiency of Christ’s atonement to cover all sins. But he started to tie me up in knots with his questions, so I just told him to go away.
I still don’t know what the answer is.
Here are the questions:
- 1) Is suicide a sin in Protestant Christianity?
- 2) What happens to a Protestant if he commits suicide?
- 3) How can a Protestant repent of the sin of suicide?
- 4) Does suicide count as murdering yourself for Protestants?
Please explain to me the right answers in the comments. I really have no idea.
You can also suggest more questions, and I will add them to the list.
WINTERY KNIGHT 
Well we need to define what suicide is first. There are two types of way definitions we can give: descriptive and evaluative definitions. Let’s take the first one, for example. If we define suicide as simply the taking of ones own life, then it’s not necessarily a sin. The soldier who dives on top of a grenade, for instance, though he commits suicide, is not sinning.
A better definition of suicide would be the immoral taking of one’s own life. On this definition, suicide is always a sin. The soldier who dives on top of a grenade wouldn’t be committing suicide because such a case would not count as a legitimate example of suicide to begin with.
So then is suicide a sin? Yes, because it’s the equivalent of self-murder. Now, assuming that a Protestant is genuinely saved when he commits suicide, I’d say that he goes to heaven. To say that you go to hell for suicide presupposes the notion that any unconfessed sin will condemn you, which is false, since all of our sin (Past, present, and future) has already been covered by the blood of Christ.
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But isn’t there some cost for sinning, perhaps in a diminished quality of post-resurrection life? Fewer rewards in Heaven?
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Yes. In Matthew 5, for instance, Jesus talks about those who break the law as being the “least” in heaven and those who keep the law as being the “greatest.” There are many references in the Gospels about there being different levels of rewards.
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OK, that makes more sense to me. You can’t just go on sinning with impunity when you are a Christian, but you can’t lose your salvation by committing sins.
I think there are even different levels of punishments too, like when Jesus says some people from cities will be worse off because God revealed himself to them more, and they should have believed more easily with more evidence, but they didn’t. He says that judgment will be worse for them.
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Actually, Catholic teaching is NOT that you go straight to Hell if you commit suicide. Here are the relevant excerpts from the on-line Catholic Catechism. Note in particular paragraph 2283.
Suicide
2280 Everyone is responsible for his life before God who has given it to him. It is God who remains the sovereign Master of life. We are obliged to accept life gratefully and preserve it for his honor and the salvation of our souls. We are stewards, not owners, of the life God has entrusted to us. It is not ours to dispose of.
2281 Suicide contradicts the natural inclination of the human being to preserve and perpetuate his life. It is gravely contrary to the just love of self. It likewise offends love of neighbor because it unjustly breaks the ties of solidarity with family, nation, and other human societies to which we continue to have obligations. Suicide is contrary to love for the living God.
2282 If suicide is committed with the intention of setting an example, especially to the young, it also takes on the gravity of scandal. Voluntary co-operation in suicide is contrary to the moral law.
Grave psychological disturbances, anguish, or grave fear of hardship, suffering, or torture can diminish the responsibility of the one committing suicide.
2283 We should not despair of the eternal salvation of persons who have taken their own lives. By ways known to him alone, God can provide the opportunity for salutary repentance. The Church prays for persons who have taken their own lives.
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Thanks for clarifying this. As a Catholic, I was fairly sure that suicide wasn’t a mortal sin.
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I presided at the funeral of a man I knew who had killed himself. Before this experience, I would have said if one suicides, one goes to hell.
However, God made it clear during the entire week before the funeral, at the wake, and while preparing for the various messages, that motivation matters as well as the action.
Often, we think people suicide because they are depressed. But it is possible for someone to be so influenced by the enemy that they fear they will harm the ones they love. So out of love for others, and because they can see no other option, they take their own life. This man lived a life of pain and love. He loved his children like no one else has loved their children. However, he had a great deal of pain from his childhood and that carried over to his adulthood. He was greatly troubled. But he trusted in Jesus for his salvation. It caused him to show love when he was not affected by meds or alcohol. God made it clear to me while preparing the messages for that funeral that HE is love, and we are called to love God and love others, and this man did that to the best of his warped ability.
Christ died for all sins once for all. We are to repent (change, turn from) our sin and turn to God. It is possible that this man’s level of maturity was tiny, but he had faith none the less. I think this was the case for him. Scripture says we are not to murder – but does giving one’s life to protect innocent children qualify as murder? I dont think it does – even if he gave his life by taking his own life.
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This is likely THE fundamental difference between Roman Catholicism and Protestant theology. In Roman Catholicism, you manage your salvation. You do it by deeds and by repentance. In Protestant theology you have what is called “forensic justification”. When you read that Abraham was justified by faith, the argument is that he was DECLARED just. No amount of sinning or repentance would alter that declaration.
To the Roman Catholic, you ARRIVE at justification. If you don’t do it in this life (and almost no one does), you do it in Purgatory (as in “purge”-atory). To the Protestant you are justified by faith and works do not contribute to that justification. So, while there are consequences (loss of rewards, etc.) to suicide, it does not qualify as the unpardonable sin. (Remember, there is only one.)
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I’ve always seen it like this. Many people who commit suicide are mentally ill, with clinical depression, anxiety etc, all of which are just as much illnesses as anything else. I know of a few people who were absolutely born again Christians, who later in their life got mentally ill and committed suicide. The fact is that they had an illness and if they weren’t ill they never would have committed suicide, and so it wasn’t really their own doing. They were definitely born again Christians and so there is no way that I can see that they’d be going to hell because of an illness they had.
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If you believe in heaven, you’ll go.
That suicide sends a soul to a doomed limbo is something that…to put it quite simply..is something that the wise old rabbis who put the bible together included so that we wouldn’t RUSH to our just reward, so that wen would toil & sufffer our moral way through this thing.
Many good unwell men and women end their lives
tragically for a number of very sad reasons.
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“If you believe in heaven, you’ll go”?
That’s simply not true.
James 2:19 comes to mind; “19You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.”
Even the demons believe in heaven, do that mean they’ll go too??
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Suicide is such a broad term. In fact, Catholic Church classifies suicide into 4 types (which is a broad classification in itself BTW). You can’t simply say suicide itself isn’t a mortal sin according to Catholic church teachings. That’s where classification comes into the picture. But then since you are interested about the Protestant teachings, I don’t think need to elaborate here.
Stan,
You have the misconception about the Catholic Church. We don’t ‘manage’ our salvation. We do believe that our salvation is through Christ as well. If we believe that WE ‘manage’ our own salvation by ‘doing’ things ourselves, we will not only be considered foolish and arrogant but also self-idolatrous. What we really do is making ourselves less unworthy of the gift of salvation Christ gave us. We just want to show gratitude because Christ loves a little thanks you know. :) (Luke 17:11)
That’s precisely why we believe in Purgatory. Because we know we aren’t perfect and can’t make ourselves perfect. And you are wrong again about purgatory. Souls can’t ‘do’ anything in the purgatory. They just have to suffer in the absence of God there. It’s the living who pray for those souls.
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Oh and BTW, by that I don’t mean the prayer of living would save those souls. It’s still God’s mercy and judiciousness which would save the day!
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I love that the christians are implying that you can do what you want with your body when it comes to suicide but not when it comes to abortion. How is abortion not a directed suicide? You’re choosing to kill a small portion of your body while suicide is choosing to kill the entire thing. If your in favor suicide, then you have to be in favor of abortion – both kill.
(this ignores the mentally ill argument)
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No, no, no – it’s a really bad sin. The equivalent of self-murder – murdering yourself. It can be forgiven but it’s really bad!!! You’re in the image of God. You’re going to lose major rewards in the after-life, but you still go to heaven. That’s the protestant view. We don’t worry as much about little sins. You ask for forgiveness and then you try your best to walk with God day by day. if you make a mistake it doesn’t get you kicked out. Christ’s atoning death covers all sins, except for the sin of unbelief, which is unforgiveable.
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An interesting discussion! Some great comments, particularly from Tim H. Suicide is certainly sin, but it is not the unforgiveable sin, which is against the Holy Spirit – i.e. refusing the Spirit’s witness to Christ. So, like all other, forgiveable sins, it is covered by the blood of Christ.
In response to Shalini, I have a few questions. I’m asking these out of genuine curiosity – not to start a Catholic-Protestant fight. ;-) Why do we need to suffer in purgatory? Is the blood of Christ not sufficient atonement? And if being in purgatory is being in the absence of God, how is that not Hell? Surely it is only in Hell that one experiences the desolation of complete removal from the presence of God who is life and light and love and whithout whom there is nothing good.
Jerry, firstly, the unborn child is not part of it’s mother’s body. It just lives inside it’s mother until birth. The unborn child has it’s own unique genetic code and even its own blood supply, which is why children born to HIV-positive mothers don’t necessarily have the virus, unless they swallow the mother’s blood during birth. Moreover, as Wintery points out, we are certainly not advocating suicide here. It is something to avoid ourselves, and to prevent in others. We are simply asking the questions surrounding the person’s eternal destiny.
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Mary,
God knows I don’t want to get into a Catholic-Protestant debate, either (esp. in Wintery’s blog! I think he doesn’t like these much.) but I’ll try answering you as best as I can.
Why, because the Scripture says so. (Surprising, huh? :) ) Because we’ve already established we are not perfect and the Revelation says no one who’s impure can enter the gates of Heaven. It really isn’t that simple, I’ll have to admit that. We are saved in Christ yes, but what about we doing the same things He insisted we shouldn’t do? He died for all our sins past, present and future but what does it say about us who commit sins despite knowing He died because of those sins? Isn’t that gross disrespect to the love and sacrifice of Christ? He understands we are weak in flesh that’s why He died for us, but does that give us free pass to abuse His love by committing those sins over and over again? Why did Peter say God’s people would be judged first if the very fact that we are God’s people would exempt us from judgement? In 1 Cor 3:12, Paul doesn’t talk about the rewards based on your work but the test your work has to endure first. Honestly, there are so many passages in the Scripture which talks about praying for the dead and baptism of the dead. But then again this is an exercise in futility because the Catholic and Protestant interpretations of the Bible vary a lot, so you are more inclined to disagree with me. :)
As for purgatory, have you read the poem “Dark Night of the Soul” by St. John of the Cross? That’s what I believe purgatory will be really like, with the fire though. I haven’t given much thought to what it would be like rather my focus is on why one has to be there. So pardon me if I can’t really explain what purgatory really is like.:)
Honestly, I am genuinely confused by the Protestant stand as well. It’s not just suicide. What if you truly believe in Christ and then commit murder? Let’s take for instance, a pro-life Christian who kills a doctor who performs abortions. Or a Christian who is also a homosexual? Is it okay to deliberately disobey the God’s commandment and claim to be a Christian? Where do you draw the line and say this person isn’t a Christian no matter what he/she claims? I’ll understand if WK doesn’t want to have further Catholic vs Protestant arguments here, but inquiring minds want to know.
I am truly sorry if my tone came out confrontational. That wasn’t my intention. It just simply tires me out ’cause I have these arguments a lot and have figured these arguments really don’t help much.
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Thanks for your response, Shalini. No, it didn’t come out as confrontational. :)
Thank you for your answer on the Catholic understanding of purgatory. I will look up “Dark Night of the Soul”. I think it’s valuable to discuss these things, provided one keeps it respectful. I can understand that it’s often tiring defending your view. Know the feeling actually. :-P
As for the Protestant stance on a person claiming to be Christian who sins, that I can hopefully help you with. I think the issue actually comes out in this question you asked: “Where do you draw the line and say this person isn’t a Christian no matter what he/she claims?” Thankfully, we aren’t the ones who have to draw that line. God, who has perfect knowledge and perfect wisdom, will make the right decision. It’s certainly not ok to disobey God – particularly as a child of God. And yet, we all do to some extent. If there is a sustained pattern of disobedience with no effort to counter it, then that is likely evidence of an untransformed heart. It’s not just about the outward behaviour though, but the state of heart towards God. Is there an attitude of defiance or an attitude of faith and love to Him? I think that in our heart-of-hearts we know if we’re being real or playing a part. But only God is able to judge that accurately with regard to another person. We can make educated guesses, but our job is to lovingly direct people who are off-track back to God and, if they persist in disobedience, to practise tough love and sometimes church discipline – for their good.
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Amen! Tell it like it is!
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When you say ‘protestant view’ you would be really generalising since there is most assuredly individual protestant churches and denominations that say suicides rocket straight to hell.
But broadly speaking Protestant churches that ascribe to Romans 10:9 and 10:10 as the requirements for salvation would by necessity have to allow that suicides can get to heaven. Being born again can’t be rooted out by your deeds. It affects your rewards.
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i am a Catholic convert. I’m thinking about taking my life. I’ve been through alot in the the last few years. I have major back pain,and now living with depression and anxiety. i havn’t worked since Oct of 2014. It’s Dr visit after Dr visit. deal with workers comp,and deal with your employer. My injury happened in 1998 . I’VE HAD 3 surgeries 2001. Get relief for awhile. then pain returns. I’m so sick of PAIN! I’m worried about not being able to prayed out of purgatory. Because I KNOW IT WILL HELP MY FAMILY IF I’M OUT OF THE PICTURE. She could pay all debt off, and could have a good life. I HATE THE FACT THAT I WOULD NOT BE HERE FOR MY DAUGHTER, but I,m at THE END OF MY ROPE. I’VE already looked up the best way to do it. I CAN DO IT WHERE MY FAMILY WILL NOT HAVE TO GO WHERE I CAN DO IT AT. MY QUESTION IS AM I COMITTING A MORTAL SIN?
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Joe PLEASE don’t take your own life! Despite what you think, your family and friends will be DEVASTATED if you do. As for the mortal sin thing, I don’t know but PLEASE talk to a priest or counsellor about what you’re going through.
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It seems that this question has been debated for 6 years now. I am a Protestant, practicing as we all do, and I found myself pondering this very question at this very moment. I know that God led me on my life path. He has shown me so many signs.
Prior to breaking my back I was a paramedic and firefighter. On my off days I did therapeutic work with people that suffered from Traumatic Brain Injuries and severe dementia. My life was all about helping others and being the strength in my family.
After my fall I could no longer do those things. I had been married for 3 years and my husband left me while I was in the hospital. I coded and they wouldn’t let him in the room. I was in heaven. I know I was. The feeling, the love seeing my loved ones (my Dad was killed in a head on Motor vehicle accident 20 days after I was wed and my grandmother had a heart attack on my wedding day and survived). They were all there.
As a Protestant there is no purgatory, we sin and we work and not doing it again. It is through his light and love that we are made complete. The God I know can differentiate between what has been done with a pure heart, mentally ill or not. I believe he knows when we suffer and when that suffering is too much for our bodies to handle. Suicide is not something that anyone takes lightly. I’ve responded to so many.
Now I am a funeral director and He led me to this path. If my father hadn’t died and had such a incredibly botched autopsy I wouldn’t have found a new way to continue to help others in a positive way. He knows when it is our time to leave our earthly bodies and transcend to our rightful place in heaven.
On a personal note, having to deal with so many faiths one becomes to see how each is intertwined in a way. I feel that when you die, even if it is by suicide, you are made to feel and see all the horrible things that you have done (intentionally or unintentionally) and once that has happened you are allowed in.
I think I just answered my own question by commenting on this blog. He sends me on the path that I am meant to walk/wheelchair on. But if you are reading this as a way to find out if it’s okay to commit suicide than you already know that you should seek help for your problems before you have used a permanent solution to a matter that may just be temporary.
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I stumbled across this thread as I have spent the afternoon Googling “Can I still go to heaven if I commit suicide?”
First off, I DO NOT WANT TO DIE.
Probably for the first completely genuine time of my life I can actually admit that I am scared to die.
As a younger and more immature man, both Earthly and spiritually, I shutter now thinking I would utter then “I wish I were just dead” when some small trivial obstacle, inconvenience or bona fide failure would interrupt my life.
Now as an older man who is more mature and living life as a born again Christian Protestant, a work in progress, always improving Christian, I find myself at the crossroads of both a wonderful time in my life and the worst time of my life simultaneously.
I am a father of two year old twins, wonderful, and I am battling throat cancer, worst.
I fear, because of my historically long battle with chronic depression, which is considerably worsened since my diagnosis and during treatment that I’m still going through, I will lose the desperate battle I am waging by trying to muster the strength I need to win this battle and the demons of my mind, the depression, that have won so long before.
As a lifelong believer in Christ, but a admittedly lazy practicing Christian most of my life, a weird thing happened to me about two and a half years ago.
I told my wife, out of the blue, that I am to weak to handle this world’s stresses without having a closer relationship to God.
Out of nowhere I felt this heavy desire to know God again. So, as is the case with me, I did begin praying again, skimming the Bible, asking myself to think about my decision making differently based on a ” what would Jesus do” approach, if I did it haphazardly.
Well, whatya know, just a few months later, my dad called and asked me to come visit. My mom and dad sat me down and told me my dad had cancer.
Boooom….. I lost it.
However, the type of prostate cancer my dad had was treatable and after surgery and radiation, he is doing pretty good two years on. Suffice to say, I ramped up my prayers and relationship effort with God.
I thought that is why the sudden urge I felt to get closer to God happened, to prepare me for this.
Fast forward another two months, and my father in law was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer.
Boooom….my wife lost it, and I too, although with respect to her, this was her father, or mine.
He did have surgery at a specialty center in Arizona, but it didn’t last…
So being a stronger Christian, although certainly not perfect or as dedicated as I should have been, I inched ever closer to God throughout.
So, 2016 was the year we could not wait to leave behind.
2017 was a year of change for my family including Jon changes, moving cities, etc eternal. Life was stressful to say the least.
Three months ago, I was diagnosed with stage 4 throat cancer.
The prognosis is positive but the treatment is hell. I am more than halfway through now and I cannot eat. I spent the morning in the ER because I passed out while getting my labs done before my weekly Chemo treatment. I showed up for my appointment and woke up surrounded by doctors in the ER. Not a good day.
We’ve also learned my father in law has a new inoperable tumor in his brain and he has declined treatment as the risk outweighs the benefits at this stage so he has months to live.
I’m in a different town receiving my treatments and have only seen my wife and kids a few times in the last five weeks.
The depression has come on strong and I fear the worst.
However, God has slowly become a top priority in my life, I work daily at the relationship, and I did it all authentically, on my own. I found God for real in my own time and place. It’s not passive for me anymore; my mission is to live my life as God intended me to and come out of all of this a better man.
Suicide was always an option for me, because I was impulsive and dramatic, and I’m not arguing God’s grace or policy on it one way or another, because I cannot with certainty say I am strong enough to never get in that mindset again. What I am saying is that right now, the worst time of my life, I am choosing God’s gift of totally supporting me, carrying me, instead of letting my depression guide my thoughts and actions.
God saved me when I couldn’t save myself.
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God DOES give us more than we can handle, with the goal of us turning to God
My son committed suicide. I preached his funeral. its horrible, But we are each responsible for our choices – not the circumstances which causes us to make our choices. Loved ones can only turn to God, recognizing we can’t fix it for others, and sometimes not for ourselves either – but God loves us and provides an avenue of escape for us, if we but just take it.
And God comforts us when we deal with the consequences of sin so we can comfort others wirth the same comfort we receive.
So I turn to God when I am sad. I realize that God is there, even when its hard to believe or feel or deal with. God is with me and I dont have to do it all alone. I dont have to suffer in silence alone. I can turn to God and do, regularly.
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