by Bill Stevens
PART 3
Is suicide the unpardonable sin?
There are many myths that are perpetuated about the unpardonable sin. Myths that harm so many people and keep them from knowing and receiving the help of Christ through the grieving process. Myths that cause people to give up hope on ever seeing their loved one in eternity. There is an unpardonable sin, but it is not what most people think. Some believe atheism and Satanism are unpardonable sins. That is not the case either.
Myth! Suicide is the Unpardonable Sin.
The biggest myth perpetuated is that suicide is the unpardonable sin. Let me start by saying, unequivocally, No! Suicide is not the unpardonable sin. There are some religious groups that believe suicide cannot be forgiven, but they misunderstand the Bible completely. The Bible draws a hard line on this. Your religion may have taught this for years, but it goes totally against Scripture.
Why do some religious groups believe this? They believe that this person could not confess their sin before he killed himself, and it was a mortal sin leading to spiritual death. The problem with this, is that the Bible teaches something different.
God’s Word teaches that suicide is self-murder. It is an intentional and deliberate act of taking one’s own life. All sins are mortal sins that bring eternal condemnation in a place called hell, which is an eternal place of separation from God and all that is good. This is the reason God stepped out of Heaven! This is the reason Christ Jesus came to earth! Everyone was on a collision course for eternity without Him, so God intervened Himself.
Suicide is not what determines whether a person gets into God’s Heaven or not. If you could keep the Ten Commandments perfectly, you could go to Heaven on your own. You would be counted worthy, but no one can do that. This is one of the lessons of the Ten Commandments, God is Holy (totally pure and other than us) and we are not at all. The other lesson is that we cannot do enough good or become a good enough person to be counted worthy to enter God’s Heaven on our own.
God’s Word says, “For the person who keeps all of the laws except one is as guilty as a person who has broken all of God’s laws.” James 2:10 (NLT). All you need to do to become guilty of eternal separation from God is break one of the Ten Commandments. Why? This points out our delusional ideas of our own personal goodness. You see, God’s Word says, “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.” Romans 3:23 (NLT). We all need the grace of God – equally. Some don’t need more grace than others, we all need the mercy and grace of God.
“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:23 (NLT)
Notice God’s Word in Romans 6:23. Sin is singular, not plural. What we earn because of our sin is death. The Bible teaches that death is eternal separation from God in a place called hell. But the passage doesn’t stop there, it says the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord! God offers freely forgiveness, love, peace, joy, and Heaven – Eternal Life! It is not something earned.
When you place your faith in Christ and allow Him to become the Lord (leader/boss) of your life, you are forgiven instantly of all of your sins – past, present, and future. Christ declares you His own, pardons all of your sins, and actually justifies you. He declares you a pure and righteous person – as if you have never sinned.
A follower of Christ who commits self-murder (suicide) is still forgiven and is still ushered into the presence of Christ Himself, not to be condemned. His/her reward is not what it could be because they rejected fully doing life Christ’s way. But the person who is not a Christ follower, and dies in any other kind of way, commits the unpardonable sin. Why? Because they rejected Christ. Once you die there is no more chances to become a follower of Christ and receive eternal life. There are no deals at the gates of Heaven. The person who dies without becoming a follower of Christ, rejecting Christ to the very end, commits the sin that cannot be forgiven. God’s mercy and grace is extended to your last breath.
You might be saying, you don’t know what kind of evil things I have done. God knows everything you have done. Christ voluntarily shedding his blood was the perfect sacrifice for God the Father to say! “That is good enough!” You see, when you place your faith in Christ’s death on the cross for you, a spiritual action happens. Your sins are spiritually washed away, not by water or by any of your good works, but by the blood of Jesus!
Christ died for us so we could be forgiven.
“He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins.” Ephesians 1:7 (NLT)
Christ’s sacrifice can cleanse a person’s soul and remove the condemnation hanging over them.
“Under the old system, the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer could cleanse people’s bodies from ceremonial impurity. Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God. For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered himself to God as the perfect sacrifice for our sins. Hebrews 9:13–14 (NLT)
When a person places their faith in Christ and allows Him to be the Lord (Leader,Boss) of their life, then immediately their lives are changed. A spiritual event happens in their life that cannot be undone. The spiritual event of Christ washing a person’s sins away by His blood, immediately forgiving that person and declaring them acceptable to God. God then adopts that person into His family and they are His forever! He will never cast them out. Acceptance into Heaven is based on God’s grace and not our actions. If it was based upon our works and actions, no one would make it.
SUICIDE IS NEVER A GOOD OPTION
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Suicide is a sin, the sin of self-murder. There are many reasons: Self-hate, irrational choices that happens when they are under the influence of drugs/alcohol, depression, mental illness, hopeless feelings, and others. The reasons are plentiful, but it still is self-murder.
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Suicide is a sin because it is not believing what God says about you! God says your life is of great value! God says you are of amazing worth, amazing value, so much so that He sacrificed His Son, King Jesus, for you – to help you and give you an amazing awesome forgiven and eternal quality of life!
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Sin because it is a lack of faith in God’s ability to deliver you. The person who commits suicide quits, when God wants to deliver them. God wants to help you through their pain and hardships.
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Suicide is a terrible act of a broken person who cannot see past their pain. Nor can they see the pain they will inflict upon others.
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Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem.
Yes, even Christians can get so depressed they do wrong things, and even to the point of suicide. This is not an excuse. The Bible tells about John the Baptist who pointed people to Jesus as the Savior, the Messiah. He saw Heaven open and the Holy Spirit descend on Jesus like a dove and heard the voice of God declaring Jesus as the Messiah (Savior). He got thrown in prison and was in such a lonely situation that He began questioning his faith and whether Jesus was really the Savior sent from God. Jesus affirmed him, loved him, and said that there was not a greater man born among men than John the Baptist. There were others in the Bible who were in covenant with God and they committed suicide, but they are never considered any kind of a good example to follow. But, we still see this theme, that God’s love of us is not dependent upon our performance. God’s love for us is based upon His character – He is a loving God and salvation is a gift that cannot be earned no matter how good a person is or the good things they do. This salvation, this gift of eternal life, is offered to us by the grace of God. Grace is God’s undeserved loving affection toward us. It is activated in our life when we believe in Christ and follow Him.
“God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.” Ephesians 2:8–9 (NLT)
God brings us into His family and will never cast us out.
Those who follow Christ have the promise of being with Him forever. It is the place called Heaven, the House of the Lord, and the dwelling place of God. Jesus said it this way, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.” (John 10:27) You cannot even take your own self out of the hands of God!