I'm wondering if a Christian commits suicide, are they still saved or did they die in sin at that instant? Do you think God would pardon such a sinful act? For the Bible says, "If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple." ~1 Corinthians 3:17. I would love to know your thoughts on this, please back your opinions with Biblical scriptures. Thank you
Jude: I agree that only God knows the true intentions of the heart. We also know that all sin but one is forgiven. Im just not going to put myself in a place of judgement. Its a very dangerous thing for we christians to do.
Christians are not immune to the despair that leads to suicide; the enemy is a great deceiver (John 8:44) who wants us to forget that victory is ours in Christ (John 16:33). Still, suicide is a very serious sin againt the Creator.
Its certainly an interesting topic to study but a disturbing one indeed.
***************************
I pray that all those who are contemplating suicide to tell someone ASAP and get some help! Life is difficult at times for all people and suicide is not the answer. You were created by God and you do have a purpose. There is light and happiness and joy at the end of the tunnel. If you are reading this and want to talk , write me !! I will pray with you and help you to get some help.
God didnt make us to be depressed! But why then we are depressed?
There will come times in all of our lives when we will be tested in our faith. There will be times when what we believe will be challenged. There will be temptations to do the wrong thing.
We might ask ourselves, Will I be able to stand strong spiritually when this happens? That is entirely up to you. It isn't up to God. It is up to you. God wants you to stand, but He will not force you to stand. He will give you all the resources you need. He will give you the power to resist. He will even give you a way out. But you have to cooperate. There are some things only God can do. And there are some things only you can do.
Sometimes people cannt cooperate anymore and they leave this planet...
What I said in my previous message is about "mental illnesses". The Bible says that God gave such illness to a king and He healed it!
So how do we get illnesses?
They could be from God to punish people for their sins.
And they could be caused by demons.
How to be healed from such illnesses?
God said in the Bible: to ask Christians to pray and righteous prayer of Christians helps them to get forgiveness of God and be healed.
But NOTE: Christians die in accidents and from cancer and other illnesses like unbelievers. Why?
Because they life time given by God is ended and they go to Him....
1There were present at that season some that told him of the Galilaeans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2And Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galilaeans were sinners above all the Galilaeans, because they suffered such things? 3I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. 4Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? 5I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.
10And he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. 11And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself. 12And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him, and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity. 13And he laid his hands on her: and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God. 14And the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because that Jesus had healed on the sabbath day, and said unto the people, There are six days in which men ought to work: in them therefore come and be healed, and not on the sabbath day. 15The Lord then answered him, and said, Thou hypocrite, doth not each one of you on the sabbath loose his ox or his donkey from the stall, and lead him away to watering? 16And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day? 17And when he had said these things, all his adversaries were ashamed: and all the people rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by him.
I think Jesus made it pretty clear that we should not assume a calamity is from God or caused by someone's sin. Also, He made a note that this woman who was suffering from an infirmity was bound by Satan, not God.
My name is Robert and I have written over 125 sermons on two different blogs. Many of them have dealt with teaching that came to me on topics such as this although I have touched on this topic lightly at times.:glow:
The problem of using Judas Iscariot as an example of this is that there is scripture that describes him as the son of perdition. So the bible does not seem to clearly speak on Judas. Some times I think he is saved, at others I think not. could he have followed Christ that long and not be saved? maybe, maybe not...:ribbit:
On the other hand although God Breaths through the prophets to mankind the issue could be taken that yes, he was the son of perdition at that time in his life but God being a God of mercy that is the Good Shepherd never leaving even one that strays to gather the one that got separated from the pack, the one being attacked by the wolves that was separated out of confusion in his own life snatched Judas out of the clutches of Satan's grasp.
It seems to me the issue is not whether suicide is a sin that can cast oneself into Hell. I realize there is the unpardonable sin sin unto Holy Spirit but this is not it I do not think. I believe that sin is related to a Pastor that is not saved and is preaching and stealing money to line his own pockets with gold and has hurt many that way.
The issue is not whether suicide is a sin in my opinion. The issue is whether or not a person had repented and was saved in the first place. :prayingm:If one had a true born again salvation experience then suicide is a sin like no other sin, one that is covered by the perfect sacrifice of god's Son Jesus Christ.
For when we study the book of Romans we see the Apostle Paul admit that he struggled with sin on a daily basis admitting to the church and worldwide body of Christ that sin is something that the imperfect flesh will keep doing unto a time when God takes our imperfect flesh that sins and gives us a perfect flesh that does not sin. This is all over the book of Romans which is Paul's last letter and most complicated. Most theologians agree that this letter was like Paul's dissertation of his Phd. It is a very complicated book but it is a summary of all his teaching right before Paul went to Rome, Some say Paul wrote this from Corinth.
Paul knew they were going to kill him in Rome. tradition says Paul was killed around the same time as Peter except they met their ends differently. Paul was beheaded while Peter was crucified upside down. :buddies: Both this occurred at the time when Emperor Nero was blaming the Christians on the massive fires in Rome. Many theologians think Nero had set these fires himself. We see him blaming the Christians in the accounts of the Jewish historian Josephus.
Paul knew he was going to be killed yet he went there anyway as I am sure Peter knew. One could make an argument that this is suicide as one went there purposely when one could very well have escaped. But they were called to go there, they were drawn to the cross.
The issue seems to me to be in most peoples minds is "when we are saved" can we become unsaved? Because when we become unsaved we were never truly saved in the first place. When God saves us are we saved or are we not? God is completely aware of the pain and struggles people go through since the fall in the Garden of Eden. God is not concerned nor does he think as men think. :rolleyes:For we see Christ at the Pharisees when they thought Christ should not eat and drink with the sinners yet Christ said they were who needed him most. We see at the cross a man who was a thief being crucified as that who never followed Christ, never turned from his sins but in humbleness in his last minutes before death defended Christ from the other sinner asking Christ not to forget him. But God does not think like a man and he does not leave even one sheep stray, for at the point of repentance and salvation one is saved, it just so happened this man was saved only moments before death. For Christ is our defender, our advocate that stands between us and the holy judgment of the Father. We see the requirements for salvation outlined I think the most clearly in Romans 10:5-17.
So the same question, do we stop sinning at the point of salvation or not? There are many in the body including most pastors that in my opinion teach wrong on this subject because they just take too much scripture out of the context of the entire bible. :devil:remember man is filthy, sinful and has been since the fall in Eden. We are born with this flesh that sins.
When one reads the entire bible one can only see grace and sinful man accepted by that grace. Christ covers us, Christ cleans us. :rolleyes:Some say we are not supposed to succumb to sin after we are saved and that is why Christ told sinners "go and sin no more." But we see the opposite in Paul's writings indicating even after our salvation experience it is impossible to lead a sinless life, Romans 7:14-8:2.
We also even see this in the great Apostle Peter's life. Peter under the assumption because of the acceptance of Jewish law in his heart assumed he could lead a sinless life after having followed Christ for 3 1/2 years, sitting at the feet of Christ listening and considering every word spoke carefully yet even in all that Peter was told by Christ himself he would even in all his profoundness of being such a godly holy person, even he would deny Christ three times.
So was Peter saved? Wait a second, he denied Christ three times. Was this sin unto salvation itself? I think not for according to the scriptures I already gave you. in my opinion this was sin, yes it was sin, and we should see a definite turning towards God in our life at the point of salvation when we repent asking God to forgive us and fill us. It is at that appoint we are saved for all past sins, all present sins and all future sins. :applause:
For if we are saved by God himself, our hand is up while we are in the sea of darkness and God throws us a life preserver tows us in, pulls us onto the ship, cleans us up. Is God going to then throw us back in changing his mind like some mortal man that has a mind that goes to and fro as the storm blows? No, God is as he breathed through scripture, once we are saved we are always saved, in my opinion even unto any kind of death, even suicide.:rolleyes:
To be or not to be, that is the age old question. :excited:Shakespeare pondered this in his famous play Hamlet 400 years ago. Man has pondered this important question since Judas hung himself on that tree. If one kills himself can he go to heaven? I would not bet my salvation on it, for God does not speak clearly on this subject. We see good Christians on both sides of this issue. I believe so, I believe a Christian could and still go to heaven. :rolleyes:
For suicide is a sin certainly, but in God's eyes sin is sin is sin. No sin is worse then another sin except the unpardonable blasphemy of the Holy Spirit which this is not in my opinion. For Christ loves us and is a Good Shepherd leaving the 99 to go get the one that strayed to protect him from those that devour.:angel:
The best example of suicide I know of in scripture of a saved who did and was saved afterwards counted as a righteous man even after his death is the story of Samson and Delilah, Judges 16:28-30. Yet when we look in Hebrews 11:32-35 we see that Samson, even though he committed suicide was counted among the righteous and is in heaven today among he righteous. it is a sad state of affairs in the church today when preachers care more about money then reading their bibles so they can properly answer questions such as this.
So if your thinking about suicide do not do it because the bible is not clear enough on this subject to bet your salvation on it. Besides we all love you too much and would miss you greatly dear. :glow: But if you want to know because of a loved one that has done this and you know in your heart they had a true salvation experience at one time in their life before this moment of despair that caused them to think they had no way out, to do such a thing. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that they're sitting in heaven somewhere waiting for you dear to meet you on that day when you arrive. :applause:For this you can count on as sure as the air that you breath.
at the Pharisees when they thought Christ should not eat and drink with the sinners yet Christ said they were who needed him most. We see at the cross a man who was a thief being crucified as that who never followed Christ, never turned from his sins but in humbleness in his last minutes before death defended Christ from the other sinner asking Christ not to forget him. But God does not think like a man and he does not leave even one sheep stray, for at the point of repentance and salvation one is saved, it just so happened this man was saved only moments before death. For Christ is our defender, our advocate that stands between us and the holy judgment of the Father. We see the requirements for salvation outlined I think the most clearly in Romans 10:5-17.