When a person commits suicide, it can be a very selfish, unthinking act—designed only to gratify themselves and cause remorse for those around them. In those circumstances, a person does not consider God or his plan for their life. But there are also other times, when suicide is the result of a mental illness or incapacity of rational thought. Some people who go through the difficulty of bi-polar disorders, or suffer from severe depression can be dangerously susceptible to suicide, especially if they are not receiving medical treatment or counseling. And so there’s a wide range of thoughts, feelings, and actions that are present in suicide, which leads us to our question of if suicide is unforgivable. Of course, it’s important to point out at the very beginning that this is a slanted question. For many years, the conventional thought of many in the church is that suicide is an unforgivable sin. Augustine argued in the fifth century that suicide was a violation of the sixth commandment, You shall not murder. Later, Thomas Aquinas, being catholic and believing that confession of sin must be made prior to departure from one world to the next, he taught that suicide was the most fatal of all sins because the victim could not repent of it. This is based on the fact that if a person dies while they are committing a sinful act, they are unable then to confess that sin and ask for forgiveness. These are incredibly damaging and unbiblical views. Merely from our own personal standpoint, these ideas can be easily refuted. All I need to do is ask you two questions. First of all, do you sin? The obvious answer is yes. And secondly, have you confessed each and every sin that you have committed in your life. The obvious answer is no. There are sins we forget, there are even sins that we commit that we are not aware of. And so by that logic, each of us would still be susceptible to the eternal fires of hell and still unable to receive the grace given through Jesus Christ. But Scripture tells us that is not the case. John 5:24 informs us, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.” You see, the problem with the view that suicide is unforgivable is that it represents a gross misunderstanding of eternal security. We are saved by the grace of God, not by works. Ephesians 2:8 & 9 tells us, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.” And we are told in Romans in our text for this morning that God has the ultimate ability to bridge the separation between us and him. Romans 8:38-39 says, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Jesus Christ our Lord.” Those who want to say that suicide is unforgivable attempt to make suicide an elevated sin—a sin that is heightened to a status that even God himself cannot forgive. There are two problems with this. First, such a stance limits the conditions by which God can or cannot forgive someone—resulting in us essentially placing God in a box. Secondly, there is only one unpardonable sin that is ever mentioned within the Bible. In Matthew 12:31 Jesus says, “Every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.” Sometimes in our desire to have things cut and dry, black and white, we run head long into extremist views without allowing compassion and mercy to be present. And unfortunately, the church has frequently erred on the side of judgment rather than mercy. I’ve known churches that have refused to host a funeral service for someone who has committed suicide. In years past, people who committed suicide were not allowed to be buried in the church cemetery next to their family or brothers and sisters in Christ. In those instances, the church has lost critical opportunities to minister, and has unfortunately turned people away from the loving presence of Jesus Christ. But still, it is important to be incredibly cautious of our approach to this issue. Suicide cannot be condoned, and it should not be dealt with lightly. I dare to say that not every person who has committed suicide will go to heaven, and not every person who has committed suicide will go to hell. In essence, those decisions are not ours anyway, they are God’s.
Posted on: Tue, 12 Aug 2014 23:32:45 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015