Is suicide an unforgivable sin?

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Question: Is suicide an unforgivable sin?

ATP: Some time ago a friend talked with me about a close relative who had taken his own life. My friend wanted to know the answer to this same question: Does God forgive a person who commits suicide? Somewhere along the line, he, like many people had been taught that God does not forgive some one who commits suicide. I tried to put my friend's mind at ease, because it seems to me that God does forgive, even the act of suicide.

Let's be clear: Suicide is the wrongful taking of a human life, and is therefore sin. But what sin is there that God cannot and does not forgive?

There is no sin that I know of that God does not forgive except blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. But what is blasphemy of the Holy Spirit? It appears that it is the rejection of Christ as Lord and Savior. You see it is the Holy Spirit that draws a person to Christ. Rejecting God's inner calling to come to Christ for forgiveness is the ultimate blasphemy.

In other words, if we persistently refuse God's offer of forgiveness through Christ, dying for whatever cause without having said, "yes" to it, we remain unforgiven. In rejecting the Spirit's call to come to Christ for forgiveness, we have effectively blasphemed by labeling the Holy Spirit a liar.

A person who commits suicide is often, if not always, in a diminished mental state. Depression, stress, anxiety, despair, physical or mental problems, along with any number of other factors, may contribute to the decision to end one’s life. While these are not excuses that justify the sinful act of suicide, they do allow us as human beings to understand the frailty of our common human condition. We are weak. In our weakness we often do wrong things.

Thanks be to God that he forgives! With one exception, I do not believe it is reasonable to think that we are measured for eternity only by the last act we commit. Thank the Lord that he doesn't look at us and say,

I know that you received Christ as your Savior, but you know, the very last thing you did before running your car into a tree and dying, was to swear at the other driver who caused the accident. So, since you died before having a chance to clear up that last sin, to paraphrase the "soup Nazi" from the TV show Seinfeld, "No heaven for you!!"

In my view it is not the last act of our life that is the determiner of our eternal destiny, with one exception: A person whose last act before death is to receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior will be forgiven and will go to heaven.

It isn’t wise to wait until the last minute to make such a decision, of course, but the point is that even if we do, the door of salvation is open us right to the end.

If you are a person who is having thoughts of suicide or if you know some one who is, please do not misunderstand what I have written. The ability of God to forgive is not a justification for sin and nothing written here should be construed as minimizing the act of suicide or seeing it as acceptable in any way.

If you are having thoughts of suicide, stop! You need to know that there is a way out from under the pressures you are facing that does not involve injuring yourself. Talk to a counselor or a pastor or a friend. Go get some help. Don’t wait. There are people who care about what happens to you.

Even if you are convinced that no one does care, know this: God cares. And God has a plan for your future.