Is there anything in the Bible about suicide?

Hey-
I dont know what u r lookin for... but there are suicides in the Bible.

I look at it this way:

Thou shall not murder.

You kill urself... ur murderin ur self...

Thats how I feel about it...

I know- that dont help any- but I tried...

-Leesh

Acts 16.27
"And the keeper of prison, awakening from sleep and seeing the prison doors open,supposing the prisoners had fled, drew his sword and was about to kill himself."
Read on and see God's miraculous intervention!

Thank you!

Suicide is mentioned in the Bible especially when talking about Judas Iscariot.

Matthew 27:5 says, "And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself."

Acrs a:18 says, "Now this man purchased a field with the reward of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out."

They both talk about Judas killing himself, but how could Judas commit suicide twice? One explanation for this is the first time was an attempted suicide. How many times have you heard of someone trying to hang themselves, but failing. Perhaps Judas failed, and tried again; this time succeeding.

Just some food for thought.

2 of my friends and I got into this deep discussion about whether or not you would go to heaven if you kill yourself. We've heard people say that you won't, and some say you will. And I was wondering if anyone knew if you still go to heaven if you commit suicide.

Hi Rachel ...

I think the short answer to this is that there is nothing that "we do" that gets us into or out of heaven. Either we make it or we don't ... Jesus chooses and we are at his "mercy" in this entirely. That is what "grace" means.

Something to consider might be this:
If the last person you hurt (before meeting Jesus face to face) was yourself, I suspect he would want an explanation for why you loved yourself so much and others so little as to try and remove yourself.

I suspect also he would want an explanation of why you failed to consult him on the matter and how it is that you made that choice given that he never instructed it. This could be a long and humiliating discussion.

It might be one thing to be in heaven ... and something else altogether to explain yourself to the Lord. There is no where ever ever that Jesus directs anyone to commit suicide, no matter how bad things are. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Frown]" src="frown.gif" />

Ephesians 2:10
"For we are His workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus for good works,
which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them."

Might be best to look around and see what "good" Jesus has in mind for you to do ... and set your mind on doing it. He created those things in advance specically for us to do. You and I were designed to build up and strengthen others and to turn the world into a tasty wonderful place that reflects his goodness in every way. His idea is that we live for-ever without quitting on the idea. :p

Jesus loves you ... let's be filled with his Spirit! Where there are those who are in need of that and desperate even to suicide, let's bring them "life" ... abundant overflowing and forever. Offer to be a friend. Jesus would - and did.

What does the Bible say specifically about suicide? Let's take a look.

God has a great plan for each of our lives. God has created us in His image - Genesis 1:26-27. He created us for a purpose. God has a specific plan in mind for everyone.

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." - Jeremiah 29:11.

God's plan incorporates life, not death. According to the Bible, spiritual and physical death are the results of our sins and disobedience to God. The Bible also teaches that eternal life is a gift from God to those who receive it. "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" - Romans 6:23.

Jesus taught that death and destruction are the work of "the thief", or Satan. He said, "The thief comes only to steal and destroy;" - John 10:10. John 8:44 says that Satan is a "murderer" and the "father of lies". The feelings of despair that lead to suicide are caused by some of his lies. Jesus wants us to have life. He said: "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." - John 10:10.

Life belongs to God. It is never our place to take our own life or someone else's life.

"Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own, you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body." - 1 Corinthians 6:19-20.

There are far too many things to consider to say whether a victim of suicide goes to heaven or not. Like, can a person do the act, repent, and then die hours later from what they previously did? If a person is suffering from some sort of blatant insanity can they be held accountable (like if they were seeing things)? What was their reason for killing themselves and what was in their heart? What kind of a person were they prior to what caused them so much grief/anger/whatever?
For instance, what if someone kills themselves because they know they are going to die of a terminal illness in a few months and they know that it will cost their family far less to end it now? That is, admittingly, an extreme case, but not unheard of.
In my opinion, no human is even remotely capable of deciding whether *everyone* who does something will go to heaven or hell, so my answer would have to be: It depends.

Suicide will not damn a person. When that person accepts Christ into their life they are forgiven of all of their sins. This includes all sins they do in the future. So they are already forgiven of them commiting suicide. However God has a plan for everyones life. Commiting suicide disables God from being able to use you.

Hi there F4C4Ever! Glad to see you made it!

FYI, Geocities and Tripod are examples of two servers that do not allow you to remotely link a graphic.

maynard god's plans are his own and he can work good out of anything, even a suicide. i hope that judas is in heaven now, it would make me sad if he were not let in. without judas' 'betrayal' the story of jesus' death wouldn't have quite as much power in my opinion.

Freak4Christ,

greetings to ya and welcome to WUG!!!

i pray that you be blessed beyond measures and that you be heavily enlightened, encouraged, and edified in Christ as you fellowship with us! i pray that the Lord's joy would be more than sufficient for ya while you are here! i pray that His peace ease out all of the uncertain-ties outta your life as well! i simply desire the Lord's best in and upon your life!!!

i do wanna clarify one thing, tho! it is true that all of our sins are forgiven! especially, when the Light first comes to ya and you receive and understand Him! scripture says that if you happen to sin after you have received Christ then don't worry, Jesus is your mediator! get out of it and give it to Him and He'll plead your case before the Father! (for He is between us and the Father)!

so, it is not wise to just continue in sin just because we know that we are forgiven! as Paul wrote, shall we continue in sin since we know that grace abounds, GOD FORBID! WHY? because the wages of sin is yet death!

i believe that if someone deliberately continues in sin, after receiving the Lord, they don't truly nor really love the Lord! hence they would die separated from Him! God always and forever looks at the heart of man! nothing else but the heart! and only God knows the heart of a man!

if one can be transformed by the renewing of the mind, meaning putting on the mind of Christ [btw, if we really have the mind of Christ then we would definitely not even consider killing ourselves for He thought not to kill Himself], - but if one can be transformed, one can be re-conformed to the world!

Christ said to whom you lend your members, you are its servant! whom do you serve!

and personally, if God would've allowed us the short-cut way out then their would be no need for martyrs and plus many of a Christians would hop quick, fast, and a hurry to get out of this filthy world! (there are many unpainful ways to commit suicide ya know!) we long for the manifestation of the Kingdom of God! but Christ said if we suffer with Him then we shall reign with Him! - just my humble opinion on that note!

stay strong and forever joyous in Christ!!!!!!

Hey Rachel,

Well, I can't pinpoint the verse or chapter, but I remember a verse saying in the bible that God will never cause you to go through an ordeal that you can't handle. Never. So, all these people around the world who have committed suicide believing their life is already over, have made a mistake because they were able to handle their problems, they just never tried to.

Another reasoning about suicide saying that people who commit suicide go to hell is faith. Faith is the most important aspect in being a Christian, and even if someone has asked to be forgiven before they killed themselves, they have still given up their faith nonetheless. Jesus suffered every possible thing imaginable when he was on earth, but he still had faith in the father. He was a martyr, and it says in the bible that the kingdom of heaven belongs to those who suffer for the sake of the Lord. Then there are those who are so desperate to be with God that they want to kill themselves, this I'm not sure of because their faith is so strong they choose to be with Him; but then again, they never took the time to suffer as Jesus did. It's like trying to get an A on a test but you're so psyched to get to your results which you already know are gonna be good, that you decide to just skip the test in the first place. Sounds like a corny analogy, but it works.

We don;t know for sure, one way or anotehr. God gives us no assurance that we are saved if we commit suicide.

Philippians 1:21 "For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain."

Do you think Paul had suicide in mind when he wrote this ATW?

No, Servant, The Holy Spirit is preaching about this on Moody radio right now 89.3 Romans 7, Romans 8
Let the Word of God saturate you and control your thinking processes. it is so good. Turn it on if you can!

He's telling us to drink the Word and feed the inner man on the Word and strengthen our spiritual muscle :p :p :p

I'm glad to hear that. I was confused, this being a thread started by a young person asking about suicide.

Readers like myself, who are unaware of what you are listening to on the radio at the moment can only go by the thread topic and connect the two as I did.

if anyone had reason to hang it up it had to be Paul
but he didn't because his faith was real
He knew the Truth.
He trusted God with all that he had
with a thankful heart
Lord
forgive me please for being so weak and faltering in the faith
Lord don't let me be a weaklink any longer
build my faith God
Please God give me and servant and all of us giant faith in You Alone
Thank You Jesus for answered prayer according to Your perfect holy and pleasing will.
Amen
Hallelujah Jesus our Lord!

this site has remained quite a blessing to many,
wouldn't you agree
Thank You Father God for this site<font color="black">

Here is one verse.

Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the LORD. (NIV) Leviticus 19:28

nice try, GG Grace,
but I don't think it pertains to suicide

Lev 19:28 as found on blueletterbible.com:

Available Translations and Versions for Lev 19:28

KJV - Lev 19:28 - Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I [am] the LORD.
King James Version 1611, 1769


NKJV - Lev 19:28 - 'You shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor tattoo any marks on you: I am the LORD.
New King James Version © 1982 Thomas Nelson


NLT - Lev 19:28 - "Never cut your bodies in mourning for the dead or mark your skin with tattoos, for I am the Lord.
New Living Translation © 1996 Tyndale Charitable Trust


NIV - Lev 19:28 - “ ‘Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the Lord.

New International Version © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society


ESV - Lev 19:28 - “You shall not make any cuts on your body for the dead or tattoo yourselves: I am the Lord.

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version © 2001 Crossway Bibles


RVR - Lev 19:28 - Y no haréis rasguños en vuestro cuerpo por un muerto, ni imprimiréis en vosotros señal alguna. Yo Jehová.

Reina-Valera copyright © 1960 Sociedades Bíblicas en América Latina; copyright © renewed 1988 United Bible Societies.


NASB - Lev 19:28 - 'You shall not make any cuts in your body for the dead nor make any tattoo marks on yourselves: I am the LORD.
New American Standard Bible © 1995 Lockman Foundation


RSV - Lev 19:28 - You shall not make any cuttings in your flesh on account of the dead or tattoo any marks upon you: I am the LORD.
Revised Standard Version © 1947, 1952.


ASV - Lev 19:28 - Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am Jehovah.
American Standard Version 1901 Info


Young - Lev 19:28 - `And a cutting for the soul ye do not put in your flesh; and a writing, a cross-mark, ye do not put on you; I [am] Jehovah.
Robert Young Literal Translation 1862, 1887, 1898 Info


Darby - Lev 19:28 - And cuttings for a dead person shall ye not make in your flesh, nor put any tattoo writing upon you: I am Jehovah.
J.N.Darby Translation 1890 Info


Webster - Lev 19:28 - Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I [am] the LORD.
Noah Webster Version 1833 Info


HNV - Lev 19:28 - "'You shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor tattoo any marks on you. I am the LORD.
Hebrew Names Version 2000 Info


Vulgate - Lev 19:28 - et super mortuo non incidetis carnem vestram neque figuras aliquas et stigmata facietis vobis ego Dominus
Jerome's Latin Vulgate 405 A.D. Info

This is Jewish law. I know Jewish people who say someone can not be buried in a Jewish cemetery if they have a tattoo. What do you think of that?<font color="black">

From what I understand, most of the jews in the time of Jesus simply dropped off corpses at the city dump.
I don't know about you, but if the dump is their cemetary then I'm quite comfortable with not being buried there.

Most of the "accepted doctorine" surrounding suicide comes from Saint Augustine of Hippo, and his book, The City of God.
It goes on at various points to some great lengths about why people that have committed suicide are going to hell. Cato and Lucretia, a few other cases.
The meat and potatoes of it are here:

"And consequently, even if some of these virgins killed themselves to avoid such disgrace, who that has any human feeling would refuse to forgive them.? And as for those who would not put an end to their lives, lest they might seem to escape the crime of another by a sin of their own, he who lays this to their charge as a great wickedness is himself not guiltless of the fault of folly. For if it is not, lawful to take the law into our own hands, and slay even a guilty person, whose death no public sentence has warranted, then certainly he who kills himself is a homicide, and so much the guiltier of his own death, as he was more innocent of that offense for which he doomed himself to die. Do we justly execrate the deed of Judas, and does truth itself pronounce that by hanging himself he rather aggravated than expiated the guilt of that most iniquitous betrayal, since, by despairing of God's mercy in his sorrow that wrought death, he left to himself no place for a healing penitence? How much more ought he to abstain from laying violent hands on himself who has done nothing worthy of such a punishment! For Judas, when he killed himself, killed a wicked man; but he passed from this life chargeable not only with the death of Christ, but with his own: for though he killed himself on account of his crime, his killing himself was another crime. Why, then, should a man who has done no ill do ill to himself, and by killing himself kill the innocent to escape another's guilty act, and perpetrate upon himself a sin of his own, that the sin of another may not be perpetrated on him?"

Anyway, lengthy and obtuse as it is, that and the other collected writings of Augustine are the primary reason that it is the accepted stance of the Catholic Church that ALL people who commit suicide are going to burn in fire everlasting.
Of course, this does come from the same church that sold indulgences for about as long as they could get away with it.
"Your salvation for a silver peice" or something similar to that.

The only other place I've ran aground the topic of suicide in Christian theology is Martin Luther. When he came across a boy who had hanged himself and was being denied a christian burial because of hanging himself, he took the boy's corpse to the cemetary and persuaded the gravekeeper to let him bury the boy by saying something similar to
"The boy is no more to blame for succumbing to his madness than a man who has been killed by a brigrand in the forest is to be blamed for being dead"

So like somebody pointed out earlier, it depends.
Personally, suicide isn't something I would recommend.

There must be some kind of `madness`, (for want of another word.... maybe the word should be `torment`), to make someone take such steps. And I believe Satan plays a part, by enforcing the belief on the individual that their circumstances are indeed hopeless. Also, what about `the 11th hour`? When people are saved at the last minute, like someone on their death bed, or someone who was brought back from the brink of suicide by a change of heart, sometimes by hearing or feeling what they said was Gods saving grace. I believe that no-one knows what happens between God and that individual in that 11th hour...and since we can be saved in a heart beat, we can be saved in the time it takes for that persons life to end.

Ive also tried to find what scripture says on this, cos its touched my family, and I thank God that there IS an 11th hour... and tho we only know part things, and we`ll know the whole thing one day, God willing... we have the certainty that our God is truely merciful and loves us, and knows us better than we know ourselves.

What about this one?

maybe this is the only acceptable(?) way of taking one's life.


King James Bible
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
>>John 15:13<<

Seems to me there is a difference between the "laying down" of one's life and the "taking of one's life". The former implies a subjugation to the will of another (in Jesus' case, he did not take his own life but subjugated Himself to the Roman's crucifixion) while the latter denotes the concrete action of suicide.

If a soldier jumps on a grenade to protect his comrades, this would not be considered a suicide. But if that same soldier took the grenade from his pack, pulled the pin and THEN jumped on it...well, you get the picture.