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Bible Questions with Michael Pearl
Episode 049: Is Suicide an Unforgivable Sin?

By Michael Pearl

Episode Transcription:

Michael Pearl:  All right, I'm Michael Pearl and I've got Jared there behind the camera. And we answer Bible questions from time to time. He can't get me down to the office, so he follows me around with his camera and his tripod and his little ear things and all that stuff. So, I'm glad he knows what he's doing. I don't. Jared's got some questions you sent in on the computer and he's going to read one of them off there. And if you have any other questions, Jared will give you a banner across there or something or something to tell you how to ask those questions. So, what's the first question you've got today, Jared?
Jared:  Does the Bible say anything about suicide being an unforgivable sin?
Michael:  No, the Bible doesn't say anything about suicide being an unpardonable sin. In fact, the Bible doesn't say anything about any sin being an unpardonable sin except blasphemy against the Holy Ghost. Now, David committed adultery, and yet he went to Heaven. David committed murder, and yet he went to Heaven. Abraham killed people, and yet he went to Heaven. Peter took his sword out and cut off the ear of the high priest's servant when Christ was in the garden being carried away to be judged. Suicide is no different from any other sin. In other words, it's like murder. It's self murder, is what it is. It's like lying, it's like adultery, it's like homosexuality, it's a sin against what God created against the human body.
And even though it's a sin against the self, it's still a sin against something God created. And it's bad in that sense. Salvation is a gift of God. It's a free gift of God. It's based on what Jesus did on the cross. And so if a person has truly trusted what Christ did on the cross, truly been born again, and the Spirit of God has come into him, then any individual sin, no matter what it is, is not going to disqualify him from Heaven, because the blood of Christ has covered that sin.
Now, the Bible talks about if a Christian continues in sin in First John chapter five, James chapter five, there's a sin unto death. That is, God kills the Christian who continue in sin. So, sometimes God judges Christians who get into sin and takes them off of this earth. They die. They die premature death.
First Corinthians chapter two and Second Corinthians chapter five speak of a Christian who got into sin. He was committing adultery. He had taken his father's wife, it was his step mother. They might have been close to the same age or something. The father might have been on a long trip. But he developed ‑ he was living in a relationship with his so called step mother. And Paul wrote and said, turn that Christian over to the Devil for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
In other words, the guy would have been killed by the Devil. And as a result, his spirit would have been saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. In other words, he would have gone to Heaven. So, if he had not repented after the church kicked him out and turned him over to the Devil, he'd continued in his sin, the Devil would have killed him at God's bidding.
And he would have gone to Heaven, according to the passage of scripture there. Now, suicide wouldn't be any different. If a person got in severe stress, severe emotional turmoil, or some other reasons an old person is in constant pain and they can't live with it and they kill themselves because they have such unbearable pain, misery, suffering, loneliness, or whatever.
If they have been a child of God and loved and trusted the Lord Jesus Christ, God's not going to take their salvation away from them because of that one moment of weakness anymore than he'll take your salvation away from you for one lie or one evil thought or one moment of anger, or greed, or selfishness, or pride, or envy, or any other sin.
So, I know a lot of Christians would like to type suicide as the unforgivable sin so that they could scare people into not doing it. So they can kind of create this barrier beyond which people are afraid to go. OK, if I kill myself, I'll go to Hell.
You may go to Hell if you kill yourself, but it won't be because you killed yourself. It'll be because your whole life has been one of indifference to God, of not believing what God said, and not loving the Lord Jesus Christ, and not trusting his finished work for you on the cross. So, suicide is your last chance. I mean, you get no more chances to know God and no more chances to repent. And it's a horrible and scary and freaky thing.
But I've obviously never committed suicide and the questioner has obviously never committed suicide. So, if you're asking that question, it's for one of two reasons. You have someone in your life who's committed suicide and you want some assurance that they could be saved. Or you're considering suicide. You're in a state of emotional turmoil and you want to be assured you'd go to Heaven.
I assure you that there is joy, hope, and peace in the Lord Jesus Christ. And if you do commit suicide, one thing is certain. If you are a Christian, you will lose your reward. And in losing your reward, you'll go to Heaven as one of the least. It'd be a lot better to stay here, enjoy the Lord Jesus, and learn to love life instead of hate it. And build some reward for eternity. So, nope, Bible doesn't address that issue other than a general way about sin in general. And about the security of our salvation.
Announcer:  If you would like to ask a Bible question, email us at [email protected] or call at 931‑805‑4820.]]>

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