Can someone who committed suicide still go to heaven?

Can someone who committed suicide still go to heaven? Is suicide unforgivable? How could someone trust Jesus for the next life and not trust Jesus to get them through this life?

My Friend’s Story

I’ve done a few funerals for friends who committed suicide. It doesn’t get easier; they were people I loved and tried to help. I was devasted when they died.

I could share many good stories about them. But I’ll focus on “Steve.” Steve had grit and determination. He had stubborn persistence and a strong work ethic. His work ethic was seen, for example, when he worked through a sandstorm on a mission trip. I remember many talks with Steve about the Lord. Steve professed faith in Jesus and shared the good news of Jesus with others even when he had a lot he was going through. He had a kind smile and a compassionate heart.

Steve, however, was also struggling. He was fighting to hold on to hope and to hold on to life. I visited him in a hospital after a suicide attempt a few weeks before his passing. I came into his room, and he was sleeping. A nurse was in the room with him, and I asked her if I could wake him. She said it was fine. So, I woke him up. I remember his sleepy smile… We talked for a little bit, and I asked him what he thought about God and what he thought God thought about him. He said, rather weakly, “I still think He loves me.”

Steve said with every suicide attempt, he’d pray: “God, if this isn’t Your will, protect me.” I told Steve that he did not have to ask God’s will in this regard. God had made it clear it is not His will that he take his own life. The Bible says, “Thou shall not murder.” The Bible also tells you that you are a precious treasure made in His image (Gen. 1:27). And God has demonstrated His love for you. He didn’t just say it, He showed it. 

John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that He did something about it, He gave His only Son so that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal and abundant life.” The Bible says all that and the Bible says, that in Christ Jesus, you are God’s workmanship, God’s work of art, that He prepared beforehand for good works (Eph. 2:10). I encouraged him that God has good works for him to do. “God has a purpose for your life… God can use your struggles to help others…” 

We also read Isaiah 61:1-3 together: 

“The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor;
he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor,
and the day of vengeance of our God;
to comfort all who mourn;
to grant to those who mourn in Zion—
to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit;
that they may be called oaks of righteousness,
the planting of the LORD, that he may be glorified.” 

Steve was in a dark place. There was a deepening darkness over him. Even while many people were striving to help him, regular people in his community and professionals. Yet, he was still in turmoil. 

Steve should not have taken his own life. But I’m thankful that our sins and struggles do not nullify Jesus’ saving work. The mortal sin, the one unforgivable sin, is the sin of not trusting Jesus for salvation. Yes, suicide is a sin but so is selfishness. If I selfishly speed on the highway and get struck by a semi-truck, my sin at the time of death does not in any way negate the salvation of Jesus. I praise the Lord that even when we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself, He cannot deny His own character (2 Tim. 2:13).

Our World is Broken but Jesus was Broken for the Broken World

I want to say a few things about death, suffering, and the difficult complexities we face. Ecclesiastes, an Old Testament book in the Bible, says, “It is better to go to a funeral than a feast. For death is the destiny of every person, and the living should take this to heart” (7:2). That is a strange thing to say. But it is true. Because it is at a funeral that we consider things that we would not consider at a feast.

So, why death? Why suffering? For us to consider those questions, we need to go all the way back to the very beginning…

We all experience loss and grief. But it wasn’t meant to be this way. We sense that don’t we? We know death does not feel right. It feels foreign and wrong. Because it is. The Bible explains the origin of death and confirms it wasn’t meant to be this way. When God made the world, He made everything and it was good, even “very good” (Gen. 1:31). Why then is the world no longer completely good? Why is their death, suffering, mental illness?

The first humans, our ancestors Adam and Eve, dwelt in perfect fellowship with God in the Garden of Eden but after they sinned, they were separated from God (Gen. 3). In that same chapter, there was relational conflict as Adam and Eve blamed each other and the curse of suffering and pain was introduced. And so, Romans 8 says that the whole creation is groaning. This world was once a paradise, but it is a paradise that got polluted and poisoned by sin and so in life, we experience both great joys and great sorrows. We live in a broken world. A broken world in which sadly the second leading cause of death for persons aged 25-34 is suicide. Death is an unnatural thing that even in the best of circumstances causes great grief. It causes grief and is unnatural because it was not part of God’s original good design.

So then, is there any hope or help? Praise the LORD there is! Even in Genesis 3:15, it’s foreshadowed. Jesus! Jesus will crush Satan, sin, and death. Christianity acknowledges the emptiness and brokenness of the world and offers hope, newness, and abundant life. Jesus shared in humanity’s pain and suffering and He provides the redemption and restoration we need. 

Why could someone who trusted Jesus for the next life not trust Him to get him through this life? 

Why could someone who trusted Jesus for the next life not trust Him to get him through this life? Because this world is broken, and we are broken. Thankfully, however, sinlessness does not save us. Jesus saves us. 

The Bible speaks to the difficult subject of suicide and many other difficult topics. We have examples in Scripture and history where saints have sometimes struggled with depression and wanted to die. Jonah, Elijah, and Moses each asked God to kill them (Num. 11:12-15; 1 Kings 19:4; Jonah 4:1-11) and Jesus Himself was tempted by Satan to take His own life (Matt. 4:4:5-6; Lk. 4:9-11). We know that Jesus can sympathize with our weaknesses because, as Hebrews 4:15 says, He was tempted in every way that we are, yet He never sinned. 

God has a heart of a loving father for us. He knows life is hard. He knows sin has deeply ruined the world and wrecked our bodies in many ways. God gets we’re broken, and He longs to fix us, that’s why He sent Jesus. Jesus came for the suicidal. 

In the song, “It Is Well With My Soul,” we’re reminded that through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, all those who trust in Him have their sin—all their sin—paid for. The song says, “My sin, not in part, but the whole, was nailed to the cross and I bear it no more.” 

Jesus saves. So, can someone who committed suicide still go to heaven? It depends. Did they trust Jesus for salvation? That’s the question.

Photo by Emma Steinhobel