Home » General

The Line Between Sensitive And Being Truthful

15 February 2005 4 Comments

At a Christian forum I frequently read and sporadically post at, the forums posters over there are grieving over a tragedy that took place a couple of weeks ago.

The tragedy I am referring to is the fact that one of the people who was a regular poster over at that Christian forum and attended the forum’s first ever informal get-together (I did not attend) committed suicide two weeks ago. I will not go into personal details about how the suicide was performed and will not go into details about this person’s troubled past and their diagnosed medical disorder that they talked about in the forum or in the chatroom. However, I was a little stunned by the sudden posting from a close associate of his who had announced to the forum that this person had died and how the close associate (and other posters after the initial post) stated that they will one day see the now deceased in heaven next to the loving arms of Jesus.

It went against everything I was ever taught and still believe in today. I remember when I was young hearing the theological discussion about people who committed suicide were eternally seperated from God in a tormented hell. From an non-OSAS view, how could someone who killed themself confess after that person has died that they are sorry for self-murder and ask for forgiveness of that sin? From an OSAS view, no matter what that person did, suicide or not, the person who confessed faith in Christ would be in heaven. I remember all the speeches by high-school counselors after a teenager in high school committed suicide stating that ’suicide is for losers’ and ’suicide is a permament solution to a temporary problem’ and all the psychological stuff. I remember when we found out that a distant cousin killed himself, we were compassionate towards the family in the time of mourning but intolerant at the method of death that occured.

Pages: 1 2

4 Comments »

  • Mr. J said:

    My 25 year old son suffers from depression and has at various times in the past (probably more than I know) attempted suicide. What I have learned over the years is that he is sick: sick like my neice who has diabetes; sick like my neighboor that has MS, sick like my wife was last week with a cold. As a Christian, I know that sickness is more than just science. Don’t read too much into that. I’m not saying I believe that those who sin get sick, and the more you sin the more you get sick. It’s more complicated than that, and I don’t pretend to understand it. But I know that our God is a forgiving God and that there is only one unfogiveable sin, and I don’t believe it is suicide.

    # 15 February 2005 at 9:34 pm
  • Liesa said:

    Bravo!

    This is such a touchy subject, but it’s nice to see someone else pointing out that suicide’s don’t go to heaven. I’m sure there are exceptions, but it’s only God who knows.

    # 16 February 2005 at 11:16 am
  • One Salient Oversight said:

    I am one who does believe that Christians who commit suicide go to heaven. the following reasons are pertinent:

    1. There is no specific verse in the Bible that backs up this claim.
    2. “Self Murder” is not a term used in the Bible, thus verses that speak of murderers not inheriting the Kingdom refer to those who murder other people.
    3. Suicide is not spoken of explicitly in the Bible, but in the cases where they do happen, it is seen in a negative light and those who are killed by it are seen to be cursed. This is to not enough evidence to justify any belief that holds suicide to be an unforgiveable sin.
    4. Suicide results from an unbalanced mind, where the person is no longer thinking clearly. In this sense, suicide is a result of an illness. Why would God send those who die from an illness to hell?

    # 16 February 2005 at 10:09 pm
  • Liesa said:

    Suicide results from an unbalanced mind, where the person is no longer thinking clearly.— I had to remark about this statement.

    Being someone of a completely sound mind, I’ve very clearly, thoroughly and sanely considered and thought out suicide before. It had nothing to do with having an unbalanced mind. I know many others too who are perfectly balanced within who have thought about it.

    It’s a temptation, that some give in to, and some don’t.

    # 18 February 2005 at 2:37 pm