Suicide Mortal Sin?

Actually, the Bible does not teach that people who commit suicide necessarily go to hell. At various times, some people have argued that suicide sends you to hell because you don't have the opportunity to repent of it. However, failure to repent of a particular sin before you die will not send you to hell. Christians are kept securely in Christ; they do not slip out of and into salvation as they sin and repent.

Suicide is also not the unforgiveable sin; blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is (Matt. 12:31; Mark 3:28-29). Thus, the fact that someone commits suicide is not sufficient evidence to demonstrate that he or she was not really saved.

This is not to say that suicide is not a very serious sin -- it is. Suicide is self-murder; it is the unwarranted destruction of a human life. Suicide is horrible rebellion against God, but it is rebellion for which the Christian is forgiven in Christ. Because salvation is a gracious gift that is not based on a person's works (Eph. 2:8-9), suicide cannot in any way change a person's chance of getting into heaven. While those who are not saved will suffer eternally for this sin (as for all their others sins), those who are saved will be forgiven for it (as for all their other sins).