quote:

ORIGINAL: marcat1702003

My brother John committed suicide just last month, he was 42, alone (2000 miles away), bipolar and a professing Christian. It has caused every family member in this huge family to truly weigh ourselves. Most of us are Christian, yet two brothers profess to be unbelievers; they are struggling so very much. They cannot grasp the comfort that we who are Christian receive through our faith. They have never wanted anything that we as Christians have until now. Now, they want comfort and peace. We are praying that this will bring them into the faith.

quote:

ORIGINAL: marcat1702003

My brother John committed suicide just last month, he was 42, alone (2000 miles away), bipolar and a professing Christian. It has caused every family member in this huge family to truly weigh ourselves. Most of us are Christian, yet two brothers profess to be unbelievers; they are struggling so very much. They cannot grasp the comfort that we who are Christian receive through our faith. They have never wanted anything that we as Christians have until now. Now, they want comfort and peace. We are praying that this will bring them into the faith.

quote:

ORIGINAL: marcat1702003

My brother John committed suicide just last month, he was 42, alone (2000 miles away), bipolar and a professing Christian. It has caused every family member in this huge family to truly weigh ourselves. Most of us are Christian, yet two brothers profess to be unbelievers; they are struggling so very much. They cannot grasp the comfort that we who are Christian receive through our faith. They have never wanted anything that we as Christians have until now. Now, they want comfort and peace. We are praying that this will bring them into the faith.

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ORIGINAL: bob97

God is beyond time and of course knows full well what will happen in our future…so if we are destined to commit suicide God is aware of that fact. Now if God calls you to be his child and if the Holy Spirit has written God’s law upon your heart and you belong to Christ, why would God reject you because you have committed an act that He knew from the start you would commit?

Does this sound like a persuasive argument? I think so but I don’t plan to shoot myself to find out.

Bob

quote:

If ANYONE reading these posts is thinking about suicide...... PLEASE DO NOT DO IT. It's not the way out of your troubles and you won't know if it's forgiven or not until AFTER you do it. Please don't take that chance with your eternal soul!!! There are no troubles in this life that God can't help you through, and nothing here worse than possible eternity in hell.

JESUS LOVES YOU !!!

quote:

ORIGINAL: Dagwat
There is no "cure all" solution for this, and there is no one answer for every case. We MUST be so very careful in what opinions we freely give out because we don't know who is reading and what is going through THEIR mind, or what THEIR situation might be.

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ORIGINAL: Dagwat

Satan is fighting me very hard on this post and I KNOW he don't want this posted here. I have lost my internet connection once, I have lost the posting screen three times and my post has been totally messed up several time but I HAVE to post this folks!

This is a very sensitive subject and I have read most of your posts here, but something very disturbing is going through my mind right now. There is a lot of pain involved with this subject, so much pain others have gone through because of a family member or loved one that committed suicide. BUT HAS ANYONE CONSIDERED THAT SOMEONE MIGHT BE READING THIS THREAD CONSIDERING TAKING THEIR OWN LIFE? PERHAPS SOMEONE HERE NOW IS TRYING TO FEEL OUT OTHER CHRISTIANS ON THIS ISSUE AS TO WHAT THEIR CHANCES OF BEING FORGIVEN MIGHT BE IF THEY GO AHEAD AND COMMIT SUICIDE? What if the general consensus on this thread is wrong and someone does this based on your opinions, and ends up in hell for all eternity?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that suicide is a sin, or isn't a sin. I know that mental illness plays a huge role in many of those cases, but let me share MY story with you and let's balance this discussion out a bit.

When I was a teen, I was struggling with some very important issues and felt honestly that my only way out was suicide. I was a Christian and I felt hopeless and alone. Probably NOT in my right mind at the time, but still accountable for my actions. AT least part of them. I made the decision to take my life. My only question was HOW? I didn't want to leave a mess behind and I wanted to leave as little pain for my family as possible. I was alone. I contemplated HOW to do it, as I paced through my home for several hours, and the more I done so, the more lost I became in my own mind. The more irrational my thoughts were. After hours of this, I "snapped out of it" enough that I found myself holding a shoebox full of prescription medications, and do not even remember getting it out of the cabinet it was in. That was how I had decided to end it all. As I stood there, I VERY DISTINCTLY felt God speak to my heart in a way I cannot describe to you. In spite of my problems, God spoke so clearly to me that the problems of this life were NOTHING compared to eternity in hell if I done this. I have NO DOUBT whatsoever that had I gone ahead with it, it was a one-way ticket to hell FOR ME. I cannot say it is the same in every instance, and wouldn't dare go there, but I know FOR ME, it was a clear decision that I was forced to make at that moment. Had I chosen to go ahead, I know where I'd be right now, and it's not a good place to go.

I fell totally apart, lost it all emotionally and knew I couldn't go through with it or I'd have problems from which there was no more escape after death. I was a total wreck. A nervous breakdown at a very young age, BUT I didn't do it obviously. I still cringe when I think of how close I came to suicide and how lost I'd become in a trance-like state of depression. It wasn't a joke, not a passing fancy, I was totally serious about it, but God intervened at that moment and held me accountable for whatever decision I made. and I KNEW I was accountable.

I am so glad that God stopped me that day and He put the fear of God in me that I never again contemplated suicide no matter how bad things got. I still prayed and prayed and prayed that God would let me die, but I knew from that moment not to do it myself. I cannot tell you that I am not capable even after this experience of being mentally disturbed and one day killing myself out of some mental illness. I certainly hope not, but I DO REALIZE that some suicides are the cause of mental illness and are not done by rational thinking or even consciously. But folks, I am totally convinced that NOT ALL suicides are driven by such, and NOT ALL suicides are forgiven.

There is no "cure all" solution for this, and there is no one answer for every case. We MUST be so very careful in what opinions we freely give out because we don't know who is reading and what is going through THEIR mind, or what THEIR situation might be.

You could not believe how long it's taken me to post this.... but I've spoken my mind. If ANYONE reading these posts is thinking about suicide...... PLEASE DO NOT DO IT. It's not the way out of your troubles and you won't know if it's forgiven or not until AFTER you do it. Please don't take that chance with your eternal soul!!! There are no troubles in this life that God can't help you through, and nothing here worse than possible eternity in hell.

JESUS LOVES YOU !!!

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ORIGINAL: JimboFletch

quote:

ORIGINAL: Dagwat
There is no "cure all" solution for this, and there is no one answer for every case. We MUST be so very careful in what opinions we freely give out because we don't know who is reading and what is going through THEIR mind, or what THEIR situation might be.

Exactly. But there's no stopping people from giving their 2 cents worth based on their assumption that keeping salvation depends on entering eternity with all sins confessed (works). I at least sense a genuine concern from your post rather than a heart of condemnation. That means a lot, even though it could be like a knife through the heart of a spouse that's lost their mate through the effects of the blackest, uncontrollable clinical depression.

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ORIGINAL: DenimDiva

Did Judas go to Heaven or hell?

quote:

ORIGINAL: Dagwat

In my prior post, I felt so strongly that someone out there needed to hear that side of this discussion and not just the other side. If one persons suicide can be stopped because of it, then it was well worth the embarassment I brought to myself by sharing my story. I am thankful for the support and comfort that others have found through this thread, after losing someone they loved to suicide. That is incredible. I also have to believe in my heart that those same people wouldn't wish upon somone elses family, the pain and trauma they have been through, if it can prevented. I certainly hope that no one was caused any pain by my post. I know that all those years ago, had a forum like this been available, I might have been there reading it to try and find an answer as to whether or not God would forgive me if I took suicide as a way out of my problems. When a person is that much in control of their mental functions, there is still hope and I definitely want to make sure I present to them that God understands when someone's mind is not right, but He also knows when it IS sound enough to make a conscience decision, and for that, we are accountable. I certainly can't judge anyone elses situation, but I know when God revealed to ME that I was grossly out of His will, I had to make a CLEAR decision, and one for which I would stand in judgement. If He had not made me accountable at that moment in time, I was close enough to have gone through with it and cause my family pain they might have even blamed God for and caused them to miss Heaven out of anger to God for allowing me to die. Only God knows all of that, and I can only imagine.

In any case, I strongly felt it needed to be shared. I also hope that anyone like that reading these posts will see the pain that family members of someone who committed suicide has been through, and spare their own loved one that same misery. God knows how to help us solve our problems in life, even when it seems utterly hopeless.

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ORIGINAL: WhiteRoseBlessings
I've often wanted to write a blog addressed to people contemplating suicide, from the aspect of how their loved ones would live day-to-day with such a fact, after it had been completed. I may still do that.

Blessings, Sharon-Marie

quote:

There is no "cure all" solution for this, and there is no one answer for every case. We MUST be so very careful in what opinions we freely give out because we don't know who is reading and what is going through THEIR mind, or what THEIR situation might be.

You could not believe how long it's taken me to post this.... but I've spoken my mind. If ANYONE reading these posts is thinking about suicide...... PLEASE DO NOT DO IT. It's not the way out of your troubles and you won't know if it's forgiven or not until AFTER you do it. Please don't take that chance with your eternal soul!!! There are no troubles in this life that God can't help you through, and nothing here worse than possible eternity in hell.

JESUS LOVES YOU !!!

quote:

ORIGINAL: DenimDiva

quote:

ORIGINAL: WhiteRoseBlessings
I've often wanted to write a blog addressed to people contemplating suicide, from the aspect of how their loved ones would live day-to-day with such a fact, after it had been completed. I may still do that.

Blessings, Sharon-Marie

The sad thing is that when someone is suicidal, many times they don't think they have someone in their life that loves them or that they are special to anyone.

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ORIGINAL: JimboFletch

quote:

ORIGINAL: DenimDiva

quote:

ORIGINAL: WhiteRoseBlessings
I've often wanted to write a blog addressed to people contemplating suicide, from the aspect of how their loved ones would live day-to-day with such a fact, after it had been completed. I may still do that.

Blessings, Sharon-Marie

The sad thing is that when someone is suicidal, many times they don't think they have someone in their life that loves them or that they are special to anyone.

My nephew that has bipolar disease, told me it has nothing to do about someone loving him. He knows that he is loved and he loves his family. It's like being in the deepest, blackest pit and covered by a mountain without any hope of escape. It's nothing at all like the kind of blues everyone has; it's completely irrational and almost physical.

quote:

ORIGINAL: earthless

Mari,

Thank you for taking the time to clarify.. and it would be awesome if you could share a hot cup of that coffee with me this evening.

Your father is indeed with the Lord - all born-again believers are His.. the Lord's trees are evergreen.

God bless you.

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ORIGINAL: DenimDiva

Did Judas go to Heaven or hell?

quote:

ORIGINAL: CCCdnt

quote:

ORIGINAL: beachcooky

But here's another thing, you cannot murder anyone. And I believe that you killing yourself will be committing murder.

So, I really don't know what will happen if someone will commit suicide.

For a lot of professing Christians, where one stands on his beliefs regarding the belief of "eternal security" usually determines his beliefs on what happens to a professing Christian that commits suicide. What I have found is that on most threads dealing with what happens to a professing Christian who commits suicide is that the answers come mainly from an "eternal security" belief perspective (otherwise known as "once saved always saved - OSAS). For those that believe that the Bible teaches it is possible for a person who is a Christian to return to a lost state, the answer will be different. I posted on this earlier in this thread in case you want to read what I said about it. When I comment on this, I try to be careful in my wording, as sometimes someone will try to take the thread off-topic by debating OSAS. This makes questions such as this about suicide very difficult to discuss without running the danger of getting into a debate about OSAS. If you notice, people usually state matter-of-factly what they believe happens to a professing Christian that commits suicide. Comments are usually made such as - the person will go to heaven since when the person became a Christian, all the person's sins were forgiven for all time. A comment like this would most likely come from someone who did believe in OSAS. However, a person that believed in CS (conditional security) could make a comment such as this - what happens to a professing Christian that commits suicide will depend on whether or not the person was still in Christ (saved) when he committed suicide - or - if the person knew what he was doing (state of mind), then he would not go to heaven since he would not be able to ask forgiveness for self-murder (assuming the death was immediate). I gave two examples since among those that believe in CS, there are different beliefs regarding how one can return to a lost state. You can see how this could lead to a debate on OSAS versus CS. This is why when I comment on threads such as this about suicide, I will point out how the answer will most of the time hinge greatly on what you believe about salvation, and then I will give examples of different beliefs about what would happen after suicide based on different beliefs about salvation without stating that one of the beliefs is the correct belief.

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ORIGINAL: beachcooky

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ORIGINAL: CCCdnt

quote:

ORIGINAL: beachcooky

But here's another thing, you cannot murder anyone. And I believe that you killing yourself will be committing murder.

So, I really don't know what will happen if someone will commit suicide.

For a lot of professing Christians, where one stands on his beliefs regarding the belief of "eternal security" usually determines his beliefs on what happens to a professing Christian that commits suicide. What I have found is that on most threads dealing with what happens to a professing Christian who commits suicide is that the answers come mainly from an "eternal security" belief perspective (otherwise known as "once saved always saved - OSAS). For those that believe that the Bible teaches it is possible for a person who is a Christian to return to a lost state, the answer will be different. I posted on this earlier in this thread in case you want to read what I said about it. When I comment on this, I try to be careful in my wording, as sometimes someone will try to take the thread off-topic by debating OSAS. This makes questions such as this about suicide very difficult to discuss without running the danger of getting into a debate about OSAS. If you notice, people usually state matter-of-factly what they believe happens to a professing Christian that commits suicide. Comments are usually made such as - the person will go to heaven since when the person became a Christian, all the person's sins were forgiven for all time. A comment like this would most likely come from someone who did believe in OSAS. However, a person that believed in CS (conditional security) could make a comment such as this - what happens to a professing Christian that commits suicide will depend on whether or not the person was still in Christ (saved) when he committed suicide - or - if the person knew what he was doing (state of mind), then he would not go to heaven since he would not be able to ask forgiveness for self-murder (assuming the death was immediate). I gave two examples since among those that believe in CS, there are different beliefs regarding how one can return to a lost state. You can see how this could lead to a debate on OSAS versus CS. This is why when I comment on threads such as this about suicide, I will point out how the answer will most of the time hinge greatly on what you believe about salvation, and then I will give examples of different beliefs about what would happen after suicide based on different beliefs about salvation without stating that one of the beliefs is the correct belief.

If you have accepted Jesus Christ as your personal savior, you are going to heaven. No questions asked.