Does Suicide Send You to Hell?

It's a sobering question that lingers in many hearts and minds. Many have found it difficult to offer a clear, theologically sound answer.

Ravi Zacharias, founder of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM), does an excellent job of answering this difficult question in this portion of a recorded Q&A session. His humility, transparency and love for the truth of God's Word shines through as he speaks.

As Ravi pointed out, suicide is a form of murder. Instead of taking someone else's life in your hands, you're taking your life in your hands. God makes it abundantly clear how He views any kind of murder.

 Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man. 

Genesis 9:6

What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's. 

I Corinthians 6:19-20

Man is made in the image of God. When man kills man - whether another man or himself - the image of God is marred. Staining the image of the holy God is not something He takes lightly, and neither should we. 

So, does suicide send you to hell?

The short answer is: No. Choosing to reject Christ is what sends a person to hell.

I said to the man who stood at the Gate of the Year,

"Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown."

And he replied, "Go out into the darkness, and put your hand into the hand of God.

That shall be to you better than light, and safer than a known way."

King George VI