I will miss Robin Williams. I still remember watching Mork and Mindy when I was young. I loved Mork from Ork. He made me laugh even if I didn't quite get all of his jokes. I remember watching him as Popeye and it was one of my favorites when I was a kid. I would watch it whenever it was on. I have never seen a comic genius like him and I don't know if we will see one after him.
It saddened me when I heard that a man who could make so many laugh struggled to find happiness and joy in his own life. My heart goes out to those affected by suicide. I am not one who claims that depression is a state of mind that can be overcome. I know that it is a terrible disease and one that I have struggled with on some level off and on for most of my adult life. But, this blog is not about depression or Robin Williams. This blog is being written to address the question that I have been asked for a long time: Do those who commit suicide go to hell?
For centuries different branches of the church have taught that suicide would send someone directly to hell. To early church fathers like Clement of Alexandria and St. Augustine, suicide was an unforgivable sin. Grace was not available to those who took their own life because it was considered self-murder, a violation of the sixth commandment. But, is that the correct view of suicide?
Suicide is a grave situation and it would appear to be one of those sins that is unforgivable. However, to see suicide as a sin that is unforgivable is having a small view of grace. I hold to a big view of grace. My view of grace is that God's grace is more than enough to cover all my sin. One of the greatest verses in the Bible is Romans 5:20: "The law was added so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more." The law was given to us so that we would know what sin was; it was never meant to save us. Grace is the thing that was meant to save us. To hold a view that a sin like suicide can condemn followers of Christ to hell is to believe that God's grace is not big enough to cover the sins I commit at the moment of my death. That is a belief system centered around fear and paranoia. That is a belief system that is based on law not on grace. Grace is what covers the sins of those who have given their life to Christ as Lord and Savior. That grace is powerful. That grace is so powerful that it can cover all of our sins, past, present and future.
A few months ago, Pastor Rick Warren's son committed suicide after many years of battling mental illness. Rick Warren is a godly man and insisted that his son was the same. He defended his son's Christianity despite his suicide. Rick Warren believes that he will see his son again in eternity with Jesus because Rick Warren has a big view of grace.
I don't know what Robin Williams believed. If he believed in Christ as his Savior, then I believe I will see him in eternity with Jesus. If he didn't believe, then suicide will not be what will condemn him; it will be rejection of God and His grace. That is the unforgivable sin because it means we have rejected the one thing that could cover our sin and save us, grace. And, it's not a one-time rejection; it is a lifetime spent rejecting the Gospel message.
Suicide is an unfortunate result of mental illness, but as Christians I think it's time to stop teaching that believers automatically go to hell because of it. There is no biblical evidence for it. Only two people in the Bible committed suicide and neither showed evidence of following God when they did it. There are passionate believers in Christ who struggle with depression and there are some who give into the temptation to end it all. We need to stop throwing out God's judgment and be there for the families of those affected. We need to have a bigger view of grace.
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