Thoughts on suicide

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miaax

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I read somewhere by a catholic priest that a family member of his committed suicide. I don’t want to misconstrue but from what I read and interpreted the priest addressed how God forgives those who commit suicide and that they do not go to hell because of their mental sufferings and how it affects their soul. A deep pain that know one can understand. I would like to know if people who commit suicide go to hell or what does really happen?
 
We don’t know who goes to hell and who does not, except in the case of saints canonized by the Church (canonization being basically a statement that the deceased is in Heaven). Canonization does not apply here, obviously. So a priest cannot definitively say that someone is or is not going to hell.

However, the priest likely would say to the bereaved family that God is very merciful and that if someone was suffering mentally, they are likely not acting with free will, and God will take that into account, so the family can have hope that their loved one is saved. He would also probably encourage the family to pray for the soul of their loved one, in case the person is in Purgatory.
 
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We don’t know who is in heaven or hell. Only God knows that. Suicide is a mortal sin, and the Church teaches that if you die with a mortal sin on your soul, you will go to hell. This is not a hard and fast rule. Only God knows what’s on people’s hearts. What if a person regrets the suicide and wants to take a reversal and go to the doctor, but dies before they have a chance? What if they have a conversion one second before their death? It’s not up to us to say who is going to hell. 🙂
 
LovelyLadybug said:
Suicide is a mortal sin
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It’s more accurate to say that suicide is a grave act. Whether it is a sin or a mortal sin depends on other factors, like full knowledge and deliberate consent, which are other two conditions of mortal sin, and of course mental illness.
 
Murder is a mortal sin and suicide is murder. That doesn’t mean the victims are going to hell, though. 🙂
 
I see what you are saying.🙂 I think you and I have started with different definitions of mortal sin. CCC 1857 outlines the three conditions of mortal sin that I was writing about.
 
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To elaborate my previous post for the case of suicide:
  1. The first condition, grave matter, is the killing itself (or attempted killing).
  2. The second condition, full knowledge, is the clear understanding of what one is doing, its consequences, and its sinfulness.
  3. The third condition, deliberate consent, is the free choice of carrying out the act. I suspect this is the point where many suicides may not be mortal sins. For example, one may choose it in haste, or out of irrational fear, or under coercion, or see no other choice.
Mental illness could affect conditions 2 and/or 3.
 
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God alone knows who merits Hell. The Church does not know or claim to.

As to suicide, for the human mind to turn on itself in that way, something is seriously amiss in the thought process. Moral culpability would not be as normally expected.

ICXC NIKA
 
miaax said:
I would like to know if people who commit suicide go to hell or what does really happen?
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Remember that if someone commits suicide by shooting themselves it’s pretty instant. If someone does it by slashing wrists or taking lots of pills there is time for them to regret it and beg God for mercy.
 
Gripper said:
Remember that if someone commits suicide by shooting themselves it’s pretty instant. If someone does it by slashing wrists or taking lots of pills there is time for them to regret it and beg God for mercy.
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You have no idea what goes through the person’s mind in the last split second, and cannot make any such judgment.
 
Repeating what everybody and the Catechism says: nobody on earth knows who is in hell and God is merciful. Mental illness can and does interfere with the second and third qualifications for mortal sin, and you are not living in freedom of will and mind if you have a mental illness severe enough to cause suicidal ideation.

I was suicidal and severely depressed at the beginning of high school and turned to Christianity (not specifically the Church) as one way to find a greater purpose in life after I was more mentally stable and healthy. Do not, under any circumstances, tell families or loved ones of suicide victims that their loved one is going to hell. That is not how the Church wins. That is not how the Word of Christ lives on, either.
 
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