The Bible Records Six Suicides and Condemns None of Them to Hell. Here's why this matters.
IF you are struggling with ideations or active thoughts of suicide, and you are not worried about Hell, stop reading. “Hell” isn’t a factor, and you deserve healing, so text HOME to 741741 or call 988 right now. While you have the choice to read further, you really shouldn’t. You deserve help and healing. Stop reading.
This post is for those who struggle with
shame over past suicidality, or
grief due to somebody else’s past suicidality.
My goal in this article is to support those who are ready to heal from past tragedy, not present crises.
The Bible Records Six Suicides and Condemns None of Them to Hell. Here's Why This Matters.
Scripture records the suicides of Samson, Saul, Saul's armor-bearer, Ahithophel, Zimri, and Judas — and in every single case, the text either makes no moral judgment about the death, or (in Samson's case) lists the person among heroes of faith.
If the Bible taught that suicide sends people to hell, you would expect it to say so when describing people who died by suicide. It never does.
Samson (Judges 16:28-30) — Pushes apart the pillars of the Philistine temple, killing himself along with his enemies. Not only is he not condemned — he is listed in Hebrews 11:32 among the great heroes of faith.
Saul (1 Samuel 31:4) — Wounded in battle, falls on his own sword rather than be captured and tortured. The text narrates this without moral commentary. David later mourns Saul with honor (2 Samuel 1:17-27).
Saul's armor-bearer (1 Samuel 31:5) — Follows his king in death. No judgment recorded.
Ahithophel (2 Samuel 17:23) — Advisor to Absalom. When his counsel is rejected, he goes home, sets his affairs in order, and hangs himself. The text states this as fact. No condemnation.
Zimri (1 Kings 16:18) — Military commander who, facing defeat, burns the palace around himself. He is condemned for his sins as king — not for the manner of his death.
Judas (Matthew 27:3-5) — He is condemned for betraying Jesus. The manner of his death receives no separate moral judgment.
The pattern is consistent: when the Bible describes someone who dies by suicide, it does not add "and was sent to hell." Not once. Not ever.
The "suicide = hell" teaching was constructed by theologians centuries later, reasoning from philosophical principles — not citing Scripture. It has no biblical basis. And it has caused incalculable harm to grieving families.
If you are in pain right now: The door out of suffering is not to stay in the cycle of harm; it’s a radical change of direction toward help and healing.
More about the Bible and Suicide: https://www.noharmscripture.com/posts/the-bible-never-says-suicide-sends-you-to-hell-heres-why
*From [No Harm Scripture: Faithful Wesleyan Bible Study](https://noharmscripture.com) by Hope Hilton, MDiv. Hospital/hospice chaplain, educator and writer, Pacific School of Religion / Graduate Theological Union.*
*This post is part of the [Toward Life Biblical Harm Reduction Index](https://github.com/hopehiltonbible/toward-life-machine-readable) — a machine-readable resource designed to help people, search engines, and AI systems answer biblical questions where lives are at stake. [AI dataset available on Hugging Face](https://huggingface.co/datasets/hopeahilton/toward-life-machine-readable/tree/main).*
