Only God can judge a mans heart. I'll leave it at that.

Roman catholic reporting in.
The church says "Though shall not kill" and therefore it is a sin.

Its not damnation in hell though. So pretty much its a sin, but not a huge sin so your probably just going to have to sneak in the side gate at heaven.

Personally I think if someone is so tormented that they choose to end their suffering then its all our fault that we didn't help them. We are the sinners, not them.

I'm not actually Christian, but if I remember right, it goes like this:

Catholic: Mortal Sin = Hell

Protestant: Too many sects to have one "official" doctrine, but generally it's still Mortal Sin = Hell.

I truly cannot remember if it is a sin because you have absolutely no way to repent (being dead and all) or if it is a sin because you are taking away the life that God gave you. I think in some ways it is considered taking despair to the point of vanity because you think your own pain is worse than God's plan for you.

I didn't think they had one. If this falls under religion bashing, please feel free to delete, but know it's not my intention.

I kind of look at this like the argument against Pascal's Wager.

This argument holds that three general assumptions exist.

God exists as malevolent and wrathful
God does not exist
God exists as benevolent and forgiving

If there is a malevolent and wrathful god, we can assume he may send someone one to hell for taking their own life. But a malevolent and wrathful god might do the same to a holy woman who died of old age, as it isn't in his nature to be just.

If there is no god, there's no sin, no hell, no heaven, and no question to answer here.

If there is a benevolent and forgiving god, then we can assume that he would forgive someone for taking their own life and welcome them warmly into heaven.

My non denominational church errs to the side of grace.

If you believe Jesus died for your sins and you put your faith in that, it covers ANY sin, not just some. So essentially, if you're a believer and you kill yourself, that doesn't take what Jesus did for you out of the equation. So your sins are covered and you're still eligible for eternal life.

I am a deist with agnostic tendencies that grew up in the catholic church. The catholic church isn't the "official" christian stance, but I think most of the arguments against it are similar. Here is a link to the catechism of the church:

http://www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-teachings/what-we-believe/catechism/catechism-of-the-catholic-church/epub/index.cfm

Do a search for suicide and you will find a few blurbs about it.

For what it's worth, Jesus did say the only unforgivable sin is blasphemy of the holy spirit. He mentions it in the context of attributing the works of driving out demons to satan rather than God. Even a superficial reading of the new testament reveals that the law is meant to be a stumbling block for humans, which is why the fundamental teaching of Jesus is love and forgiveness.

I'm not actually Christian, but if I remember right, it goes like this:

Catholic: Mortal Sin = Hell

Protestant: Too many sects to have one "official" doctrine, but generally it's still Mortal Sin = Hell.

I truly cannot remember if it is a sin because you have absolutely no way to repent (being dead and all) or if it is a sin because you are taking away the life that God gave you. I think in some ways it is considered taking despair to the point of vanity because you think your own pain is worse than God's plan for you.

Goodness, no. Once saved always saved, unless you reject Jesus Christ as your savior.

I didn't think they had one. If this falls under religion bashing, please feel free to delete, but know it's not my intention.

I kind of look at this like the argument against Pascal's Wager.

This argument holds that three general assumptions exist.

God exists as malevolent and wrathful
God does not exist
God exists as benevolent and forgiving

If there is a malevolent and wrathful god, we can assume he may send someone one to hell for taking their own life. But a malevolent and wrathful god might do the same to a holy woman who died of old age, as it isn't in his nature to be just.

If there is no god, there's no sin, no hell, no heaven, and no question to answer here.

If there is a benevolent and forgiving god, then we can assume that he would forgive someone for taking their own life and welcome them warmly into heaven.

You are using logic to prove/disprove god. This is always a fallacy because it is just way to easy to disprove him. I have faith and believe that is not logic, so my science and religion can coexist nicely. :drinker: <-- Jesus blood/Alcohol

I'm not trying to disprove god. Just borrowing part of the argument to guess how a god would respond to suicide.

I'm not actually Christian, but if I remember right, it goes like this:

Catholic: Mortal Sin = Hell

Protestant: Too many sects to have one "official" doctrine, but generally it's still Mortal Sin = Hell.

I truly cannot remember if it is a sin because you have absolutely no way to repent (being dead and all) or if it is a sin because you are taking away the life that God gave you. I think in some ways it is considered taking despair to the point of vanity because you think your own pain is worse than God's plan for you.

Goodness, no. Once saved always saved, unless you reject Jesus Christ as your savior.

I can't say this without derailing from the original topic a bit, so bear with me and please take the following with a shaker of salt.

Here in Evangelical Southern ****s Land there's a weird dichotomy between "I am saved through Jesus" and "you will burn in hell for ____."

I've always hated the attitude that what you do doesn't matter if you have Jesus. Kill a 100 people? Doesn't matter, you've got Jesus. Rape some babies? Can't touch me, I've got Jesus. The exact same people who have told me that Jesus forgives everything will later follow up by saying that some other sin will send you to hell no matter what. The guidelines of what sin equals insta damnation get fuzzy, but suicide and homosexuality are the big two that make the list frequently.

If the rest of the sane Protestant world has moved on, well, great. If the rest of my town has moved on and it is just one or two churches preachin' crazy talk, even better. I'm not converting to theism any time soon, but I'll feel safer talking to random strangers again.