Once, in a Facebook group, someone asked a question: "Does a Christian who commits suicide lose his salvation?" As I pointed out in another article, the answer is no. I would have thought this would have been obvious. Suicide is a sin, just like any other. The Bible teaches us that salvation is by grace through faith, not of works. The Bible teaches that no created thing, and not even death, can separate us from the love of Christ. The Bible teaches us that no one can take us away from Jesus, because no one is greater than the Father. It is so unbelievably obvious that suicide, while certainly sinful, is not unforgivable that I would actually question whether or not a person who believes it is is actually a Christian.
Unfortunately, a large number of people did give this answer. Not only did they say yes, it does cost a believer their salvation, but the majority did so in many vicious ways. Only one of them had the decency to try to cushion the blow by showing some form of sympathy. From the rest, I saw nothing but arrogance and disdain for those who struggle with any form of anxiety or depression. Suicide was looked down on as being not only equal to murder, but actually worse. God can forgive a man who murders in malice, but not a man who commits suicide in despair? This does not fit the Gospel.
But there is one element of the Gospel that people honed in on. Faith. If we're saved by grace through faith, then the moment faith is removed, is salvation not also removed? And does suicide not show a lack of faith? This is a very poor understanding of both faith, and of the character of God.
First of all, faith is not some super powerful energy that makes one immune to all sin at all times. The Bible actually says that if we say we have no sin, not only are we deceiving ourselves, but we make God out to be a liar as well (1 John 1:8-10). Furthermore, while I thoroughly reject the "all sin is equal" interpretation of James 2:10, it does clearly show us that God treats all sin with equal seriousness. If God cannot forgive the sin of suicide (which the Bible nowhere states), then how can He forgive murder? Or adultery? Or theft? Or lying? Or even misrepresenting His word in such a way that it makes out He will not forgive His children if they try to come home early?
In truth, God's character is not dependent on our consistency. Human beings are, by nature, very inconsistent. We may not be as faithful tomorrow as we are today. We have our good days, and our bad days. We have our strengths, we have our weaknesses. We win some victories, we lose some battles. Unfortunately, sometimes, the latter is fatal. But if you believe God requires you to be alive to repent of your failures, how can you have any assurance of your salvation? How can you know, as John tells us, that you have eternal life (1 John 5:13) if you must survive to repent of all your sins individually? You sin every minute! As the saying goes, if you could lose your salvation, you would lose your salvation.
In reality, God is faithful, even when we are faithless. Why? Because He is the bigger Man. Your faith waivers, His doesn't. When God makes a promise, such as "whoever believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life", He keeps that promise. Therefore, suicide simply cannot be enough of a sin to cost us salvation. At worst, it is the last sin God will ever have to forgive us for. Any other view is a works based, and therefore false gospel. Needless to say, God doesn't look too kindly upon those.