Murder / Suicide

Joseph Fielding Smith

John says there are two kinds of sins. One kind that can be forgiven; the other kind a sin unto death, for which there is no forgiveness. Murder is one of the latter class.

Joseph Fielding Smith, The Restoration of All Things, 1964, p. 204

Murder, the shedding of innocent blood, is a sin unto death.

Joseph Fielding Smith, The Way to Perfection, p. 236

Some sins are more serious than others and less easily repented of. There are sins that cannot be forgiven, such as murder, without the punishment of the guilty with the shedding of blood.

Joseph Fielding Smith, Seek Ye Earnestly, p. 151

Mark E. Peterson

“The Lord is just and he is merciful, but he does not allow mercy to rob justice. Where there is proper repentance, he forgives all but two sins: murder, wherein innocent blood is shed, and sin against the Holy Ghost”.

Mark E. Petersen, Three Kings of Israel, p. 99

Spencer W. Kimball

Shortening life is sin. This temple of God is the body that the Lord has given us. It has been given to us to last a long time. It is a terrible criminal act for a person to go out and shorten his life by suicide or by any other method if it is intentional, by shortening it with the things that will create an early death. That isn’t the way the Lord arranged it. He intended that men should live to the age of a tree.

The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, p. 187.

Perhaps one reason murder is unforgivable is that having taken a life, the murderer cannot restore it. Restitution in full is not possible. Also, having robbed one of virtue, it is impossible to give it back.

The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, p. 85

The Prophet Joseph Smith underlined the seriousness of the sin of murder for David as for all men, and the fact that there is no forgiveness for it.

The Miracle of Forgiveness, p. 128

Our loving Father has given us the blessed principle of repentance as the gateway to forgiveness. All sins but those excepted by the Lord–basically, the sin against the Holy Ghost, and murder will be forgiven to those who totally, consistently, and continuously repent in a genuine and comprehensive transformation of life.

The Miracle of Forgiveness, p. 14

Dallin H. Oaks

“A deliberate murder is what the scriptures call ‘a sin unto death.’ (1 Jn. 5:16.) It deprives the murderer of eternal life (1 Jn. 3:15) because there is ‘no forgiveness’ for this act (D&C 42:79). In other words, a person who deliberately kills another shall die spiritually”.

Dallin H. Oaks, The Lord’s Way, p. 213

Church Publications

Man did not create himself. He did not furnish his spirit with a human dwelling place. It is God who created man, both body and spirit. Man has no right, therefore, to destroy that which he had no agency in creating. They who do so are guilty of murder, self-murder it is true; but they are no more justified in killing themselves than they are in killing others. What difference of punishment there is for the two crimes, I do not know; but it is clear that no one can destroy so precious a gift as that of life without incurring a severe penalty.

Gospel Truth, 2 vols., Salt Lake City: Zion’s Book Store, 1957, 1:30; italics added.