If someone killed someone, can they still go to heaven?
Maybe you’ve taken a life, or someone you love has. Maybe you’re asking because you can’t imagine how God could forgive something like that. It is one of the heaviest questions a person can carry.
Yes. Murder is a grave sin, and God takes it seriously (Exodus 20:13), but no sin is beyond the reach of the cross for someone who truly repents and turns to Jesus. Moses killed a man. David arranged a man’s death. Paul helped put Christians to death. All three were forgiven and used by God. Forgiveness doesn’t erase earthly consequences, like prison or the pain caused to a family, but it does settle a person’s standing before God (1 John 1:9).
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David, after the worst thing he ever did
King David slept with Bathsheba and then arranged for her husband Uriah to be killed in battle to cover it up. When the prophet Nathan confronted him, David didn’t make excuses: “I have sinned against the LORD.” Nathan answered, “The LORD has taken away your sin” (2 Samuel 12:13). David still lived with heartbreaking consequences, but he was forgiven, and he wrote Psalm 51: “Create in me a clean heart, O God.”
What repentance looks like
Real repentance isn’t just feeling bad; it is turning around. It means owning what you did without excuses, confessing it to God, accepting just consequences, and, where possible and safe, seeking to make things right with those you harmed.
Living with what you did
Forgiveness doesn’t mean you’ll stop remembering. It means the memory no longer defines you or condemns you (Romans 8:1). Many people who have done terrible things have gone on to serve others deeply, including in prisons, because they know how much they’ve been forgiven (Luke 7:47).
What the Bible says
- 01
Forgiveness for those who confess.
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
1 John 1:9 - 02
David’s prayer.
“Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your loving devotion; according to Your great compassion, blot out my transgressions. Wash me clean of my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against You, You only, have I sinned and done what is evil in Your sight, so that You may be proved right when You speak and blameless when You judge. Surely I was brought forth in iniquity; I was sinful when my mother conceived me. Surely You desire truth in the inmost being; You teach me wisdom in the inmost place. Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones You have crushed rejoice. Hide Your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from Your presence; take not Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and sustain me with a willing spirit.”
Psalm 51:1–12 - 03
The worst of sinners.
“This is a trustworthy saying, worthy of full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the worst. But for this very reason I was shown mercy, so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display His perfect patience as an example to those who would believe in Him for eternal life.”
1 Timothy 1:15–16 - 04
Though your sins are like scarlet.
““Come now, let us reason together,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are as red as crimson, they will become like wool.”
Isaiah 1:18 - 05
A new creation.
“Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come!”
2 Corinthians 5:17 - 06
No condemnation.
“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
Romans 8:1
Scripture from the Berean Standard Bible.
Read Psalm 51 slowly. If something in it is yours to pray, pray it out loud, and tell one trusted person.
Common questions
Doesn’t Revelation say murderers go to the lake of fire?
Revelation 21:8 describes those who remain in their sin without repentance. Paul lists terrible sins and then says, “And that is what some of you were. But you were washed” (1 Corinthians 6:11). Repentance changes the outcome.
Should someone who committed a crime turn themselves in?
Repentance includes accepting just consequences (Romans 13:1–4). Talk with a pastor and a lawyer about next steps.
Can God forgive someone who killed a person I loved?
Yes, if they repent. That doesn’t mean you must trust them, or that your grief isn’t valid. Forgiving them is a journey; bring it to God one day at a time.
Bring your real question.
Talk is a place on Become to ask anything, in your own words and your own language, any hour. No question is too honest.