There are several instances in the Bible where God commands a person to perform an action that contradicts apparently universal ethical rules and rewards this person for his or her faithful suspension of morality. The story of Samson in the book of Judges is one such case. During a time period when God is punishing the Israelites and giving them “into the hand of the Philistines,” (Judges 10.7) an angel appears to a man named Manoah and his wife, who had not been able to bear children. The angel informs them that they are to have a son, Samson, who ordained as a ‘Nazarite’ from before birth and devoted to a life of serving God, will deliver the Israelites from the rule of the Philistines. As Samson grows up and carries out his divinely-commanded purpose in life, he becomes known for his awesome strength, leading single-handed campaigns against Philistine troops with no more than the jaw bone of an ass.
Bewildered by his superhuman abilities, the Philistines prompt his lover Delilah to ascertain the secret of his strength. After incessant prodding, Samson sincerely and tragically reveals, “A razor has never come upon my head; for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If my head were shaved, then my strength would leave me; I would become weak, and be like anyone else,” (Judges 16.17). Delilah promptly informs the Philistines, who capture Samson and instead of killing him, shave his head, gouge out both of his eyes, and imprison him as a slave. After some time, Samson is brought from prison to be displayed at religious festival for the Philistine’s seemingly-victorious god. His hair is now again long, and his strength is returned. With his divinely-restored might, Samson enacts revenge on his and the Israelites’ oppressors. Fulfilling the prophecy delivered before Samson’s birth, he pushes against the pillars of the temple and topples the entire structure, killing himself and “more than those he had killed during his life,” (Judges 16.30). Samson had killed many men in his lifetime.

Why do people believe this stuff?

Can ONE man really topple the pillars of a friggin temple!?

What I am most curious about is whether or not Samson went to hell because he killed himself.

In middle school we learn about the Bubonic Plague—the skin-rotting disease that killed more than 25 million people throughout Europe between 1347 and 1352. We learn that the reason for the “Black Death’s” rapid spread is due to two factors: people’s belief that bathing would exacerbate contamination and rats. While this is not inaccurate, a third and lesser-known factor for the epidemic’s tyranny exists: the persecution of cats.
Four hundred years before the plague weeded out a third of Europe’s population, the Welsh sensibly placed value on cats, recognizing their ability to protect human food stores. Welsh ruler Hywel the Good established laws that imposed strict penalties for harming or stealing cats, mandating the following for anyone who did
However, The Middle Ages and adoption of English law brought about a change of opinion of the feline. Certain religious leaders had been casting aspersions on cats for quite some time before the Black Plague hit. Cats were not subservient and tended to be noisy at night, which caused them to be viewed with suspicion. They began to be viewed to have magical powers; cats began to be associated with the devil and their owners with witches. Pope Gregory IX (cousin of Pope Innocent III) launched a massive war on cats and went so far as to label the cat a “diabolical creature” in 1232. In his bull Vox in Rama, Gregory’s condemnation of worshiping Satin the form of a black cat led to a massacre of felines across Europe. In a manic manner, millions of cats were put to death and even sometimes burnt with their owners. With paranoid fervor, Europe by and large wiped out its domestic cat population.
Europe’s rat population, now unchecked by their natural predators, each carried hundred of tiny fleas, which were the true transmitters of the bubonic plague germ. Areas with more rats therefore had more fleas and thus a higher instance of plague outbreak. Cats were the first line of defense against the plague, and their absence—due to an erroneous and pseudo-canonical belief— was perhaps more detrimental than people’s ignorance of the nature of bacteria.
Ironically, when the deadly plague first arrived, cats became a scapegoat. The belief spread that God had abandoned humans; thus, religious leaders needed a way to curb the people’s loss of faith that threatened the Church’s profit and authority—they needed to blame Satan for the plague. As physical evidence of Satan’s presence, cats were singled out as agents of the devil, who were ‘vessels of evil,’ carrying death and sickness with them wherever they went. Poor kitty.