Is Suicide Morally Wrong?

[feral]

Is it morally wrong to commit suicide? Why?

 

[Buzz Dixon]

It is morally wrong to destroy oneself.

It is not morally wrong to opt out of medical procedures that might only prolong a deteriorating physical condition and to just let nature take its course.

It is not morally wrong to put oneself at physical risk to save others (viz. a soldier throwing himself on a hand grenade to save his buddies).

 

[Mekkala]

Is it morally wrong to commit suicide? Why?

Absolutely not. My life belongs to me, not you or anyone else, and yours to you, not me or anyone else. If I choose to end it, that is my right, as it is yours.

There's not much else I can say on the subject except that try as I might, I simply cannot fathom why in the world it would occur to anyone to deny someone else the right to choose whether they live or die, except in cases where giving them that right means to remove that right from other innocent individuals. What ever gave anyone the idea that they have the right of life or death without cause over another person?

 

[Lifesaver]

Yes, it is wrong. No-one gave themselves their own life, and it is thus not up to them to terminate it.

It is also often an action of contempt towards life itself.

Surely, there are cases when it's understandable why the person did it(depression, person suffering a lot, etc), but it is never right.

Still, one mustn't confuse it with martyrdom, acceptance of punishment, dying for a cause and letting nature follow its course when there are no reasonable options for staying alive.

 

[The_White]

This is pointless, as far as I can see every chrisian here will say some variation on buzz and lifesaver's posts and the aithiests/non-christians will say what Mekkala said.

Christians consider it equal to murder (which legaly speaking it is here but the law cant exactly punish you for murdering yourself) and since it also terminates your life it is a sin you cannont repent of. We also see it despising what God has given us hence it is morraly wrong. Non-Christians have no such belief (unless some of the other religions do and I am not aware of it) hence it makes no moral difference one way or the other.

That siad I agree completely with both the Christian posts above.

 

[XXXChurch]

I agree with the previous three Christian posts.

I also wanted to add that the body is a temple for God. And I would to make the connection with this, God said that if anyone would destroy the temple, God would destroy him.

 

[Why?]

I voted 'possibly', only because I'm not sure about cases such as those who jumped from the World Trade Center buildings.

Also, I'd like to add that the only unforgivable sin is not accepting Jesus Christ as your savior (in my belief). Therefore, I do not believe that suicide is unforgivable.

 

[Buzz Dixon]

I voted 'possibly', only because I'm not sure about cases such as those who jumped from the World Trade Center buildings.

That one's understandable, since to stay would have meant death anyway under excrutiating circumstances. It's like a person with terminal cancer opting to have pain killers but not chemotherapy.

 

[no_worries]

I think it's selfish and wrong. Suicide is a premanent solution to temporary problems. It not only ends someone's life but causes so much hurt to all their friends and family.

Other than that, basicly what the other anti-suicide people said.

 

[Philosoft]

It is morally wrong to destroy oneself.

Okay, this is Biblical.

It is not morally wrong to opt out of medical procedures that might only prolong a deteriorating physical condition and to just let nature take its course.

How do you know this? Is it Biblical?

 

[Philosoft]

That one's understandable, since to stay would have meant death anyway under excrutiating circumstances. It's like a person with terminal cancer opting to have pain killers but not chemotherapy.

It might be "understandable" but is it Biblical? We are not meant to understand all of God's ways, after all.

 

[Philosoft]

I think it's selfish and wrong. Suicide is a premanent solution to temporary problems.

What about someone with, say, paranoid schizophrenia? There is currently no medical cure, only drugs that have their own undesirable side-effects.

It not only ends someone's life but causes so much hurt to all their friends and family.

What about the homeless guy with no friends and no family who care about him?

 

[no_worries]

What about someone with, say, paranoid schizophrenia? There is currently no medical cure, only drugs that have their own undesirable side-effects.

There are new cures being tested for that kind of stuff every day. They should pray and try the drugs, if everyone with a disease without a cure killed themselves we wouldn't get many things cured. Wouldn't it be stupid if they killed themself and the next day a cure was announced?

What about the homeless guy with no friends and no family who care about him?

I know of peopel who were living on the street that a stranger cared enough about to help them out of their situation and you'd never know it now. Just because they're going through an extremely tough time in life doesn't mean that they should end their life.

 

[AraqirG]

It is morally wrong to destroy oneself.

Why?

No-one gave themselves their own life, and it is thus not up to them to terminate it.

Why does creating life establish a right to end it? Can a mother kill their child and be moral? Can I clone an animal (possibly a human) then kill it becasue I have created it? Whats the link between creating and ending life?

I think it's selfish and wrong. Suicide is a premanent solution to temporary problems. It not only ends someone's life but causes so much hurt to all their friends and family.

Are you saying it is wrong because it is selfish, or it wrong because of independant moral reasons, and it just happens to also be selfish? I don't think that an action being selfish makes it immoral at all. I eat. That is selfish. I eat food because I want to stay alive, not that I want to stay alive to help someone else.

In addition, I think that the notion that a persons life belongs to society, their family or God, is the cause of most oppression and dehumanization. Government abuse, such as Soviet Russia evolves out of the notion that the citizen exists for the state.

 

[Philosoft]

There are new cures being tested for that kind of stuff every day. They should pray and try the drugs, if everyone with a disease without a cure killed themselves we wouldn't get many things cured. Wouldn't it be stupid if they killed themself and the next day a cure was announced?

Such a patient would be wise to listen to his physician's recommendation in that case - news of a potential cure would be highly anticipated. Currently, however, all circumstances are not equal. We are, practically speaking, no closer to curing viral diseases than we were when we discovered that rhinovirus was the cause of the common cold. An individual who contracts Ebola, for instance, has about ten days to live on average, many of them in potentially excruciating pain. Is there really a moral objectiont to suicide in such a case?

I know of peopel who were living on the street that a stranger cared enough about to help them out of their situation and you'd never know it now. Just because they're going through an extremely tough time in life doesn't mean that they should end their life.

What if they don't ever meet such a stranger and die of pneumonia one day, lonely and broken? Is the mere hope of such a minor miracle a sufficient moral objection?

 

[okiemommy26]

Is it morally wrong to commit suicide? Why?

Yes it is wrong. We didnt give ourselfs life we dont have the right to take it away.

 

[silverflare]

Anyone should have the right to take their own life, but it's not ethically right to do so in my opinion.

 

[ego licet visum]

Suicide is not immoral, there are things no one should ever have to live through. Ever.

Philosoft mentioned a good one. If I knew my liver, pancreas, kidneys etc... were all going to painfully melt and then bleed out of me from any concievable place and I had no hope of surviving and being normal ever again, I would not want to live long enough to face this scenario. I would not morally require anyone else to face this scenario either. It would be immoral to deny them to die a painless death instead of a painful one.

 

[Philosoft]

Yes it is wrong. We didnt give ourselfs life we dont have the right to take it away.

Invalid reasoning. A right to take life is not ipso facto derived from the fact of giving life. Both are metaphysical issues that can be addressed independently.

Suppose the Bible contained the line, "I, God, giver of thine life, decree that thine life might only be taken by thee." Would that give us the right to suicide?

 

[CSMR]

Absolutely not. My life belongs to me, not you or anyone else, and yours to you, not me or anyone else. If I choose to end it, that is my right, as it is yours.

You're talking about rights, i.e. laws; while the OP asked about morality.