Why is suicide a bad thing for the "faithful"?

superluminal

superluminal

I am MalcomR
Valued Senior Member
Something in another thread got me to thinking.

Why is there such a strong prohibition against suicide in religions (at least the ones I know about)?

Especially at times of suffering, when death is certain (terminal cancer, etc.) why do religions still balk at the concept?

If the faithful are so certain that death is just a transition to being in the presence of their god, why all of the fear and prohibitions on speeding the inevitable along a bit?

I get that god supposedly says something like "Don't take your life. I gave it to you, and I'll be damned if anyone but me will take it away".

But why? Given the fact that religions are convoluted man-made labrynths of self delusion, why put such a limit on going to see the Big Guy?
 
superluminal said:
Something in another thread got me to thinking.

Why is there such a strong prohibition against suicide in religions (at least the ones I know about)?

Especially at times of suffering, when death is certain (terminal cancer, etc.) why do religions still balk at the concept?

If the faithful are so certain that death is just a transition to being in the presence of their god, why all of the fear and prohibitions on speeding the inevitable along a bit?

I get that god supposedly says something like "Don't take your life. I gave it to you, and I'll be damned if anyone but me will take it away".
Click to expand...
basically it boils down to what you suggest - although there is the added feature that the act of dying is not sufficient to grant spiritual perfection (you don't find any scripture that advocates "just die").
But why? Given the fact that religions are convoluted man-made labrynths of self delusion, why put such a limit on going to see the Big Guy?
Click to expand...
lol - its a given fact or a tentative opinion?
as for the limit, its something we place on ourselves (usually with great delight)
 
God could see it as murder, murder of his creation, doesn't matter who did it, its still murder as you are technically his creation, his property, you are wronging him.

Alternatively, many faiths believe your life is the time you are judged, if you skip this judging porcess then you gotta go to hell :D
 
Everyone is committing suicide as soon as they are born. They smoke, drink,

eat excessively and eat the wrong types of food. They are always doing

things that reduce their lifespan by polluting, spraying chemicals, building in

areas that are prone to natural disasters and so on. So just because people

don't just kill themselves quickly they still are doing it slowly.
 
cosmictraveler said:
Everyone is committing suicide as soon as they are born. They smoke, drink,

eat excessively and eat the wrong types of food. They are always doing

things that reduce their lifespan by polluting, spraying chemicals, building in

areas that are prone to natural disasters and so on. So just because people

don't just kill themselves quickly they still are doing it slowly.
Click to expand...

Yeah but that's indirect and not nearly as bad as suicide
 
I just realized that certain sects of islam encourage suicide by bomb or plane or whatever, preferably combined with mass murder.

Is this a progressive trend in religion or a transient anomaly?
 
cosmictraveler said:
Everyone is committing suicide as soon as they are born. They smoke, drink,

eat excessively and eat the wrong types of food. They are always doing

things that reduce their lifespan by polluting, spraying chemicals, building in

areas that are prone to natural disasters and so on. So just because people

don't just kill themselves quickly they still are doing it slowly.
Click to expand...
*************
M*W: I totally agree. If we're not busy being born, then we are busy dying. Suicide attempt is a crime, punishable in a court of law if you don't complete the act of suicide, make sure when you do it to make it work. Otherwise, you could end up in jail or the looney bin.

Makes me wonder why it's not a crime to eat fast food, drink heavily and do drugs, since that's what we do to kill ourselves more slowly. Fact is, we're dying from the moment we're born. But to speed it up instantaneously is a crime. However, I agree with assisted suicide in the case of terminal illness. That's better than being on life support with no hope for the future. Terry Schiavo was in a sense tortured by her parents. Death brings peace... eventually, to everyone.

M*W's Friendly Atheist Quote of the Day:

"If you believe that there is a God, a God that made your body, and yet you think that you can do anything with that body that's dirty, then the fault lies with the manufacturer." ~ Lenny Bruce
 
superluminal said:
Something in another thread got me to thinking.

Why is there such a strong prohibition against suicide in religions (at least the ones I know about)?
Click to expand...

Because i believe God gave life and it should be God who removes life. Also suicide is just another name for self murder. We are not to take a life and that includes ourselves. We do not own our own life it is given to us by God and it is His to take away at his discretion.



If the faithful are so certain that death is just a transition to being in the presence of their god, why all of the fear and prohibitions on speeding the inevitable along a bit?
Click to expand...

Yes we are certain that death is just a transition but there is no fear, I am against suicide not because of fear of death but because i believe God should be in control of death.



I get that god supposedly says something like "Don't take your life. I gave it to you, and I'll be damned if anyone but me will take it away".

But why? Given the fact that religions are convoluted man-made labrynths of self delusion, why put such a limit on going to see the Big Guy?
Click to expand...

LOL everyone dies, So there is no limit on going to see God. We are not talking about stopping anyone seeing God, we are talking about living the life we have been given.


All Praise The Ancient Of Days
 
superluminal said:
Why is there such a strong prohibition against suicide in religions (at least the ones I know about)?

Especially at times of suffering, when death is certain (terminal cancer, etc.) why do religions still balk at the concept?
Click to expand...
b/c they all want to have a bigger tribe to conquer all the other religious tribes/cults and allowing even one suicide of a terminaly ill person might get others to start thinking,hey wtf I wanna get to heaven sooner why wait,
and next thing you know they all start snuffing themselves out and youll have no tribe left..
 
Because its murder. The person committing suicide isn't only killing himself, he's killing a family. Its selfish. I understand the mental pain the person may be in, but what about the pain he puts his family through with his self murder?
 
Orleander said:
yeah, where exactly did he do that? Because if its that 10 commandment thing, then it should cover war as well.
Click to expand...

I stand corrected..

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide#Religious
In most forms of Christianity, suicide is considered a sin, based mainly on the writings of influential Christian thinkers of the Middle Ages, such as St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas. Their arguments center around the commandment "Thou shalt not kill" (made applicable under the New Covenant by Jesus in Matthew 19:18), as well as the idea that life is a gift given by God which should not be spurned, and that suicide is against the "natural order" and thus interferes with God's master plan for the world. However, it is believed that mental illness or grave fear of suffering diminishes the responsibility of the one completing suicide. Suicide was not considered a sin under the Byzantine Christian code of Justinian, for instance. There is no verse in the Bible speaking against killing one’s self. Counter-arguments include the following: that the sixth commandment is more accurately translated as "thou shalt not murder", not necessarily applying to the self; that taking one's own life no more violates God's plan than does curing a disease; and that a number of suicides by followers of God are recorded in the Bible with no dire condemnation.
 
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