Is suicide really a grave sin?

[arthra]

You know I was thinking that Siddartha Gautama the Buddha died from apparently some tainted food ..

Now being the enlightened one he propably most likely was aware His life on this plane would end

but He took the food offered Him anyway and falling very ill from it tried to convince the person that offered the meal it had nothing to do with His illness:

According to the Mahaparinibbana Sutta of the Pali canon, at the age of 80, the Buddha announced that he would soon reach Parinirvana, or the final deathless state, and abandon his earthly body. After this, the Buddha ate his last meal, which he had received as an offering from a blacksmith named Cunda. Falling violently ill, Buddha instructed his attendant Ānanda to convince Cunda that the meal eaten at his place had nothing to do with his passing and that his meal would be a source of the greatest merit as it provided the last meal for a Buddha..

Gautama Buddha - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The principle of accepting an offering and removing guilt was more important than the reality of some tainted food being consumed..

 

[bodhi]

By your own words you state the obvious, Jesus knew he was going to be killed, and knew that he would feel pain, but did it anyway. That isn't suicide, anymore than a soldier throwing himself on a grenade to save his friends...wouldn't you agree?

I agree with that wholeheartedly.

 

[wil]

I actually have more than a little concern about our Amber who started this thread.

Was it a cry out for help? Or an attempt of finding justification or acceptance in an action she was considering?

One post, One thread, been here One day.


Amber if you are still lurking, I suggest you also seek help in other places and hope this missive finds you and yours healthy and happy.

Know you are loved and others are concerned.

namaskar

 

[RevDella]

Amber13 -
I agree that it is terrible for an individuals to be in so much pain that they feel suicide is the only way to escape it. But I do not believe that God condemns these individuals to eternal damnation. God is Love, and a loving God could not possibly damn any of His children for all eternity.

I believe that life is eternal and that each of one of us takes our consciousnes with us. So if someone takes his life, he will have to deal with that on some other plane of existence.

I also personally know how someone can be in so much mental and emotional pain, that suicide seems to be the only answer. My son suffers from Biploar Disorder. There have been times when we were very close to losing him. I think one of the main things that saved him is his connection with us ( his family) and also his strong involvement with our spiritual community.

To reiterate -- put your mind at rest. God is unconditional love and there is nothing that you, or I, or anyone else, can do or not do, that can change this.

Blessings -

REv Della

 

[Amergin]

All my life, I have been led to believe by other people that taking your own life causes the damnation of your soul. I study spirituality, anthropology, and various apocryphal and canonical texts, (as well as pray), but a definitive answer to this question still eludes me.

There is no evidence that souls exist, other than patterns of brain circuits. The soul is imaginary and a product of the human brain. If one kills him/her self, the brain neurons and circuits swell, break-up and dissolve. Since the Soul is, simply an idea composed of brain circuits. Therefore, at death, the soul ceases to exist. It is just a brain function. Suicide is not a sin. Sin is a superstitious myth of punishment from a God who is at best, an unsupportable assumption. Suicide is often the failure of the brain's personality due to mental disorders such as insanity, depression, or the unique Islamic Terrorist Suicidal murder of innocent people. Islamic terrorist suicide is more a case of murder motivated by evil ideology.

I have known some who have taken their own life, and it is hard for me to accept that God would not have mercy and love for those who suffer from unbearable pain.

Why would a God who reportedly killed a thousand million innocent people because some adults sinned, be capable of any mercy or love? Such a God as portrayed in Islamo-Christianity is a God who glorifies himself by inflicting suffering. He is a God of Hate not Love. He shows no mercy for the suffering of slowly terminal cancer, or growing brain tumours. According to Judeo-Islamo-Christian mythology, God created lethal viruses, lethal bacteria, brutal body invasive parasites, genetic fatal disorders. The mythical God supposedly created Crocodiles, hyenas, leopards, lions, venomous snakes, and disease carrying insects who painfully take the lives of hundreds of African children every year. Do you really believe that a God who created all of that could be capable of mercy, love, or compassion?

It would take much faith and courage to commit suicide, as far as I can see.

I can understand the motives of suicide in a person undergoing a slow deteriorating, painful death with no cure in sight. Painless suicide is a human right in view of incurable painful terminal diseases. Is it brave to commit suicide instead of lying around in unbearable pain for 6 months? It is neither brave nor cowardly. A human being owns his/her own body. We all have a right to end our lives if continued hellish survival in pain is our other choice.

Suicide is sometimes the symptom of mental disorders like psychosis, depression, or irrational religious disease (Islamist Terrorist.) One can treat psychosis and depression with medication. I do not think Islamic Terrorism is curable except by terminating the Islamic Terrorists.

Especially, with the state of affairs in the world today, those who reject it or cannot bear it seem rational compared to the vast majority that continue chasing after nothing that endures. Especially, if one yearns for God, so much that life on earth is utter torment, why would these be punished? I do not understand.

That is sad. It is sad to yearn for an imaginary cosmic being whose character in scriptures is of an evil hate driven killer Tyrant. I am perplexed that believers can love a God who murders millions of people, inflicts suffering, and then if you get through life, sends you to an eternal burning Hell for "incorrect belief."

If the Islamo-Christian God were real (and not purely imaginary), then there is no hope for any human being. What makes you think that a God who casually murders a thousand million people and a million million non-human animals; is not above simply lying to you.

Amergin

 

[bodhi]

There is no evidence that souls exist, other than patterns of brain circuits. The soul is imaginary and a product of the human brain. If one kills him/her self, the brain neurons and circuits swell, break-up and dissolve.

You are making a lot of assumptions that can no more be supported than the theory you are attacking.
1) You are assuming that the soul can be measured with electronic equipment.
2) You say that the patterns of brain circuits is evidence of a soul. Well if that is all it is then computers have souls.
3) You are assuming that the soul is an idea that is produced by and ceases to exist when the body does.

So far no supporting facts. At this point these beliefs are no different from any other superstitious beliefs currently in existence in the world. From this point on I will view this as you elucidating your religion. Until you tell me the name this will be called Religion X.

Since the Soul is, simply an idea composed of brain circuits. Therefore, at death, the soul ceases to exist. It is just a brain function. Suicide is not a sin. Sin is a superstitious myth of punishment from a God who is at best, an unsupportable assumption. Suicide is often the failure of the brain's personality due to mental disorders such as insanity, depression, or the unique Islamic Terrorist Suicidal murder of innocent people. Islamic terrorist suicide is more a case of murder motivated by evil ideology.

As stated your religion has no need of a soul, although the mind creates this soul for an unknown reason.

Also in your religion it is alright to kill yourself because there is no god that would disapprove of that action.

Although it is not a sin you would have to be crazy or islamic to kill yourself.

I would very much like to hear what your religion deems as evil and good. What is the definition of an evil ideology?

So far you have a religion that views people as fleshy computers with delusions about having souls. Very interesting.

Why would a God who reportedly killed a thousand million innocent people because some adults sinned, be capable of any mercy or love? Such a God as portrayed in Islamo-Christianity is a God who glorifies himself by inflicting suffering.

I am not a degreed master of Islam, Christianity, or Judaism. I have skimmed their text enough to make sense of that scenario. So here is my attempt at interpretation.

Life begins in Heaven, you die from heaven to come to earth for the purpose of perfecting your soul. (I know this contradicts your religion but bear with me.)

On earth you have spiritual kids running around with atomic weapons, and all of the desires that a kid has. Imagine kids running the daycare...lot's of crying, lots of accidents, ..etc. This is us.

We learn and grow spiritually through the pains that life on earth and we ourselves inflict on each other.

We die going back "home", where there is peace and no suffering and no opportunity to grow.

Each of the books indicate that suffering can be ended on earth by following specific procedures and observances.

In other words the Judeo-Christian-Islamic god through intermediaries gave to us a means to grow spiritually and thereby overcome suffering.

Why this has not occurred is open to debate.

I will end by saying I hear your pain and sympathize with it. But don't be a part of the problem by putting more nonsense out there. I don't condemn your fleshy computer religion (Religion X), just add some facts.

 

[tychomorpheus]

The police must love suicides in your country for the clear up rates.

"Crime scene report: suspect still on premises on arrival; provided no resistance and arrested."

s.

as lame as it may sound that was funny