Is getting some sort of sickness and not trying to cure yourself until you die considered suicide?

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ANV

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If there is cure for your sickness but you refuse it so you can die, suicide?
 
My admittedly imperfect understanding is that one is not required to take action to prolong ones life, so if the sickness was contracted in an accidental way or as a secondary effect such as ministering to plague victims, then a death from that sickness would be death through natural causes and not suicide.

On the other hand, if you set out to acquire the disease - perhaps by provoking a rabid dog into biting you - then the resulting death would be properly considered a suicide.

As always, I could be wrong.
 
Extraordinary methods aren’t required, but prdinary ones are. So if Joe, to cure an illness (let’s assume equal quality of life post-illness) only needed to take 1 tylenol a day for three days, refusing to do so is different than if Jane was a 94 year old woman with stage IV lung cancer that was previously unknown and looking at chemotherapy. While you have atheist listed as your relgion now, if you do convert and have a question about this with yourself or a family member, ask a priest for the individual circumstance.
 
If you use your natural “God given” sickness as an opportunity to die with the intention of death is similar to killing yourself? In the first one sickness was given by God/nature and you just used that opportunity that without having it you wouldn’t have made the decision to not be cured and eventuallh die, while in suicide you do all the action by yourself.
 
ANV said:
If there is cure for your sickness but you refuse it so you can die, suicide?
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I read your post and found it amusing. My initial reaction was, why would an atheist care? After all, there is nothing beyond the compost heap anyway.

I don’t mean that in a mean or nasty way. It is just that the question of suicide only has a spiritual/moral/ethical relevance as to how it affects the judgment of God on the soul after death? Something a true atheist would find totally irrelevant based on one’s belief structure.

Would be interested in why you posed the question.

Shalom
 
TechieGuy said:
My admittedly imperfect understanding is that one is not required to take action to prolong ones life, so if the sickness was contracted in an accidental way or as a secondary effect such as ministering to plague victims, then a death from that sickness would be death through natural causes and not suicide.

On the other hand, if you set out to acquire the disease - perhaps by provoking a rabid dog into biting you - then the resulting death would be properly considered a suicide.

As always, I could be wrong.
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That is strange that you believe on that (bold part). This means that Jesus commit suicide too.
 
ANV said:
If there is cure for your sickness but you refuse it so you can die, suicide?
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Yes.

If whatever a person does, is done deliberately to cause their own death, that is a suicidal death, a.grave matter according to the catechism,
 
STT said:
That is strange that you believe on that (bold part). This means that Jesus commit suicide too.
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Jesus accepted to suffer for each human being on earth, so that the gates of Heaven would be open for mankind (as the catechism says, the Gates of Heaven were locked from Eden until Jesus Death),

Jesus death was like Him taking your place on deathrow in prison, to let you go free,
 
MaryHelp777 said:
Jesus accepted to suffer for each human being on earth, so that the gates of Heaven would be open for mankind (as the catechism says, the Gates of Heaven were locked from Eden until Jesus Death),

Jesus death was like Him taking your place on deathrow in prison, to let you go free,
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I know that. Was that commit suicide considering the bold part?
 
Why would anyone want to die? Assuming he or she is not in excruciating pain.

On a side note, ANV, I have a hard time understanding how anyone could be an atheist.

I was an agnostic for awhile, which makes sense because it’s saying you don’t know whether God exists or not. But an atheist claims that God doesn’t exist, which given the state of our knowledge of physics, and ethics, and of miracles currently ongoing, makes no sense. How can you prove that something doesn’t exist?

.
 
ANV said:
If there is cure for your sickness but you refuse it so you can die, suicide?
Click to expand...
MaryHelp777 said:
Yes.

If whatever a person does, is done deliberately to cause their own death, that is a suicidal death, a.grave matter according to the catechism,
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Both of you should read this document, especially section five pages 30 and 31
USCCB.org - Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services *(PDF)
56. A person has a moral obligation to use ordinary or proportionate means of preserving
his or her life. Proportionate means are those that in the judgment of the patient offer a
reasonable hope of benefit and do not entail an excessive burden or impose excessive expense on
the family or the community.39
57. A person may forgo extraordinary or disproportionate means of preserving life.
Disproportionate means are those that in the patient’s judgment do not offer a reasonable hope of
benefit or entail an excessive burden, or impose excessive expense on the family or the
community.
 
What about this scenario.A 93 year old female,suffering from scoliosis,spinal stenosis,arthritis and the resultant digestive issues,contracts a nasty bug in the assisted living facility.She ends up n the hospital with an infection .Refuses an antibiotic and any real nourishment.Dr. says there is no physical reason for her to be dying.She has simply lost her will to live and dies four days later.Did she commit suicide?
 
joeybaggz said:
I read your post and found it amusing. My initial reaction was, why would an atheist care? After all, there is nothing beyond the compost heap anyway.

I don’t mean that in a mean or nasty way. It is just that the question of suicide only has a spiritual/moral/ethical relevance as to how it affects the judgment of God on the soul after death? Something a true atheist would find totally irrelevant based on one’s belief structure.

Would be interested in why you posed the question.

Shalom
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Lol, I really don’t believe in any gods, I was only asking out of curiosity, also it is a general question not only in the religious sense.
MaryHelp777 said:
Yes.

If whatever a person does, is done deliberately to cause their own death, that is a suicidal death, a.grave matter according to the catechism,
Click to expand...
Does that mean that using the opportunity to sacrifice your life for your country or for a humanitarian cause or to save someone’s else life or many with the intention of dying is also suicide?
 
Viki63 said:
Why would anyone want to die? Assuming he or she is not in excruciating pain.

On a side note, ANV, I have a hard time understanding how anyone could be an atheist.

I was an agnostic for awhile, which makes sense because it’s saying you don’t know whether God exists or not. But an atheist claims that God doesn’t exist, which given the state of our knowledge of physics, and ethics, and of miracles currently ongoing, makes no sense. How can you prove that something doesn’t exist?

.
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Exactly you are misunderstanding what atheism is here, that’s the arguments atheists use, you can’t prove that there is no god therefore asking atheists to prove that there is no god is ridiculous, it’s up to believers to prove that there is any. Atheism is just the disbelief in gods, you can however as an atheist disprove religions and personal gods, the ones believed by many because of cultural and geographic reasons most often.
 
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