Is suicide ever acceptable?

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Suicide is never acceptable, but I think one would be hard-pressed to call what happened on 9/11 “suicide”. I highly doubt those poor souls sat down to rationally think through the finer theological points of their actions. It is difficult for us to imagine what it would be like to be in such a panic-stricken state. It seems reasonable to me that the panic and terror would drive a person to seek to escape the immediate danger in any way possible without necessarily thinking through that jumping from a tall building will also result in certain death.
 
freethinker83 said:
Is suicide ever acceptable?
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Aside from the dilemma faced by the “9-1-1 Jumpers” I’ve often wondered this same thing.

I read quite a bit of Western literature (Larry McMurtry and Louis L’Amour in particular) and apparently it was commonplace “back in the day” during wars with Indians*****, that the “White Men” would “save the last one for yourself.” Rather than face the unbelievable tortures inflicted upon enemies by Indians, the White Men would use their last bullet to shoot themselves through the head, usually through the eye. Stories of human enemies (not always the White people) being barbecued over a fire on a spit, after having their nails yanked out and scalp peeled to their skulls are enough to make anyone’s skin crawl. Women were frequently (maybe usually) gang-raped before their slaughter. Some other poor souls were tied to a stake and burned alive. The certain slow, painful death at the hands of savages was reason enough for most people in their situation to choose a quick exit, as opposed to a prolonged painful one. Contrary to the opinions of many current people, these heinous executions were historically accurate depictions of Indian warfare of the times.

I’ve often wondered what the ultimate fate before The Almighty might have been for those who chose suicide over execution.

***** (Or Native Americans, or Indigenous People of North America, or whatever the politically correct word of the moment might be)
 
Let’s be very careful. I know it’s fun to judge other people and look down upon them, but in a situation like 9/11, or the ship going down and you have a loaded gun on you, it’s not the same suicide as someone who just lost 50 bucks in the lottery.
 
Rascalking said:
Let’s be very careful. I know it’s fun to judge other people and look down upon them, but in a situation like 9/11, or the ship going down and you have a loaded gun on you, it’s not the same suicide as someone who just lost 50 bucks in the lottery.
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Absolutely right. It is fun to judge other people and look down on them.
 
No, suicide is never acceptable. If you start justifying it in one case, people will try to justify it in other cases too.
 
tomarin said:
Absolutely right. It is fun to judge other people and look down on them.
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Alot of people look for reasons to judge others and look down upon them because it makes you feel better about your own actions. If you don’t think that’s the case-great. I think it is.
 
Rascalking said:
Alot of people look for reasons to judge others and look down upon them because it makes you feel better about your own actions. If you don’t think that’s the case-great. I think it is.
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No I agree completely; I was just trying to crack wise.
 
Although objectively serious matter, suicide under such extreme circumstances has got to be only a venial sin, if even a sin at all.
 
I’m just glad that Jesus didn’t slit His wrists on the way to the cross.
 
Debora123 said:
What if you jumped from the burning building because you’d rather die from falling than from being burned alive? Would God really punish someone for doing that??
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They may have thought there were jumping pillows at the bottom of the building, or nets set out to catch people on the lower floors - especially if they saw other people jumping. They may not have realized until it was too late that they were jumping to their deaths.

Also, in the smoke and confusion, it may be that they weren’t thinking at all - just trying to get out of the fire.
 
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