Is it a sin to kill yourself if you have a fatal disease?

Answer 1

Sin, the idea that God could ever be displeased with you because of something you had done, did not exist when Jesus died, nor does it exist now.

This is a fictitious idea dreamed up to induce guilt and control people.

The moment you start to actually think about this impossible definition of sin the whole concept falls apart and you wonder how you could had ever believed it at all.

Try it, think about the idea from a basis of logic and it quickly becomes apparent that the idea only exists in the minds of those who believe it is real.

Let me assist you a little. Let’s start with the word itself. Where did this word sin come from? In England when archery was practiced as a sport the goal was to try to hit the center of a target. When you actually try to do this you quickly realize just how difficult it is to consistently hit the exact center of the target, or the mark as it was called then. This mark in the center of the target is an elusive goal for even the best archers due to the many variables like, Wind, distance, angle, etc. So they often miss the mark they were hoping to hit. They had a term for this missing the mark; it was called a syn or sin as it is spelled these days. Often the wind would blow an arrow that had been shot with the best of intentions, so far off course that it completely missed the mark it was aimed for. Seeing this a companion might look at the archer with a smile and say that was a syn. Meaning, you missed the mark, you had better try again. At this point he would simply string another arrow, make the necessary corrections to compensate for the wind and try again. This process would continue until he eventually got it right and hit the mark.

What does this have to do with the reality of sin you ask? Remember that you are reading an English bible, a bible that was translated from some other language. When this translation was done English words needed to be found that had a meaning as close as possible to the meaning of the words the bible had used in the other language. Remember the goal of any good translation is to be as faithful as is possible in transferring the original meaning of the work. The English term syn was the word that most completely did this job of transferring the original idea of sin from the original text. In the original biblical intent, sin was not something that God was displeased with you about. It meant that you had tried but your choice was not the best you could have made, you needed to make the necessary corrections and try over.

This is what life is about. Situations confront us on a daily basis, each requiring some response from us. We may chose to respond in one of two ways. We assess the situation and respond from either a basis of love or from a basis of fear. When we respond from our fears we invariably respond in an unloving manner. This unloving response always creates even more negativity. On the other hand if we respond from a basis of love to the situation, it has a calming effect for all who are involved. It may not completely resolve the situation but it never makes things any worse. Through out life each of us alternately chooses both loving and unloving responses as our responses to the situations we are confronted with. The hope being that at some point we will start to notice that one of these strategies creates more chaos, while the other causes chaos to dissipate. This was Gods intent in allowing us to have this experience we call our life. This is why the endless variety of situations and possible responses to these situations confront us on a daily basis. We are expected to experiment with the numerous possible ways to respond and come to our own conclusions about which types of responses best serve our goals.

Most of us quickly realize that we prefer a peaceful calm existence to one of constant turmoil. If we are paying attention to the responses we have been making to the situations we have been confronted with we will notice that some of them, the ones made from a basis of fear intensify chaotic situations. Much like throwing gasoline on a fire would do. While the responses we make from a basis of love have an opposite quelling or calming effect.





It is from these types of observations that our source intended for us to draw conclusions about the value of a loving response. The hope being that at some point we might realize that the only logical response to any situation would be a loving response. Jesus taught this but much of his teaching about it has been lost to time. One need only consider his simple request that we love our neighbor, to see that he saw this as crucial for our spiritual development. Listen carefully to what he was saying to us. Notice that there was no except for in his advice about this matter. He fully intended to advise us to respond lovingly to everyone in every situation. He was telling us to suspend judgment and fear and make no response that could increase the turmoil in any way. This was what he meant when he said turn the other cheek. The intent was to ask us to ignore the inclination to defend ones self in a violent unloving way, and see what would happen if we made some other choice. Sadly these messages Jesus had for us are almost never connected and taught in the proper context.

If you have been able to follow this idea so far you can understand that It makes perfect sense that we always seem to be experiencing situations that test our resolve so to speak. They could more honestly be seen as Gods gifts to us. Gifts from our source sent to us lovingly in the hope that they will assist us in our spiritual growth. Many of us who have wondered why it had to be so hard sometimes, might have understood better if we had realized that simplicity is not really the best teacher. It is the more stress filled situations that life presents us with that get and keep our attention and burn the lessons they have for us into our memories.

The point of all of this is to realize that this was Gods intent from the very beginning. He always intended that we would experiment with as many of the possible responses to the situations that confront as we needed until we reached the conclusion that the only logical response to any situation would be a loving response. The realization that any other response would only create more turmoil. In short we were to learn this lesson from both perspectives. He wanted us to understand what love was to be sure, but He wanted us to be equally certain about everything that was not love. This way there can be no confusion.

The question now becomes, if this was always Gods intent how likely is it that God will be angry with us for using the mechanism He himself provided for us to use to attain this understanding. How likely are we to be judged or punished for doing exactly what we were always intended to do?

I realize that this probably goes against every idea of God that you were ever given. This can be a clue for you if you actually hear what I just said. All the ideas you have about God were given to you by someone else. The one who gave them to you got then from someone else also. Realize that few ever really analyze what they have been told about God, they simply accept it because they are usually children when these ideas are first presented to then. They are often presented to them by people they trust so they are simply accepted as fact. Problem is the people they are hearing them from also were children when these ideas were first presented to them. No one is actually analyzing these ideas from a logical basis from an adult perspective. This may be the first time you have even ever considered any idea about God other than the Judgmental, punishing idea you were given as a child.

I am not asking you to abandon any belief system. I am just asking that you consider the possibility of a God that loves you and sees the effort you make toward being a loving person in an accepting, understanding way. A God who is far more interested in our successes, than concerned with our mistakes. A god who asks only that you pay attention to the consequences of the choices you make and correct any errors at the next available opportunity. One of these versions of God makes a lot more sense to me. How about you?

Answer 2

I don't believe there is any difference between killing yourself when you are healthy or killing yourself when you have a fatal disease. You are still killing something therefore it is a type of murder. Many people have done a lot great things in their last few weeks on Earth, there is a time and season for everything so people should hang on until their true time comes.

Answer 3

Yes! Only God must decide if this disease will seriously kill you or not. Lot of doctors found many people carrying a fatal disease but they can't say they never saw some miracles. Can they?

Answer 4

God isn't responsible for your cirrhosis and lung cancer. You don't say why you have cirrhosis, but there is a reason. If it's from drinking or having hep C, then how is that God's fault? I had cirrhosis, got a transplant and am doing fine now. Not everyone dies from it. Mine was from an autoimmune disease in which I didn't cause in any way, shape, or form and no one knows why some people get it. But I never blamed God even though I didn't do anything wrong to get it like alcohol or drug abuse. Lung cancer speaks for itself with your lifetime of smoking. Even God couldn't stop that one. My brother had a chest xray and no cancer was seen. Six months later, his lungs were full of cancer and in less than 6 weeks he died. He was a lifetime smoker too that was always going to quit next week,next month, etc. Time ran out. You can only abuse your lungs for so long and then there comes a time you have to pay the piper. Everyone has to die sometime. God doesn't save us from death, and facing our own mortality is more than some people can handle. People get more than they can handle all the time, but often times, it is their own fault.

Answer 5

Let God kill you his way.

Actually, there is no sin, only man attempting to control other men through the supernatural leveling of the playing Field of the mind. By killing the better minds.

They have done a bang up job so far. Read Moby Dick and see if you can understand it. It was a childrens book at one time. Now adults can't understand it. hmmm?

Answer 6

Only God has the right to decide how long a given person will live(1). If we are not only not supposed to kill, but not even do any harm even to our enemies, whether in word or deed, or even think about doing such harm in the privacy of our hearts where only God see us - if we are supposed to do good to our enemies and bless them and pray for them, then how much more we should treat everyone else at least that well!

We should be treating ourselves well as God's creatures made in His image(2), occupy ourselves with offering our lives to Him(3), and giving thanks to Him for the life He has given us(4). We should understand that in all things, God works for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His good purpose(5). That presumably includes the circumstance of having a fatal disease.

Above all, we simply need to trust that He is taking care of us. I am not pulling this out of a hat. I know what it is to have a 2-cm tumor appear out of nowhere, hear that I must travel 7000 miles to get proper medical treatment, and that I have at most 2 weeks to do it. I know what it is to have a new tumor in my armpit every two days, and know that I have already done everything I can, all I can do now is wait the two weeks for my surgery to happen.

In other words, I know what it is to have a cancer so malignant they just don't come any more malignant than that, with obvious and rapidly-progressing metastasis - and sleep with angelic peace through it all.

And now I can say that cancer was one of the best things that ever happened to me. I had been obliged to fight the cancer 'just in case' (just in case I found out on my deathbed that life was worth living, when it was too late to do anything), but in the end, I found out that life is good and worthwhile...

Bottom line: God's Word did not return void, but accomplished the purpose for which it was sent. (6)

Answer 7

Suicide is a sin. Now standby for all the Christian haters to start slamming again, like AnthonyDavid up there.
Funny part is they always accuse Christians of shoving Christianity down peoples throat but if you look around here, mostly what you see is the opposite. Very sad lives they lead.

Answer 8

Suicide is against God. I personally believe that God gives life and He alone should take it. I will not tell you it's a sin. That you question that should give you the answer. But why would you want to cut short the life that has been given to you? Even if you do not believe in God why throw away what you do have? If you believe don't you think that would be a slap in the face?

Answer 9

Yes. Murder is sin...even of yourself. You cannot justify it because of a fatal disease.

Answer 10

I depends on what you consider to be a sin. My religion does not believe in sin. To me it is a "sin" (to use your word) to suffer unnecessarily. This is assuming you are in great and untreatable pain. But I also believe you are given only one life. That includes after your dead. You must decide to live with the pain or end it All.

Answer 11

if you kill yourself no matter what the cause is then you are commiting a sin....god should be the one to work it out and figure out how long you have to die. So if you kill yourself or anyone else then you are commiting a sin..........