How can any religious person say that suicide is a sin?

Question

Over 90% of suicide victims show mental and emotional signs of depression, while over 60% have severe clinical depression. For those of you who clain suicide is a sin, have you ever been diagnosed with clinical depression. Have you had thoughts that were not yours, have you felt your body literally eating itself away while you are still alive. Do you know a single things about what happens to the brain when a person develops clinical depression?

No, I fear that most of those who this thread applys to would answer no to the majority of these questions. In fact, most of those reading this are not in situations where severe clinical depression could be developed.

Try being born to abusive meth addict parents, having extremely severe stage V acne over 80% of your face that leaves severe scarring in its wake. Most of you have no idea how dark a life can really turn, but yet you still judge those who have faced more than you will ever face.

At the time I am not feeling very suicidal, but I have struggled through things most people could never dream of. I know pain, I know the pain that most of these people feel. I have no family but a distant memory of abusive drug addicts.

Generalizations were not present if you would read my question. Everyone has problems, but I would hardly consider a child growing up being raped an everyday problem. Those who are clinically depressed are not in control of their actions, they are not trying to solve anything.

Thank you, you all answered the question just as I thought you would.

Answer 1

YES !!!

Answer 2

A number of religions state that suicide is a sin, however I do not believe that. I have experienced suicidal impulses and found that the best way to explain depression and suicide is the following:

A person is in the water 1000 miles away from land and is very tired.

If someone were in this situation I would not blame them or think it was a sin if they ran out of energy and finally drowned. Depression and suicide is the same. It is not a choice that you make, but rather it is an effect of what is happening to you.

If God exists then he has put you there and so why would he consider it a sin when you don't have a choice?

Answer 3

"We do not bury one who has committed suicide in a cemetery together with other Jews; instead he or she is buried in an area of the cemetery removed from all others. Nor do we sit Shiva for such a person. The rule is that we do not bury a rasha (wicked person) together with everyone else, or sit shiva for him/her. However, under normal circumstances we never assume that a person is a rasha, because even if we are certain that this person was guilty of many heinous sins, the possibility (or probability) exists that the person repented before passing away. After all, it only takes a single virtuous thought to do Teshuvah (repentance) and be transformed from a rasha into a Tzaddik (righteous person).

A person who commits suicide, on the other hand, is defying G-d until the very last moment. G-d placed every person onto this world with a mission and a purpose, and completing this goal in the years which G-d has allotted is ultimately in the person's best interest. Suicide is saying that the life that G-d has given isn't worth living.

If, however, the person who committed suicide did not die instantly, we assume that the person repented in the last moments of life and we bury him/her in the cemetery and the relatives do sit shiva.

The strict law also does not apply if the suicide is a result of a mental or emotional illness (which is the case in the vast majority of suicides). In fact, there are those Halachic authorities that hold that as long as no one actually saw the person committing suicide in cold blood, we assume that the person had a nervous breakdown, and was therefore not responsible for his/her actions.

Therefore, although the law states that one does not bury a person who has committed suicide in the cemetery, and we also don't sit shiva for this person, practically speaking it is very rare to find a case which conforms with the abovementioned stipulations."

Answer 4

yes i think suicide is a sin and yes i have been diagnosed with depression. I have severe crohns disease among many other illness that have caused several hospital stays lasting as long as two months at a time. I am constantly sick and in pain and have often had suicidal thoughts. however, since being diagnosed I have become more religious, my religion and my family and friends are what keeps me alive. i think you should think twice before making broad generalizations like these. I know that may be a good place to vent, i have done it myself, but when people insult me and imply ignorance I take offense. everyone has problems in their lives, whether you see them or not. Some hide it better then others and some deal with it better but suicide is not the way to fix it. your parents were addicted to meth fine, dont become them. be better then them. use your experience to make yourself a better person and to help those around you. dont look down on your self and feel sorry, elevate yourself to a higher level. accept your life as it is.

Answer 5

I'm agnostic and so I don't readily believe in "sin," and I most certainly understand the many reasons that can make a person suicidal. Suicide is not chosen; it happens when pain exceeds resources for coping with pain. Now having said that and having personally been on the brink in the last year I had the realization that while it may not be a sin it is a selfish decision. Some of us have the luxury to be selfish others do not.

Answer 6

I'm sure that is a side to suicide, but many times suicide is by someone who is not depressed. Maybe they had committed a crime and were trying to escape punishment. There are always extinuating circumstances, but suicide is murder, which is a sin.

We have a just and understanding God, and I am sure he takes things like depression into account. That is an illness which causes you to not be thinking correctly. But there are also suicides by people with cancer or alzheimers and other diseases who are in their right minds, but are trying to excape the results of the illness. God never gives us more than we can handle, and in those cases, I feel suicide is the same as murder.

These are my opinions. I am not judging, I am stating facts as I know them.

Answer 7

I know where you are mentally, and how you feel. I was diagnosed with Bi-Polar disorder many years ago. I spent three years of my life in a horrible depression, consumed with thoughts of suicide. I tried and failed more than once to end the terrible agony of my depression by taking my own life.

Please, please, please get help. If you have not seen a doctor, go see one today. If you are on medication, call your doctor and tell them it is not working. It is not an exact science since your chemical imbalance is unique to you; no two are the same.

No one is judging you, especially not me. Only God knows what is in your heart; He alone will judge you on the day He has set aside for that. Give yourself enough time to make sure that you are truly saved. I thought that I was a Christian and if I could only kill myself I would end up in a better place.

Then I heard "Hell's Best Kept Secret" by Ray Comfort, and realized that I was not soundly saved. If I had died when I wanted to, I would surely have ended up in Hell.

Please know that it does get better. It doesn't seem like it now, because you are in the tunnel and cannot see the light at the end. But I am living proof that it does get better. I will pray for you, my friend. Please call someone and get help today.

Answer 8

you are not alone. suicide thoughts are something I think of daily and yes I am a manic depressant who can't get any assistance for medical or able to keep a job. Insurance carriers won't take me as I am too big of a risk. The dark consumes us and we hold it to us as it is all we understand. Break free light a candle and stay strong. the only thing that brings me back is stopping and thinking of who's gonna be crying when i am gone.

Answer 9

We are all sinners in one way or other.
It is like monkey to point at an obvious one, and say: "oo oo ee ee tookie tookie"

I cannot judge even myself, but I stand chastised by you and tears in my eyes, for it is difficult not to judge myself and others.
I apologize to you from the bottom of my heart for any wrong that I or anyone has done you or the person of whom you speak. If there is anything that I could give you it would be hope. I wish fervently that I could give you this gift.

Sometimes the most beautiful of flowers are the ones that have been trodden upon.

Answer 10

Thou shalt not kill applies to yourself as well as others. Because it is one of the ten commandments to break this commandment is a sin. (Sin meaning breaking the law of God.) We all have our challenges in life; some are more difficult than others. But as one who has to deal with clinical depression (every day) and abuse (in the past) I can assure you that God doesn't hang us out to dry. If we seek His help he will be there to comfort, guide and help us.

Answer 11

Murder is a sin, yours or someone else's murder.

And, oh, yes, I attempted suicide.