Bloody Mary Bible Brunch: Death and the Bible Ep. 5

Death by Suicide

 

 Why is "committed suicide" wrong or hurtful?

 

Biblical examples from internet:

 

Abimelech, mortally wounded by a millstone, ordered his armor-bearer to dispatch him to avoid the suggestion he had been slain by the woman who had thrown the stone (Judg 9:52-54); the prophet Ahithophel hanged himself after betraying David (2Sam 17:23); Zimri burned down his house around himself after military defeat (1Kgs 16:18); and the more familiar stories of Saul and his armor-bearer (1Sam 1:1-6; 1Chr 10:1-6), Samson, (Judg 16:28), and, of course, Jesus’ disciple Judas—although it is only in Matthew’s Gospel where he kills himself (Matt 27:3-5; compare with Acts 1:18). There is nothing in any of these stories to suggest that the biblical narrators disapprove of the characters’ suicides.

 

Fascinating line from the Supreme Court--which although not for tomorrow's conversation, but which I have seen walked very carefully very recently--provides:

 

"The prohibition on assisted suicide is not arbitrary under the due process standard," but concurring Justice Souter "also support[s] the distinction between assistance to suicide, which is banned, and practices such as termination of artificial life support and death-hastening pain medication, which are permitted." Vacco v. Quill, 521 U.S. 793, 809–10 (1997).