What's Your Opinion on Assisted Suicide?

I would NEVER had supported assisted suicide till I have seen the most cruel suffering that my mom has been through before she was called to be with the Lord.

Now I understand how important the choice is for people suffering. When you see a loved one suffer and suffer it's very easy to be in favour for assisted suicide.
 
100% support.

I'm still relatively young, and I've been blessed to have had a relatively tragedy free life although I have seen both my grandfathers die - one from cancer, one from emphysema and would not wish that suffering on anyone.

I honestly believe anyone who doesn't agree probably hasn't seen or experienced too much suffering in their own lives.
 
@UserID , A realist I am, picking and choosing which part of the bible I will adhere too is way to hypocritical for me!

But I will never disrespect your religious values or beliefs.

I am not an atheist, nor will I ever be one, I think he who can categorically state that there is no God, has reached the very pinnacle of arrogance in believing they know all there is to know!

Until we know everything, then the existence of a God is always a possibility!

No disrespect intended for any of my friends who consider themselves atheists, after all, it's just my opinion!

I agree, (so as not to derail this thread), in assisted suicide, nobody should have to suffer and should be allowed to choose not to.

Rich
 
Folks who believe in the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, who have established a relationship with Him through the work of salvation, know Him. Through their prayers and the reading of the Bible a solid understanding of the differences between the old and new covenants unfolds. They begin to realize that Old Testament events are not always the best source of guidance.

It was not until the coming of Jesus that grace was manifest. Great changes took place upon His arrival. The Gentiles (those not of the Jewish faith) were accepted by God and offered the new birth, and the Spirit of God was given to indwell all believing men and women -- not just a few prophets as in the old covenant.

The reason why people "are not taking this book seriously anymore" is because they have not the Spirit of God who has been given to lead believers into the truth. The "book," without God's Spirit and guidance does. as you imply, become nothing more than a piece of ancient literature, but once the words within it become life to the reborn, that academic wall dissolves and a relationship with the Creator can be formed.

If the soil of a man's heart is rocky and/or dry, the seed of the word of God that falls into it does not have a chance to survive and flourish. What needs to take place to change that soil is serious repentance, after which, according to 1 Cor. 7, certain inworkings of repentance takes place. A new creature is brought to life. Without this experience, yes, the Bible is certainly just a book. Only through repentance will you be given the eyes to see and ears to hear the gospel's meaning. The life the Lord offers to all men freely only comes after one asks Christ to forgive him/her of their sins with sincerity and contriteness.

Those preconceived ideas and misleadings coming like a storm from atheists all around will not prepare one's heart to receive salvation, but will provide excuses and accusations. Don't let this happen to you, Rich.
In Christ's love,
David


How do you know that you picked the right religion? A Muslim talks just as passionate about the Quran as you talk about the Bible. The Vikings here in Norway spoke about their God just as passionate as you, the same did the Greeks. How do you now that you are right, and not the others? There can only be one Truth, and there is a lot of religions out there claiming to have it, that means someone got it wrong, if not all.

How do you know that your book, the Bible, is the Truth? I know it says in the Bible, that is is the Truth. But if I write a book today, saying it is the Truth, is it the Truth then? No, it is not. We don't even know exact when the Bible was written, and it has been translated several times before it ended up at your house written in English.

The bible says that there was a snake that was talking, there are no snakes that talks today, where did they go? How did one man build a wooden boat housing two of each animal in the entire world? We could not even do that today with steel. What did the animals eat since animals like to eat other animals? How did one man clean up the shit from all the animals, while giving them water, food, while steering the boat, in a storm/flood? How did he pick up the kangaroos? Did he have a dock ready in Australia for this enormous boat? Or did he swim to land, catch them, then drag them back to the boat? How did he catch the leopard and tigers, they are pretty fast, aren't they? Hmmm....

Sorry, I just get a little uncomfortable when people use a book that has no grip in reality, to regulate reality. It makes no sense at all.
 
How do you know that you picked the right religion? A Muslim talks just as passionate about the Quran as you talk about the Bible. The Vikings here in Norway spoke about their God just as passionate as you, the same did the Greeks. How do you now that you are right, and not the others? There can only be one Truth, and there is a lot of religions out there claiming to have it, that means someone got it wrong, if not all.

How do you know that your book, the Bible, is the Truth? I know it says in the Bible, that is is the Truth. But if I write a book today, saying it is the Truth, is it the Truth then? No, it is not. We don't even know exact when the Bible was written, and it has been translated several times before it ended up at your house written in English.

The bible says that there was a snake that was talking, there are no snakes that talks today, where did they go? How did one man build a wooden boat housing two of each animal in the entire world? We could not even do that today with steel. What did the animals eat since animals like to eat other animals? How did one man clean up the shit from all the animals, while giving them water, food, while steering the boat, in a storm/flood? How did he pick up the kangaroos? Did he have a dock ready in Australia for this enormous boat? Or did he swim to land, catch them, then drag them back to the boat? How did he catch the leopard and tigers, they are pretty fast, aren't they? Hmmm....

Sorry, I just get a little uncomfortable when people use a book that has no grip in reality, to regulate reality. It makes no sense at all.
 
I support assisted suicide. It is a matter of an individual's rights. When to end one's life is a personal decision. If people have terminal illnesses and want to spare themselves pain and suffering, who has the right to deny them that choice? No one.

My husband is a bit older than me and I've decided that when he goes, I'm going too. I won't ask anyone to assist me--I'll just do it. My husband doesn't agree as it is against his religion--but I am not a religious person or a believer--so it's not up to him. It is totally up to me, as it should be. This may seem morbid but I plan on being cremated and put in my husband's coffin.

Let's hope it's not for another 20 years though...
 
I support assisted suicide. It is a matter of an individual's rights. When to end one's life is a personal decision. If people have terminal illnesses and want to spare themselves pain and suffering, who has the right to deny them that choice? No one.

My husband is a bit older than me and I've decided that when he goes, I'm going too. I won't ask anyone to assist me--I'll just do it. My husband doesn't agree as it is against his religion--but I am not a religious person or a believer--so it's not up to him. It is totally up to me, as it should be. This may seem morbid but I plan on being cremated and put in my husband's coffin.

Let's hope it's not for another 20 years though...

I agree that people with a terminal illness should have the right to choose, the problem is the one's who are making the laws can't seem to have the empathy to understand what it's like to suffer, so we have stupid draconian religious based laws that really have no room in a modern world.

I agree @Kathi , I'm 8 years my partner's senior and she thinks the same way you do, the thing is though we are both theist's, so don't have religion dictating our decisions or life!
 


I have watched the video now @UserID. I really don't care so much what this guy says. The fact that the bible claims itself to be true does not make it true. I'm more interested in your arguments for why the bible is the Truth, and not some guy in a nice suit and a bling bling clock. I want to know why YOU thing the bible is more true than, lets say the Quran, or Norse mythology. (Norse is what we believed a thousand years ago when Norway had Vikings. Thor and Odin, you know.)

A God that cares about what kind of meat you eat, or if you marry the same gender. A God that cares about whether or not people go in church. A God that cares about cutting of your genitals, a God that had to torture is own son to forgive everyone sins, when he could just forgive everyone in the first place, since he is the guy that do all the forgiving anyways. Is NOT a God that created this wonderful universe. That is a God that was created BY humans, in medieval times, who thought the earth was flat and the sun was 17 miles away.
 
My opinion, in all seriousness, is that you should be able to buy an assisted suicide kit like a prescription from your doctor. Directions, maybe even a YouTube video on how to use it.

Would certainly save money on healthcare system too. If I get a terminal illness that will cause me great pain and suffering, I will either choose assisted suicide or multiple doctor visits to get pain meds and operations to alleviate pain. Since option 1 isn't an option, I guess I'll be spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in my last few years just like many others.
 
I have watched the video now @UserID. I really don't care so much what this guy says. The fact that the bible claims itself to be true does not make it true. I'm more interested in your arguments for why the bible is the Truth, and not some guy in a nice suit and a bling bling clock. I want to know why YOU thing the bible is more true than, lets say the Quran, or Norse mythology. (Norse is what we believed a thousand years ago when Norway had Vikings. Thor and Odin, you know.)

A God that cares about what kind of meat you eat, or if you marry the same gender. A God that cares about whether or not people go in church. A God that cares about cutting of your genitals, a God that had to torture is own son to forgive everyone sins, when he could just forgive everyone in the first place, since he is the guy that do all the forgiving anyways. Is NOT a God that created this wonderful universe. That is a God that was created BY humans, in medieval times, who thought the earth was flat and the sun was 17 miles away.

It was a very dramatic experience for me when I chose to pray, with sincerity, for forgiveness of my sins to God through His Son's name, Jesus. I was 19 years old, aboard a naval destroyer having just been released from jail after being arrested on charges that were dropped. Two MPs came to see me, ended up beating me badly, and left me in jail without informing me what was next. I had to call my Dad to get me out.

Flown back to the ship which by then was floating in the Caribbean, I was one afternoon standing in a mess line waiting for lunch when a fellow behind me reminded me about what I'd learned as a boy, that Jesus Christ loves me and cares about me. I knew what my next step was after that, to restore myself in Him. That night, as I lay in my rack, I asked for forgiveness about fifteen times, sincerely and without doubting that it was to the God of Abraham that I was speaking.

In the morning, I awoke with the deepest inner peace I had ever known in my life. The burdens I was carrying had been lifted and my life, my inner man, was full of hope and joy. From the rooftops I could have shouted my relief. It was then that I knew the truth that is in Christ only. My whole life changed including my demeaner, my attitude, my work ethic, all that was me instinctively began to show the change that happened inwardly and was beginning, in a short time, to be noticed outwardly. From there, I started to think in ways I never thought possible, especially since I was raised in a most intensely dysfunctional family where I experienced deep tragedy and loss.
 
Should assisted suicide or euthanasia be allowed for those who feel that they cannot live with the incurable ailment of Tinnitus be allowed?

First of all, I totally support euthanasia. Every individual should have the right to end their suffering with dignity. We have an overpopulation anyway. The problem is, however, our healthcare system is no longer about health care anymore. It IS about money. Plain money business it became. This corrupted system is not aiming to heal its patients but to retain steady customers. It's more important to create jobs than relief pain. Unless of course we are speaking about highly contagious, life-threatening, probably even airborne diseases. Then all of a sudden, and only then, this big money machine takes a full desperate turn to try solving, curing, riding the disease of the patient, not the other way around, 'cause all the big money becomes quite useless when being terminally ill themselves. Yes, they become scared. And only then they do remember and abide their medical oath.

Who are we to judge how gravely someone suffers of an incurable ailment? How can we be so arrogated to deny a fellow being a peaceful passage? How can we treat our own pets better than us humans?

@Catarina is spot on. Life is a cycle and death is just a part of it. And I'd rather embrace that than suffer for a lifetime.

I think we have forgotten that death is as natural a part of life as birth. We are afraid of death and believe that anything is better than that. But there comes a time when being allowed to die is more natural than staying alive.
 
I don't see the issue here. Laws should not exist in my opinion unless they serve a valuable (subjective) purpose. We can easily play with the extremes and present a case of someone perhaps dying of incurable poisoning that takes 48 hours of horrific, painful suffering until the person finally dies. They are imobile and the only sounds emanating from their mouth is the sound of suffering and desire to die. You have in your hand the means to end their life immediately, yet you cannot do this because it is illegal and you will possiy be prosecuted and imprisoned, all at taxpayer expense. Many, like Buddhists, quantify life through the amount of suffering...not the simple existence of a heartbeat.
 
It was a very dramatic experience for me when I chose to pray, with sincerity, for forgiveness of my sins to God through His Son's name, Jesus. I was 19 years old, aboard a naval destroyer having just been released from jail after being arrested on charges that were dropped. Two MPs came to see me, ended up beating me badly, and left me in jail without informing me what was next. I had to call my Dad to get me out.

Flown back to the ship which by then was floating in the Caribbean, I was one afternoon standing in a mess line waiting for lunch when a fellow behind me reminded me about what I'd learned as a boy, that Jesus Christ loves me and cares about me. I knew what my next step was after that, to restore myself in Him. That night, as I lay in my rack, I asked for forgiveness about fifteen times, sincerely and without doubting that it was to the God of Abraham that I was speaking.

In the morning, I awoke with the deepest inner peace I had ever known in my life. The burdens I was carrying had been lifted and my life, my inner man, was full of hope and joy. From the rooftops I could have shouted my relief. It was then that I knew the truth that is in Christ only. My whole life changed including my demeaner, my attitude, my work ethic, all that was me instinctively began to show the change that happened inwardly and was beginning, in a short time, to be noticed outwardly. From there, I started to think in ways I never thought possible, especially since I was raised in a most intensely dysfunctional family where I experienced deep tragedy and loss.

Sorry, I'm just a person that ask questions about everything. I understand that you get a great comfort in believe in Christ. I also understand that atheism can't give you the same comfort. But, comfort is not a synonym to truth or fact I think. For me this life is enough. Just the thought about an eternal existence after death scares the crap out of me. After you have been in heaven for 15000000000000000000 years, you have not even stayed there 0.1% of the time. Because it is eternal. Heaven may be an awesome place, but after some time I'm pretty sure you would get tired of that too.

I still don't see any evidence for the existence of this God you are talking about. People from all other religions talk about their God just as passionate as you. They all had personal experiences like you. Why is your experience any more true or special?

Since all the different religions can have the same experience as you did. Isn't that a very good indication that people can have this experiences, whether or not the actual God exist or not? That we can easily delude our self?
 
meeruf,

I think faith in God is exactly that...Faith in God. Without it, you cannot walk the Christian path. Christ worked miracles after miracles desperately trying to get people to have conversions. Some came around and changed their lives to live according to his teachings, others did not. The Bible depicts Christ as out of the norm...that is for sure. His words were so confusing, "If you eat my body and drink my blood, you will live forever". He meant this literally according to Catholicism. His words and actions were so unexpected and the impression he made has lasted over 2000 years and continues to live on. To me, that speaks volumes. What is interesting is to look at the lives of saints and be amazed. Some of these folks lived solely for years consuming ONLY one Eucharist per day which is a tiny little piece of bread. Many have uncorrupted bodies after death...some remain uncorrupted for over 100 years. Fascinating! I recently went to an exhibit of the shroud of Turin (Christ's burial cloth). I love history and the exhibit did not disappoint. The fact that that many of the scientists were non-believers which makes the evidence much more valid in my view.

Everyone has free will to live and believe as they choose. However, even if you are not a believer reading about this man and learning about their miraculous stories of many of his followers through the years is so dang interesting.
 
I believe a person should be able to end their life peacefully if they want to. I did hospice with my mother in her home. It was hard. She had stage 4 lung cancer. I will never forget when she said "this just ain't right". Meaning, no person should suffer like this. She was on a huge amount of drugs and she was suffering. I did however witness her spiritual journey. That was amazing to see. I even heard my father's voice over the monitor speaking to her. I prayed for my father to be with her and let her know that she is not alone. i do believe that the soul lives on. I have been researching this for many years. I had a reading with a medium after my mother passed and she came through without a doubt. The medium would not have known details of mymother that only I would know. She even sketched her and the results were very close. I must admit when the roaring was going on in my ear, and for about two weeks, I did not think of suicide, but I could totally understand how people could decide to end their time here and move on to the next journey.
 
To some degree, we all live lives of faith. By that I mean that we all believe things exist without seeing or having been there. For instance, have you been to Greenland? Does it exist? How do you know it exists? Well, certainly, we all have read books about the place, and articles, and viewed stories. We've not been there, but we all believe that land exists.

In that case, believing is seeing. Without evidence other than what we've heard and read, we hold what we've heard and read to be true. The soil of our hearts into which information falls is likened to a seed which we believe, which in turn takes root, and even if we never get to that land, we will always believe it exists.

The soil of the hearts of men today are too often not fertile. So, instead, after hearing about Christ, the seed falls on rocky or thorny ground, where no root can be produced or where the cares and affairs of this life, i.e. the debates of those who fight God's existence, choke the word that could bear fruit, and so the seed withers and dies.

It is very "in" today to be extremely anti-faith, even to be a God denier. One book on the topic declares the belief in God delusional. The real truth is that the soil in the author's heart was never cultivated enough for the seed to take root and grow. In today's postmodernist mindset, it's not only God, but His ways that are being assaulted. The family He chose to define is no longer accepted, chastity is a laughing matter, and keeping oneself from sin is really a mystery, since, as the unbeliever sees it, he/she is really without sin, or the notion of sin simply doesn't apply to them.

Read the 13th chapter of first Corinthians to learn the true definition of love. It has nothing to do with today's rush to assert oneself. For true love is actually the denial of self to serve others, it is not self-serving, but instead love "seeks not its own, but the betterment of others." Try to find that in the modernist mindset. You can't, because man, as we've been told, is merely the product of chance and time living within a survivalist mode where only the strong survive, an evolutionary concept that denies accountability and penalty; and yet, the truth forever remains: "the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."
 
If someone is in that much pain then they should have the right to choose whether they live or die. It's as simple as that.
It gets a little more complicated when someone else is involved however, what with all the shit the world has gotten itself into there's a lot of suspicion regarding the matter.

In an ideal & more natural world this shouldn't be a problem but this isn't ideal.

I still agree with it however, people should have a right to die, it's thier life.
 
Why assisted suicide ? If one wants to suicide can do it alone.
There are countless options for not assisted acute suicide.
 
It is legal in Belgium, although under strict rules and circumastances and I support it 100%.

Noone should experience enormous suffering without any hope of it getting better.
 
Why assisted suicide ?

Assisted is refering to get the right meds. Unless you pursue a career in medicine you won't have access to the right meds nor the knowledge on how to use them properly, which is crucial for a peaceful death.
But also assisted suicide is big money business. For instance, Dignitas in Switzerland take $12880.


@UserID , although I like your analogy.. I have to say you can book a flight to Greenland. You can buy fish from Greenland. There are people living in Greenland.
 
meeruf,

I think faith in God is exactly that...Faith in God. Without it, you cannot walk the Christian path. Christ worked miracles after miracles desperately trying to get people to have conversions. Some came around and changed their lives to live according to his teachings, others did not. The Bible depicts Christ as out of the norm...that is for sure. His words were so confusing, "If you eat my body and drink my blood, you will live forever". He meant this literally according to Catholicism. His words and actions were so unexpected and the impression he made has lasted over 2000 years and continues to live on. To me, that speaks volumes. What is interesting is to look at the lives of saints and be amazed. Some of these folks lived solely for years consuming ONLY one Eucharist per day which is a tiny little piece of bread. Many have uncorrupted bodies after death...some remain uncorrupted for over 100 years. Fascinating! I recently went to an exhibit of the shroud of Turin (Christ's burial cloth). I love history and the exhibit did not disappoint. The fact that that many of the scientists were non-believers which makes the evidence much more valid in my view.

Everyone has free will to live and believe as they choose. However, even if you are not a believer reading about this man and learning about their miraculous stories of many of his followers through the years is so dang interesting.

Hello @Teri. Yeah, that is my problem with religion. Faith... Believing in something entirely without evidence. It is very dangerous and foolish. You can make people do anything with that mindset. Just look at all the killings and terrorism in the name of [put in your favorite God]. It happens all the time.

Why does it matter that it has been around 2000 years? We also believed that the sun was 17 miles away and that the earth was flat for a very long time. Until science got other ideas. But, that is the problem with religion. You can't prove that something that do not exist, actually don't exist, like Thor, Allah or The Spaghetti Monster. I can't prove that there is no invisible pink unicorns next to me, it's just very very unlikely.

There is no evidence that this universe needs a God to exist. Actually, everything science have found until now, says the opposite, it all happened by itself. And there is no reason to believe that this trend will change. Science has off course not figured everything out, but they are honest enough to admit it. They don't just make stuff up.

I would take it so far to say that, if Christianity and Islam was invented today and people started to "spread the word". They would be put inside the closed section on a psychiatric hospital to get mental treatment. The only reason we feel that religion is 'normal' is because it's always been around.
 
To some degree, we all live lives of faith. By that I mean that we all believe things exist without seeing or having been there. For instance, have you been to Greenland? Does it exist? How do you know it exists? Well, certainly, we all have read books about the place, and articles, and viewed stories. We've not been there, but we all believe that land exists.

With all due respect this is not a very good analogy to use, We know Greenland exists because it's a physical presence on our earth and people live there and in today's technologically advanced society we are able to see it in real time!

We can't say that about a God that a 2000 year old book, that's missing half of it's contents again, is telling us lives in a place that we can't see, we can't look it up on the net and see it in real time, all we have is a book telling us that it is there!

And again preaching from a 2000 year old contradictory book doesn't usually win a science debate!

There is no evidence that this universe needs a God to exist.

You are right but then again there is no evidence that say's you didn't need one to create it!

It all happened by itself.

That is an entirely new debate in itself!
I would take it so far to say that, if Christianity and Islam was invented today and people started to "spread the word". They would be put inside the closed section on a psychiatric hospital to get mental treatment. The only reason we feel that religion is 'normal' is because it's always been around.

Agree!

A God, whether he or it exists should have no bearing on this topic whatsoever! IMO
 
You are right but then again there is no evidence that say's you didn't need one to create it!

IMO

I guess that is true too. I was just talking about the trend. Everything we have figured out until now don't need magic to work. But, I guess that religious people will believe whatever they want anyways. Their minds are programmed to believe in things without evidence. A lot of them can't even handle that we actually originates from apes. They reject reality, to make it fit with their believes, and that's one more reason why faith-mindset is so dangerous.
 
i have the right meds(are chep and easy to find) to suicide if my H & T don't stop.
Before suicide i will try more meds and brain surgery.
I understand suicide because with H & T is unable to live normal but only after trying all available treatments.
Because new treatments come every the time to try someone all is many
many years almost lifetime
 
@meeruf

I "get" your opinion about the distortions in religion. I believe our world to be completely distorted and as a result, there are twisted thinking and actions. The Bible qualifies this as a result of the "fall". Whatever the reason, our world most definitely has "issues". In terms of believing, I seriously doubt there has ever been a human in any point in their lives (since the beginning), that has never had doubt or total lack of faith in God or an entity beyond this world.

In my own personal experience, I have no problem "willing" myself to believe in Jesus (even though I can say with all honesty it is difficult at best because I need the "proof" as you stated...lol). If Jesus was sitting next to me as I type this, performing miracle after miracle.....sadly I would be the Thomas from the Bible saying...."I need more proof! What else do you have?".

I look at folks who have lived unbelievable tragedies and come out with stronger faith. Those poor families who had to watch their children be hacked up in front of them because they would not deny their faith is nothing short of drug-induced insanity or some higher power pouring some sort of grace over them to persevere. I listened to a lady who survived the massacre in Rwanda. She and her brother were the only survivors. Dang...what a story. Her faith in God is beyond belief. She had an aura about her that emitted total peace. She even went to the murders and forgave them. YIKES, who does that?

....sorry to babble but this subject is always so interesting to me.


also...sorry to get off subject on this forum.
 
Read the 13th chapter of first Corinthians to learn the true definition of love. It has nothing to do with today's rush to assert oneself. For true love is actually the denial of self to serve others, it is not self-serving, but instead love "seeks not its own, but the betterment of others." Try to find that in the modernist mindset. You can't, because man, as we've been told, is merely the product of chance and time living within a survivalist mode where only the strong survive, an evolutionary concept that denies accountability and penalty; and yet, the truth forever remains: "the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

Funny that you should mention love. Look at your country. The right wing rebublicans. Mostly Christians, right?

And they want what? Private healthcare, less taxes, harder punishments and no gun laws.

Then you have the democrats, mostly non-christians. Health care for the poor, stricter gun laws and more taxes for the rich. Protection of the enviroment etc.

Look at my country, Norway. 90% atheism. We have 100% free healthcare, free childrenschool, free highschool, free college, free university, no death penality, 1 year full salary in case of sickness, good salary for low status jobs so they can afford family etc. 5 weeks vacation by law every year, and, did I mention high taxes on unhealthy food and lower taxes on healthy food, and a pretty good income from the state to people who are unable to work? Aand a good pension to our old people. So good most of them can travel in their old days if they have the health for it.

Yeah, and you Christians think you have some kind of monopoly on love? Sure.
 

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