First and fore-most when it comes to writing about suicide I try to approach the subject sensitively. Many, including myself, have been affected by suicide, making it a very emotional and personal issue to touch on. Now many will say that in accordance to biblical views suicide is not morally permissible but what if the circumstances involve a Sargent to throw himself on a live grenade to save his soldiers or a mother to jump in front of a speeding car and push a child out the way, herself being killed in the process, then these situations would be viewed as morally permissible, although these individuals knew that their actions would lead to their own death. (1) In the Bible book of John verse 15:13 Jesus states13 Greater love has no one than …show more content…
Where does the line get drawn at? In my opinion I can completely confidently argue that suicide is no longer consider permissible, when it is a result of self-focus, self-love, self-pity, or a result of any type of selfish act. (2) As John Piper states, “In the midst of a feeling of utter meaningless and hopelessness and numbness of depression the soul says: “It can’t get any worse than this. So even if I don’t know what I will gain through death, I do know what I will escape.” And so, suicide is an attempt to escape the intolerable. It is an act of self-love.” Now although passive euthanasia, a mode of ending life in which a physician is given an option not to prescribe futile treatments for the unfortunate terminally ill patient., is morally permissible being that it allows the process of dying to run its natural course, however I believe active euthanasia, which is a mode of a ending life in which the intent is to cause the patient’s death in a single act, is morally prohibited because it completely goes against the divine will of God as well as interfering with the natural processes that God has formulated for human beings, since God’s purposes are made known through suffering or as C. S. Lewis put it, “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”. “When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider: God has made the one as well as the other” (Ecclesiastes 7:14). As argued by Gay-Williams (1979), "man as trustee of his body act against God, its rightful possessor, when he takes his own life". Hence killing human life is violation of God's commandments. Living is an obligation in that man is to go on living even when he is far from figuring out why things happen as they do. This obligation expresses the
First of all, we were not in charge of our birth, we had no input of when we wanted to be born, is only fair that we don’t decide our death. I believe God creates life, He and He alone should decide when and how a person should dye. Only when the time come. I think is unethical to kill someone just because their quality of life is not up to people’s standard. Who are we to decide who should live or die. God the creator creates, let him decide when a person should die. I promise you God does not need our health in that matter. Euthanasia is a serious topic; It goes against the standards of traditional medicine. First, doctors have to take the Hippocratic Oath to become a practicing physician. The Hippocratic Oath says do whatever you can to save people’s life, on the contrary, Euthanasia is basically just killing them if they want to die and avoid the suffering. Second, euthanasia is not always applied to terminally ill patients either. People who have been in serious accidents, or who have debilitating diseases often consider using euthanasia as a resolution to their suffering. I believe the act of euthanasia is against the principles of Beneficence, Non-maleficence, and Life Preservation. By virtue, Beneficence tells us to be good and be kind to others, also do things to benefits others, preventing people from harms or anything
In all cases in the United States we start by looking at our Nation 's history, lawful customs, and practices. In pretty much every western democracy it is a wrongdoing to support a suicide. The States ' aided suicide bans are not advancements. Rather, they are longstanding outflows of the States ' dedication to the insurance and protection of all human life. Besides, the dominant part of States in this nation have laws forcing criminal punishments on one who aids an alternate to carry out suicide. “Though deeply rooted, the State 's ' assisted-suicide bans have in recent years been reexamined and, generally, reaffirmed. Because of advances in medicine and technology, Americans today are increasingly likely to die in institutions, from chronic illnesses(http://law2.umkc.edu).” So why would you let these people live out a inevitable death in a hospital bed suffering when we have the technology and resources to take them out of their pain and suffering. It is morally incorrect and wrong to force someone to live out a life they don 't want to live. However in recent years the States have took the initiative to solve this problem. Recently five states have voted to legalize physician assisted suicide in their state them including Denver, New Mexico, Montana, Oregon and Washington. A recent case that involved physician assisted suicide was Baxter vs Montana where someone with Leukemia
Starting with the argument of it not being ethical, Martin Levin a practicing attorney states; that when he first began his paper and research he believed people should have the right to an assisted suicide. After doing extensive research he changed his mind. Just some of these reasons include sanctity of human life. It is stated that God created the human life and therefore our lives and bodies are the property of God. It is also stated that no one has the right to destroy Gods’ property (Levin M. 2002). In many churches ho...
Although physician assisted suicide may result in the fulfillment of another’s choice, be considered a compassionate means to end suffering, or even be considered a right, I believe it is not morally acceptable. In the act of physician assisted suicide, a patient voluntarily requests his or her doctor to assist in providing the means needed for self-harm. In most cases of physician assisted suicide, patients who request this type of assistance are terminally ill and mentally competent (i.e. have sufficient understanding of an individual’s own situation and purpose and consequences of any action). Those who have committed the action of physician assisted suicide or condone the act may believe that one has the right to end their own life, the right of autonomy (the right or condition of self governing), the right to a dignified death, believe that others have a duty to minimize suffering, or believe it (physician assisted suicide) to be a compassionate act, or a combination of these things. However, since this act violates the intrinsic value of human life, it is not morally acceptable.
"If suicide is a right, then it is one that has remained undiscovered throughout the ages by the great thinkers in law, ethics, philosophy and theology. It appears nowhere in the Bible or the Koran or the Talmud. Committing suicide wasn't a "right" a thousand years ago, and it isn't one now. That's why most societies, including our own, have passed laws against it" (Callahan, pg. 71). Assisted suicide is murder!
In her paper entitled "Euthanasia," Phillipa Foot notes that euthanasia should be thought of as "inducing or otherwise opting for death for the sake of the one who is to die" (MI, 8). In Moral Matters, Jan Narveson argues, successfully I think, that given moral grounds for suicide, voluntary euthanasia is morally acceptable (at least, in principle). Daniel Callahan, on the other hand, in his "When Self-Determination Runs Amok," counters that the traditional pro-(active) euthanasia arguments concerning self-determination, the distinction between killing and allowing to die, and the skepticism about harmful consequences for society, are flawed. I do not think Callahan's reasoning establishes that euthanasia is indeed morally wrong and legally impossible, and I will attempt to show that.
Should people have the right to kill themselves if they’re on the verge of dying? People are allowed to kill themselves in everyday life, so why can’t a person who knows that there is no way he will be able recover from his illness choose to end his life on his own terms? Many people don’t support and agree with assisted suicide. Even though many people don’t believe in physician assisted suicide, there are people suffering when they shouldn’t have too. A person who is terminally ill should have the right to choose to die if they choose. Being suicidal is just as much as a sickness as the flu. Both might need medicine to help get better as well as seeking professional help to take care of their aliment.. Someone who is suicidal is not something to be taken lightly..
"People are stewards, not owners, of the life God has entrusted to them" (Vaticana, 550). To decide if euthanasia is wrong, one must first decide whom life belongs to. The Bible says, "In God's hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind" (Job 12:10). Life belongs to God and since God gave life to the human race, God should decide when it is time to take life. Also, the fifth commandment says, "Thou shall not kill." Assisted suicide and euthanasia disobey this commandment.
Suicide is legal in most parts of the United States. Since Suicide has been made legal, there have been more suicides than homicides everyday. Suicide and Euthanasia and totally different and should not be compared with each other. Suicide is the act or an instance of taking one's own life voluntarily and intentionally. Euthanasia is not a private act. It is one human being doing something that directly kills another. This is why most physicians want administer it, because it leaves them with a heavy heart, knowing they just ended a person's
...with as we see fit. To kill oneself, or to get someone else to do it for us, is to deny God, and to deny God's rights over our lives and his right to choose the length of our lives and the way our lives end”. ("BBC - Ethics - Introduction to ethics: Euthanasia.") Taking one’s life would equate to playing God. The right to decide whether you live or not does not belong to humans. God created humans and therefore taking one’s life is tantamount to playing God.
Harper Lee believes that being the bigger person is more beneficial than not. Throughout To Kill a Mockingbird, Lee demonstrates how there are way more good things coming out of being mature in a conflict than giving in. When Scout saw Cecil Jacobs on the playground, she took Atticus’ advice and the text read, “I drew a bead on him, remembered what Atticus had said, then dropped my fists and walked away…” (Lee 102). By Scout walking away, she is taking a more mature route than giving into Ceci
There are two main arguments offered by Christians, and those of other faiths, that advise against an individual seeking suicide, for whatever reason: Life is a gift form God, and that " each individual is its steward." Thus, only God can start a life, and only God should be allowed to end one. An individual who commits suicide is committing a sin. Christians believe that God does not send us any experience that we cannot handle.
A Study of Suicide: An overview of the famous work by Emile Durkheim, Ashley Crossman, 2009, http://sociology.about.com/od/Works/a/Suicide.htm, 25/12/2013
The concept of suicide has always been the controversial debate topic among the philosophers. Since the birth of Christianity in Western world, committing a suicide is generally accepted as the act of immorality and the transgression of our duty toward God. By mid-16th century, David Hume, a Scottish philosopher, questions this traditional duty-based ethic of suicide. As he
Suicide, may be said to happen, if and only if, there is an intentional end of someone's life. The doctrine converses that we should never break off anyone’s life, including ours, because life is internally estimable that we should cherish. Therefore chances of that the act, suicide, violating this concept depends on whether a life worthwhile or not. So how do we define a worthwhile life? There is no satisfactory answer. It is ponderable that fragile at best because in moments of despair, nothing seems worthwhile and a Prozac later, everything may be all right again.