Suicide

[Archaea]

A recent apostle gave a talk which provides hope for mercy for those who commit suicide. He basically stated that people who have so much bearing down on them, may be beyond choices so that they really don't know right from wrong, and therefore will experience the mercy of God.

[ute4ever]

I have a hard time believing God would condemn the people who jumped from the top of the World Trade Center buildings on 9/11/01, when their only other option appeared to be slowly roasting to death in the fiery inferno.

But that's just me.

I believe God will weigh the magnitude of each situation to determine if the suicide was a cop-out, or did the individual's situation digress to a lifetime of agony beyond his control.

[InTheMuss]

I've been thinking about this a lot lately as well. I go to a ward in downtown SLC and our recently-released bishop commited suicide. It's caused a lot of members of the ward a lot of grief. The man served honorably as a bishop and was released after serving longer than the average bishop(just a note because people tend to wonder if he did something wrong with being released, then commiting suicide). However my take on it is that he just had open heart surgery a month or two before and its my guess that he was possibly depressed from the medication. Depression seems to be common for people on big time pain killers.
I wonder how many people have attempted suicide at some point in their life? Especially younger people (teens most notably). If suicide did damn someone forever, will an attempted suicide do the same? Is that not something you could repent of? Comparing two people (one that succeeded vs one that didn't) the only difference I see is that one was smarter or had better resources to follow through on it. Although on the other hand, perhaps the person who didn't succeed was just trying to get the attention that they felt they needed.
I don't have any real thoughts on the matter, just more questions.

[DrumNFeather]

Originally Posted by InTheMuss

If suicide did damn someone forever, will an attempted suicide do the same? Is that not something you could repent of? Comparing two people (one that succeeded vs one that didn't) the only difference I see is that one was smarter or had better resources to follow through on it. Although on the other hand, perhaps the person who didn't succeed was just trying to get the attention that they felt they needed.
I don't have any real thoughts on the matter, just more questions.

You bring up an interesting point and one that i've actually been pondering myself recently. Much like someone's post about homosexual tendencies, I think that many people over the course of their life, think about or at least entertain the idea of suicide...kind of the old..."what would it be like?" or "would anyone really care" that sort of thing.

In speaking with a co-worker about this (who, is a recovring alcoholic that believes in a higher power but hates what modern Christianity has turned into) he noted (speaking specifically of Tony Dungy's son) that he couldn't believe that a just and fair God, even a God who gave us the gift of life, would just abandon those who killed themselves. In fact, quite the contrary, he felt that God would be highly compassionate towards these people because things got so bad for them that they chose to take their own life...an interesting theory to chew on.

So, to your question, which is worse? I'd say that if we ever had to defend our choices to God, or justify an action, overcoming those suicidal tendencies and living a full life and dying when you were supposed to die (naturally) rather than taking your life early, would be considered a great accomplishment. Especially if your belief is (like many church members) that the Savior suffered for not only all our sins, but everything that we go through as well including sadness, depression, and suicidal tendencies.

The only reason I could see where sympathy would not be granted by God or by the Savior would be because of the incident in Gethsemanie where Christ asked to be released from the pain...and he wasn't...and he had the power to end it whenever he wanted...and he didn't.