RS SUPPORT REVISION

Traditional Christian view

Christians have claimed that suicide is a grave sin.
Man is neither the author of his life nor its absolute owner
Church law withheld Christian burial from one who had committed suicide.

God is the creator of mankind and he chooses when people are born and when they die.
Some people think suffering is part of God’s plan for us.
Suicide is selfish because it causes so much pain to other people.
Some would even claim it violates the sixth commandment. You shall not murder.

In the New Testament
Judas committed suicide after he had betrayed Jesus.

St Paul in his first letter to the Corinthian Church points out that human bodies are God’s Temple. If any one destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and that temple you are.

Recent Developments

The Bible is no longer taken to be literally true. It points to God’s will rather than defines it.

In the twentieth century much was discovered about the medical and sociological factors, which affect people who may commit suicide.

Most Christians believe that a correct response to suicide is to be loving and forgiving.

There is the current debate about Euthanasia. In many cases the patient may administer a fatal dose of drug himself.