Suicide For A Cause

[AccountDeleted]

[quote name='DMcB' timestamp='1326332992' post='2367288']
Hunger Games?...and here I thought this thread was going to reference Chinese factory workers killing themselves in protest of (insert troubling situation).
[/quote]

I thought it was about Buddhist monks setting themselves on fire to protest the Vietnam war or the Chinese occupation of Tibet!

[Laudate_Dominum]

A Klingon warrior would rather die than be taken prisoner! A prisoner has no honor.

[Amppax]

[quote name='InPersonaChriste' timestamp='1326338264' post='2367364']
It's a sin, unless you are mentally unstable.
[/quote]

Well no, its still a sin. However, mental instability reduces culpability.

[quote][color=#202020][font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][size=3]Grave psychological disturbances, anguish, or grave fear of hardship, suffering, or torture can[b] diminish[/b] the responsibility of the one committing suicide.[/size][/font][/color][/quote]

Diminish. It doesn't entirely take it away. Its still a sin.

[Basilisa Marie]

[quote name='Amppax' timestamp='1326341913' post='2367410']
Well no, its still a sin. However, mental instability reduces culpability.



Diminish. It doesn't entirely take it away. Its still a sin.
[/quote]

True, which is why the Church no longer bars suicide victims from having a funeral mass, because we don't know the state of their soul in their final moments, and we hope that God is merciful, because it is still a sin.

[MithLuin]

Klingons are welcome to go down fighting, and I suppose our hypothetical human is, as well. If you think that being taken prisoner is something so bad that you'd have to contemplate suicide under those circumstances....then one could keep fighting, and avoid being taken prisoner.

Note that I am *not* recommending suicide-by-cop or taking on the [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=K0UzG-Gc7II]Bolivian Army[/url] single-handedly. I'm just saying that before one is a prisoner of war, one is a soldier in a war. Refusing to surrender might make one a casualty rather than a prisoner, but that would not be quite the deliberate action of an actual suicide in prison. It would be more like...dying in the midst of an escape attempt. There are many possibly outcomes; predicting the future isn't really something humans are very good at.

Killing yourself to prevent an evil that you 'might' commit and that 'might' hurt someone else is...a bit extreme. Your captors might not even care about your precious info. You might not break. Or maybe you will break, but it will be too late to actually harm anyone. Better to deal with the situation at hand. The only way I could see it being remotely justifiable would be if you had concrete evidence you were turning into a monster and/or losing control of your will. Meaning...Dr. Jekell might decide to off himself rather than be turned into Mr. Hyde permanently. It would be an act of despair, though, and that's the point - complete despair, giving up all hope....how is that the Christian thing to do? Fight to the end, never give up, not even at the last....this is both more human...and more Christian.

[his_remnant]

[quote name='MithLuin' timestamp='1326352328' post='2367493']
It would be an act of despair, though, and that's the point - complete despair, giving up all hope....how is that the Christian thing to do? Fight to the end, never give up, not even at the last....this is both more human...and more Christian.
[/quote]

Klingons, Dr. Jekell, and Katniss Everdeen aside I believe this is what clinches it for me. Suicide is an act of despair. The CCC quotes Amppax quoted say as much. As a Christian and child of God it's essential that I never give up hope because like Paul "I can do all in him who strengthens me."

Thanks for all the input.