One of the more gruesome characters who appeared in the new several years ago was a man they called "The Suicide Doctor" or "Doctor Death." His real name was Dr. Jack Kevorkian. He helped people consciously and willingly commit suicide. All kinds of people committed suicide with his help. Those with the beginnings of Alzheimer's, cancer patients, arthritis patients, young and old who wanted to avoid pain and suffering ended their lives quickly and by their own hand with his help.
The argument, of course, is that your life belongs to you and in a democratic society you should have the freedom to end your life when and how you want to. Especially if by committing suicide you save yourself some suffering and, in addition to this, you save society the trouble of caring for you (time and money).
These are some arguments used by those who support voluntary suicide. In response to these arguments I would like to remind us of the following points concerning suicide:
1. Our life does not belong to us
We did not create ourselves, our life was given to us by God, it is sustained by God's power and so, is subject to His authority. Yes, we are free to choose (another ability given to us by God) but our freedom is limited to choose to obey God or disobey God. His command is "Thou shalt not kill" (Exodus 20:13).
We are not free to disregard God, or disassociate ourselves from God without penalty. Suicide ends our lives here but it does not terminate our relationship and responsibility towards God. We will have to answer to God for all we do and that includes suicide.
2. Suffering is a normal part of life
When we study the life of Job, for example, we see that he experienced great blessings and sufferings. When he was going through hardship, his wife wanted to call the Suicide Doctor… She said, "Why don't you just curse God and die" (which would have amounted to suicide). Job answered, "Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?" (Job 2:9-10) Although painful, Job understood that suffering was a part of life and not a reason to end your life.
You could use your pain or fear of suffering as a reason to commit suicide but you would not be justified in doing so in God's eyes.
3. Suffering is a valuable teacher
You have to work at discipline constantly. The great lessons of life are rarely learned while healthy, while winning, while everything is going smoothly. If you listen to the comments made by the survivors of tragedies and people who have endured great suffering, you will hear that they learned about love, about courage, about God and prayer, about their true selves because of suffering.
What makes society merciful and kind is the constant exercise of caring for others in their suffering. The best money we spend, the best time we ever invest is that which goes towards alleviating the suffering of others. This is what keeps us human.
Summary
I don't blame people for seeking out the Suicide Doctor: they are afraid and tired of pain and loss of control in their lives. I propose that we deal with suffering in a different way.
Instead of going to the Suicide Doctor, we should put our lives into God's hands and continue to depend on His mercy; allow the suffering to teach us, mold us and involve us in others' lives. This may not take the pain away but it is like medicine to the soul. Let's be ready for the final work of suffering which is death. Let's be ready, not by planning our suicide, but by planning our eternal life with God.
Discussion Questions
- Have you ever dealt with someone who was terminally ill? How did you treat/comfort them?
- What would you say to the family of someone who had committed suicide?
- How can we prepare our teens and young adults to deal with thoughts of suicide (common in this age group)?