“Suicide to prevent prolonged torture – Suppose someone was being tortured in an excruciating manner for an unbearably long period of time. Would suicide be an option? If so, why wouldn’t it be all right in the medically assisted context if the patient were also in excruciating pain for long periods of time?”

Suicide is never the option and Doctors have no right nor patients have the right to take their own lives. The Sovereign God has allowed such situations and as Job once said “though you slay me”. So I think it doesn’t get much more unbearable than Job, but even in that Christ endured the worst of torture and pain and He was 100% innoncent and just as Job pursued God in His turmoil Christ comes along and bears not only the pain of the Roman execution He also bears the pain of being seperated from the Father. So if He would bear that for me I think I would do everything to bear terminal illness.

Suicide is not the unforgivable sin. If that be the case, then God help those Christians who kill themselves due to DEPRESSION, as severe depression robs the mind of clear thinking and people in such states honestly aren’t in their right minds……or people who struggle with natural things such as being BI-POLAR/have CHEMICAL IMBALANCES that are of no fault of their own, as the medical community is full of accounts of extraordinary behaviors by people whose “circuits got crossed.” even when they didn’t ask it……& Just as it was for a diabetic, If the medicine stopped, then you’d be a a higher risk for doing something damaging.

In addressing the question of whether Christ died even for the sin of suicide, part of me can’t help but wonder why it seems that other forms of the action seem to get less press as if they’re OK/Christ is cool with forgiving them. Examples of this:

Medically Assisted Suicide (Euthenasia)- The doctor is supposed to save life, not destroy it. But, lately as destroying the lives of the unborn is more common place, destroying the lives of the sick has become the next logical step.

Suicide to prevent prolonged torture – Suppose someone was being tortured in an excruciating manner for an unbearably long period of time. Would suicide be an option? If so, why wouldn’t it be all right in the medically assisted context if the patient were also in excruciating pain for long periods of time?

Did Christ die for these as well?

http://www.bible.org/page.php?page_id=378

I’d like to address something you said in the article:

“People usually tell me ‘keep all that theology stuff, just give me the bible’.”

You have a good answer to them. They should also understand that they are making a theological statement. They are saying that God doesn’t care about the details. The fact of the matter is that given the number of people that have ever lived, we are each little tiny details. If God doesn’t care about details, He doesn’t care about any one of us individually either. No – God cares about the details and He is worthy of our diligent study of Him. Theological study is part of our worship.