That’s interesting... Both, I guess. I don’t know how those around the patient, could live with themselves after being complicit in another’s suicide:
I hate the idea of doctor assisted suicides as it is kind of like bounty hunting or killing for hire.
At the same time I have to remember only God can see the hearts of the ones who are on either end of the game.
One instance which comes to mind is the apostle Paul who was by some definations a killer for hire.
Acts chapter 7:58-60 chapter 8:1-3
1 Corinthians 15
9 For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
The out come of it all was that Steven was raised to glory land and Paul became a Christian who hated what he did so much that it was a thorn in his side for the rest of his life.
And any one who reads his writing can see that it actually caused him to be over zealous and too controversial on the opposite side but even so God can read hearts.
I believe in my heart that a person is entitled to the last moment of life God gives them, until natural death. I agree that only God can read a person's conscience, but is the desire on the part of the family? Do they consider death somehow "undignified?" Our Lord is the perfect example: stripped; crucified, outside the city walls where the garbage was dumped; He drank that Cup of suffering to the dregs, until all was finished and He gave up His Soul to Our loving Father. He is our example that death, no matter how difficult, how traumatic for a person's loved ones, is part of our humanity and not undignified on the eyes of God.
We cry when we lose a loved one- for ourselves, because we miss them. Families who think this is somehow a humane act must remember, Thou Shalt Not Kill, and put into perspective whose pain they are actually taking into consideration- their loved one's, their own?
Assisted suicide is not self-defense, nor defense of God and country. It is attempting to hasten or introduce a process which is God's alone to decide upon.,
One instance which comes to mind is the apostle Paul who was by some definations a killer for hire. Acts chapter 7:58-60 chapter 8:1-3 1 Corinthians 15 9 For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
St. Paul, IMHO, was unique in his position for a variety of reasons. 1. He was a Roman citizen, so they kept off his back before his conversion. 2. Remember that the Jews are a people, not just a Faith. There was a bit of a political element in there, too. 3. Oral Sacred Tradition was part of Jewish learning for centuries-including the time of Jesus; it wasn't until the destruction of the 2nd Temple in 200ad that it was written. One of the Rabbis whose highly-respected commentary was included, was Gamaliel, at whose feet St. Paul studied.
My point is, it was not a simple matter of hatred, as with Muslims today. There were other factors, other reasons, why Saul was so zealous to squash this new sect. It wasn't until Jesus Himself defined it as persecution, that Saul realized his zeal was misdirected.
A soul who does not complete the race, nor finish the life God planned from his/her conception is protecting no one, nor defending an ideal. They are taking into their hands fruit that is forbidden, as did our first parents. We are not God and cannot decide for ourselves or another. For me, the man at the Falls was an example of the Will of God over that of man- and God's exclusive right to decide one's time to be called to Him.
The out come of it all was that Steven was raised to glory land and Paul became a Christian who hated what he did so much that it was a thorn in his side for the rest of his life.
And any one who reads his writing can see that it actually caused him to be over zealous and too controversial on the opposite side but even so God can read hearts.
I believe that the heart of Saul, as I said, was misdirected, but a good one, nonetheless. He felt he was doing the right thing, but then Jesus guided him Himself. You bring some good points into the discussion: St. Paul regretted what he did; he, in turn suffered for the spreading of the Word he had once despised; he turned his life completely around, and did not abandon his flocks, but kept his ear to the ground and kept in touch to advise and admonish where necessary.
God does read our hearts, considers all things, and is just and merciful. But I in my heart believe that assisted suicide is murder, and a slippery slope in the respect for the life, including suffering, that God allows us- until He decides to call us home to Him. Paul is a profound example of the acceptance of suffering. Each of us, as followers of Jesus, would do well to imitate him and accept, rather than shorten the trials sent to us, or allowed to befall us, through God's Holy Will!