First Principles: Life is God's and Self Defense Is A Human Right, Suicide is Not

You did not make yourself. You are not your own. You are, by the right of a manufacturer, God's. He made you, he owns you (but you have disowned him)*.

Your life is not your own. Your life is also not property of the State.

NOBODY has a right to take your life without a darn good reason. You do not have a right to take a life without a darn good reason. If someone's life is taken without a good reason, the murderer is answerable to God for her actions. She will be judged eventually, and her punishment will last for.ev.er*.

You are entrusted with the care of your own life. You are expected to do the things that tend toward continuation of your life. The State has no obligation to protect your life in particular, only to sort of keep the society from going all caddywompus. If anyone is going to defend you, it will be you. If the state sticks up for you, it is only dumb luck falling out in your favor. If you stand up for your own life, it is your duty. There are other reasons (love of family, love of self, love of country, etc.), but one really strong argument in favor of self-defense is that you are sticking up for the life God has entrusted to your care.

If someone is coming at you with a knife, he is trying to stand in the place of God and take your life. It is not his, he has no right to it, and what's more, he is being disrespectful and presumptuous beyond the pale to try to take your life. You have a duty to God (and your family, society, etc.) to prevent that person taking your life. That's where your little friend comes in.

To prevent the unjustified taking of your own (or another's) life, you are justified in the use of deadly force.

Self Defense Is a Human Right.

Taking your own life is not. You are old, feeble, and in constant pain. Perhaps it is your fault and perhaps it is not, but your life is still not your own. Your little friend is not the answer. As a created thing, you have no right to question the motives of your maker. If you have a problem with the place God has let you get to, take that up with Him. If, on the other hand, you scratch and claw at life, and a dozen machines are working overtime to keep grandpa in a coma instead of a coffin, you are also not doing well. Sometimes life is hard, and sometimes life is very hard indeed, but taking your own is not your job. God has his own reasons and his own ways. Presuming that your little rat-brain (compared to His mind) can understand why you are where you are, is arrogant in the extreme. You take what God gives and praise him for it, because he is trying to help, whether it looks like it or not.

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*A little boy made a model boat and was very pleased with it. He owned it because he had made it. Then he set it on a stream and watched it drifting, until he realized that it had drifted too far. He chased it but could not catch it. A couple of days later, he saw his own boat, for sale for $2 in a storefront window. He went in and purchased it. He owned it by virtue of the purchase, as well as having made it.

You are the boat.

God has a just claim on your love and obedience, quite aside from his own goodness. You are his, but you reject his lordship over you. For your disobedience, you will receive a just reward of separation from your maker. As he is infinite, so is your punishment. As all good things come from God, you will be removed from every good thing. Good things like not being on fire, dying of dehydration and sickness, hunger and loneliness. Yes it is eternal torment for rejecting the eternal God. You will forever be tortured and it will be your own disobedience that brought it on yourself.

According to the Bible, the soul in Hell is (among other things) tormented in flames, bound, in the dark, desperately thirsty, sad, and alone. Moreover, according to the Bible, there is no escape from Hell. You cannot ever leave, and no-one can ever go and get you. You can never send a message of warning to your family, and you will never see them again. But perhaps the worst part of it all is that, according to the Bible, there will come a time when they forget you. Every sadness will be removed from the memory of the souls in Paradise, including the sad memory of YOU in Hell forever. They will forget you, and you will know they have forgotten you. You will be tortured forever, and nobody will know, or care.

But you don't have to end up there. If you will allow God to forgive your disobedience, he will. You can be given a new life that will be with Him forever and the highest of good experiences will be yours, forever. You will never grow old and sick again. It is easy. Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.