He died with his boots on.

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Denis
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Joined: Fri Aug 22, 2008 5:29 am

Re: He died with his boots on.

Post by Denis »

Netpackrat wrote:A question for the christians here... If your method of suicide is especially creative, spectacular, or has an inherent slight possibility of survival, do you still go to hell? :?:
One theologically acceptable workaround is to kill yourself by jumping off something tall, but to honestly repent of the sin of suicide on the way down, so that you hit the bottom in a state of grace... Craig Ferguson (the once-suicidal alcoholic late-night talk show host) was inspired by this idea to name his novel "Between the bridge and the river".
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JustinR
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Re: He died with his boots on.

Post by JustinR »

One could argue that since the intent is NOT to commit suicide, the accidental death resulting would be looked upon as any other death during an inherently risky activity (flying, driving, bear hugging a former special forces member with PTSD, or riding in any vehicle with anyone named Kennedy.)
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MarkD
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Joined: Mon Aug 18, 2008 5:59 pm

Re: He died with his boots on.

Post by MarkD »

Thanks, but no thanks. No desire to turn myself into a wet red smear on the side of a mountain.
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martini
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Joined: Mon Aug 18, 2008 10:12 pm

Re: He died with his boots on.

Post by martini »

Netpackrat wrote:A question for the christians here... If your method of suicide is especially creative, spectacular, or has an inherent slight possibility of survival, do you still go to hell? :?:
As a Catholic, the issue here is intent. Did he intend to kill himself, I don't think so. It seems this was not a new activity to him and he had completed it successfully before. So no, it's not suicide and definitely not a mortal sin.

To put it another way, you're a paratrooper and you jump out of a perfectly good plane. This is your hundredth jump. Your main and reserve parachutes fail and you fall to your death. You died, but you clearly expected to go home that night. So, no, it's not suicide.
Justice Sotomayor, States may have grown accustomed to violating the rights of American citizens, but that does not bootstrap those violations into something that is constitutional. — Alan Gura
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