The reason religion prohibits suicide

[The Unpenetrated]

Imagine if religious authorities admit that suicide is justified. What would it imply about God? That God creates a hellish world where some people prefer to leave it despite the absurdly high cost of doing so, all while being all good, all knowing, and all powerful. It's the same reason why religious people have tendency to downplay suffering and injustice in this world, sometimes actively supporting it. Acknowledging that these things are real means acknowledging that God either doesn't want to alleviate them or unable to do so.

 

[FuneralCry]

That explanation makes a lot of sense as to why religion is against suicide. But I just honestly think that religion is a way to brainwash people, to me it's a fictional concept invented by people who were unable to come to terms with the cruel reality of this existence where so much suffering exists all for no reason.

 

[OutOfTheVoid]

to be fair to religion, not all religions are Christianity, and not even all Christians conceptualize G-d in the same way as an all-powerful, all-knowing, ever-present being. theres actually a fairly vast diversity of perspectives and theologies on G-d even just within Abrahamic traditions.

that said, i see where youre coming from. a lot of Christians do take suicide as an insult to G-d, like "G-d gave you this body and life and you'll just throw away His creation"? or giving some "G-d works in mysterious ways" spiel to wave away any suffering people experience. usually ive heard the view by Christians that suicide is an attempt to get an early ticket to heaven, which just results in going to hell instead. but not all Christians believe in hell, idk what their views would be

 

[SilentSadness]

Any time I have talked to a religious person, they always admitted that there is no rational reason to believe in God or him being good. Yet they still force us to stay alive against our wishes and causing so much suffering. It really is senseless.

 

[Krobo]

Early Christians were highly enthusiastic about becoming martyrs to the point that some would actively go out of their way to commit suicide by Roman cop. The widespread proscriptions didn't start until centuries after Christ's death.

From a more general perspective, religions that encourage their adherents to kill themselves tend not to last long. Any belief system that doesn't pressure its followers to reproduce, survive, and proselytize is liable to be outgrown by others that do, so it's natural, almost necessary, for the most dominant ones to look the way they do.

 

[Stylite]

to be fair to religion, not all religions are Christianity, and not even all Christians conceptualize G-d in the same way as an all-powerful, all-knowing, ever-present being. theres actually a fairly vast diversity of perspectives and theologies on G-d even just within Abrahamic traditions.

There are actually Christians that believe that the material world is indeed hell-ish, and is a product of a very powerful, albeit utterly evil force that is antagonistic to God. They're called the Gnostics, and it's very diverse with a large variety of similar sects. Marcionism, Paulicianism, etc. There're also other religions who feature a dualistic view on cosmological good and evil at a far more radical and extreme view than even these Christian sects, going so far as to say that there is a great battle between an eternal evil and an eternal good. Manichaeism and Zoroastrianism are two examples of this.

It's important to note that religion did not begin as a method to control people. It was used as a tool, yes, but its creation almost always hinges on explaining the many issues we have with life- namely the nihilistic view that one may develop, or the question regarding the incentive to not be an utter scumbag whenever you can get away with it (i.e. morals).

That God creates a hellish world where some people prefer to leave it despite the absurdly high cost of doing so

This is actually a central point of dualistic theology in many of the sects. The material world is often seen as a product of a very powerful rivaling force to God that has evil intent in mind. I'm not too knowledgeable to delve too deep into this topic, but I can safely say that I am certain that in some dualist faiths, the objective is that God (the good cosmological force) is trying to rescue your eternal soul from the imprisonment imposed upon you in the material world, which is generally seen as awful (and was far, far worse back then). The Paulicians, I believe, thought the very concept of creation was the realm of an evil being.

 

[SunnysSunset]

Also I think it serves as another form of control over people, which, in my own experience, is what religion is mostly comprised of now a days

 

[OutOfTheVoid]

im vThere are actually Christians that believe that the material world is indeed hell-ish, and is a product of a very powerful, albeit utterly evil force that is antagonistic to God. They're called the Gnostics, and it's very diverse with a large variety of similar sects. Marcionism, Paulicianism, etc. There're also other religions who feature a dualistic view on cosmological good and evil at a far more radical and extreme view than even these Christian sects, going so far as to say that there is a great battle between an eternal evil and an eternal good. Manichaeism and Zoroastrianism are two examples of this.

It's important to note that religion did not begin as a method to control people. It was used as a tool, yes, but its creation almost always hinges on explaining the many issues we have with life- namely the nihilistic view that one may develop, or the question regarding the incentive to not be an utter scumbag whenever you can get away with it (i.e. morals).




This is actually a central point of dualistic theology in many of the sects. The material world is often seen as a product of a very powerful rivaling force to God that has evil intent in mind. I'm not too knowledgeable to delve too deep into this topic, but I can safely say that I am certain that in some dualist faiths, the objective is that God (the good cosmological force) is trying to rescue your eternal soul from the imprisonment imposed upon you in the material world, which is generally seen as awful (and was far, far worse back then). The Paulicians, I believe, thought the very concept of creation was the realm of an evil being.

im very familiar with Gnosticism, its fascinating. im obsessed with esoteric & mystical stuff in general, tho im mostly focused on exploring the Abrahamic faiths at the moment.

ive got my own theology and interpetation of the divine thats partly influenced by Gnosticism and mysticism. but i dont tie my beliefs to any established religion like Christianity, i just recognize analogous themes and parallels (after all we're all talking about a cosmic divine, regardless of what names we give it).