A religious and philosophical question

I've never read Anselm. I'm anti-Augustine because of his negative obsession with sex, which poisons most of organized Christianity to this day.

 

I was going to guess Aquinas.

 

Sadly, my classical theology is very uneven. I'm Anglican, so I got fed lots of C.S. Lewis.

 

Here is my take on the whole suicide thing for those who care and this is coming from someone who is a born-again Christian:
As far as the sin aspect of it goes, you take your own life, you are guaranteed a one-way ticket to hell. That's it, end of story, burn in that lake of sulfur. I loved how suicide is depicted in the movie Constantine. Anyway, God gives us free will, but there is someone competing for our minds and that is Satan. Everyone has the ability to choose one of two paths: good or evil. It's the infinite battle. I believe God and Satan put different choices, thoughts in front of everyone. It's our decision what path we choose. Yes, we're all going to do sinful things, but I think most of us show remorse for our actions. But then you have society's murders, rapists, etc. that show no remorse. There was something that triggered their actions and it was probably based on a choice they had to make between doing the right thing or wrong thing. Unless they are mentally ill, which opens up another can of worms.

As far as mental illness and suicide, I don't know how to respond to that. I mean if you have suicidal thoughts because there is a chemical imbalance in your brain, how can God hold that against you? He did create you with this chemical imbalance. That one is beyond me and I've never thought to ask anyone about it. If someone has a good answer about that one, I would love to hear it.

 

Seems to me that anyone who commits suicide is mentally ill. And by suicide I mean an uncoerced action, not someone who gives up their life for an external reason.

 

So you agree then.

 

I can agree with that. What drives someone to take their own life? I have to admit, the thought crossed my mind when times were rough, but I am no where near having any kind of mental problems. So I don't know.

 

Darfur. Sarajevo. Rwanda. Auschwitz. Andersonville. The Black Plague.

If those were God's will, then that's a deity I want no part of.

Personally, I don't think God is as all-powerful as his stringent adherents proclaim. Maybe He created the world, but I don't believe He can do much of anything to affect what happens here. We're on our own; our decisions and our free will determine what happens. Nothing is predestined, nothing is preordained and there are no "holy miracles" or angels walking the earth. There are coincidences, bad things do happen for no reason and random occurrences do have major effects.

We have the power to change our fate, if that is what we want.

By whatever passes for my theology, suicide is a matter of free will.

 

'The Divine Comedy,' striclty speaking, is not church doctrine.

 

Yeah, the church wasn't exactly overjoyed when Dante put some of the popes in some of the deepest circles.