Suicide is Not a Sin

Final Rebuttals1. Suicide vs. SacrificeCon continues to doggedly invent an imaginary distinction between suicide and sacrifice. A sacrificial suicide is suicide nonetheless. I'm afraid that, due to the way society in general looks down on taking one's own life, Con is having difficulty examining the concept of suicide without its negative connotations.All connotations and situational conditions aside, suicide is simply dying intentionally. It can take the form of stepping in front of a car, pulling the plug on life support, refusing to eat, jumping on a grenade, or orchestrating the execution of oneself. My opponent can not invent conditions for when an intentional death is a suicide and when it is not. Con's opinion is not evidence, and does not supersede the definition of suicide.Con says, "Jumping on a grenade...is not suicide. That person is not taking their life voluntarily..." He is mistaken if the soldier had any other option. Would the soldier have survived if he had not jumped on the grenade? If so, then he had a choice between life and death, and made the decision to die. Did someone force the soldier to jump? If not, then his death was voluntary. Again, suicide can be for admirable and sacrificial reasons. Suicide is not necessarily evil, and, as we see in the Bible, it is not a sin.2. God vs. JesusThis point of Con's is moot because Jesus said, "I lay down my life...no one takes it from me, but I lay it down of myself."[1] "No one" means "no one", not even "God the Father". Jesus can't be any clearer.It is true that "God the Father" had something to do with the proceedings, but Jesus' admission in John 10 is all we need to see that he was in control of his own destiny. This makes sense, considering that Jesus also said, "I and my Father are one."[2] Con's claim that God's involvement negates Jesus' suicide is a contradiction of Jesus' own words.3. BlameCon asks who is to blame for the death of the soldier who chose to die by jumping on a grenade. The answer is: both the soldier and whoever threw the grenade. Whoever threw the grenade is to blame for creating the dangerous situation in which the soldier had to make a choice, and the soldier is to blame for choosing to die. The word "blame", like "suicide", may have negative connotations to some, so let's use another word: "responsibility". The soldier is responsible for his own decisions. He shares responsibility in his death. Of course, he is a hero and we will honor his memory. His sacrifice could be considered more heroic than others' by virtue of him having a choice in the matter.In the case of Jesus' death, I suppose that partial blame could be attributed to sin or sinful humankind. However, even that is questionable considering 1 Peter 1:18-20, which seems to suggest that Jesus' death was planned "before the foundation of the world".[3] This would suggest that even sin was a part of the plan. God's plans are apparently also Jesus' plans, since he "and the father are one".[2]Con asks, "How much blame goes to the people who shackled, beat and crucified Jesus." The answer is: only as much as can be attributed to all of humankind. If humankind shares blame because of sin, and Jesus' executioners were humankind, then, obviously, they share blame. However, their responsibility ends there. They can not be blamed for arresting, trying, or executing Jesus, because it was all part of Jesus' ultimate plan to save the world. It's very clear in the Bible passages I provided and others that Jesus intended for everything to go down the way it did. He intended to suffer, bleed, and die because, according to the Bible, it was necessary in order to save the world. Jesus himself openly accepts responsibility for his arrest[4], his suffering[5], and his execution [1]. The Pharisees, Romans, etc. were simply the proxies that Jesus chose to assist him in his sacrificial suicide.ConclusionWhen observing the story of Jesus' crucifixion without knowing any surrounding details, it seems to be a sad tale of a man being cruelly murdered by zealots. Upon closer examination, however, we see that it is actually the tale of a divine plan to redeem mankind through the suicide of a sinless sacrifice. According to the Bible, it was necessary that Jesus die, he intended to die, and he willingly died. He made it very clear that he was in control of his own destiny, and could have stopped the execution at any time.The evidence is overwhelming that Jesus' death was a planned suicide. Since, Biblically, Jesus did not sin, suicide can not be a sin.Thank you, Con, for an interesting debate. Thank you, readers and voters, for your time and consideration.------------------------[1]https://www.biblegateway.com...[2]https://www.biblegateway.com...[3]https://www.biblegateway.com...[4]https://www.biblegateway.com...[5]https://www.biblegateway.com...