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Celx-Requin
My vices are also my virtues...

Celx Requin @Celx-Requin

Age 35, Male

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Joined on 5/17/09

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Religion should not impede the right to die in a free society + New Comic...

Posted by Celx-Requin - August 12th, 2011


New Sugar Claws Here:

- Part One
- Part Two
- Part Three
- Part Four
- Part Five

Also there won't be a new comic next month, as I've decided to release part six along with the finale in October sorry...

Death:

In a country like Canada, I can't fathom how assisted suicide still isn't legal, the ability to end ones life with dignity is something so personal and sacred the thought of religious political interlopers interfering with a persons decision to do so is beyond disgusting. Specifically those in line with the Christian, Catholic, Mormon ilk.

Even more grotesque is the ostentatious arguments these parties tend to employ to cause obloquy to further their personal agendas, without giving thought to the pragmatic realities people who seek to die often face.

Can you imagine the insurmountable suffering someone with an advanced form of cancer must endure?
Is it really necessary to have them suffer until natural death?

What about those burdened with the horrifying reality of a slow impending degradation of their senses due to ailments like Alzheimer's? Is the concept of one wishing to end their lives before a pernicious disease takes away there memories and leaves them a stranger in there own bodies really so appalling?

Or what about those whom we've sent out to combat, who've come back injured wishing not to spend the remainder of their lives in constant care? Don't we at least owe them the curtesy to honour their choice end their lives, when they were valiant enough to fight to serve our own interests?

Or what about someone without any ailments, who's seen the road ahead and no longer wishes to continue? Shouldn't a person be able to do what they wish with their own lives if they understand the consequences?

Mother Teresa, was known to run makeshift hospitals to see to the sick, while on the surface this may seem like a magnanimous act, what isn't so commonly known is she would not give pain killers to those in her care. Her reasoning behind her refusal to do so was because she felt doing so would not prescribe
to the statutes of her religion, and the pain the sick endured would bring them closer to god via the bloodletting Jesus endured.

To me that kind of reasoning seems overtly cruel and sadistic, furthermore the fact that she received sainthood speaks to the regressive thinking of the dogma. Is anguish for esoteric, and abstract reasons what the Catholic faith requests of it's patrons? If it is, and those whom are inclined to follow something so silly do so, that's fine as long as they don't try to influence through force the will of those whom don't adhere to their puerile beliefs.

Like abortion, prostitution, and drug use, the right to die is a complicated issue, and akin to the rest of those has serious consequences which shouldn't be taken lightly, however religious fascism has no place in politics.

The irony about those who speak out against assisted suicide on religious grounds is, Jesus was aware that by preaching his dogma he would be betrayed by Judas, and subsequently be crucified and killed by the romans. If one were to walk into heavy traffic knowing it could be avoided, I'm sure the consensus would be it was a suicidal act.

Sincerely,
- Celx


Comments

That was a very well written argument. If people could keep their spirituality and religion away from science, politics, education and what have you I would not be so adamantly against it. In the case of euthanasia they impede on people's rights severely and it should be unacceptable.

Euthanasia is a significantly more complex issue, the rule about euthanasia should one want it in a situation where they are unable to speak for themselves, is to the place the request for the act on some legal document, and have it signed by a notary public, or lawyer.

But yes unsolicited euthanasia is unacceptable in 99.99% of situations.

true, it only of personal choice that people may wish to end their lives, although tragic i can thoroughly understand that reasoning.
but what about the doctors, can i one person honestly expect to ask another person to end their lives on their behalf?!.. again personal choice. for this reason, i have to say, that if the U.S and Canada supported assisted suicide, i would have to go against it.
as a person who believes in a God, i believe life is sacred,

"Can one person honestly expect to end their lives on their behalf?"

Yes as long as the doctor is comfortable assisting why not?
Take a look at the Swiss healthcare system...

Well as a person who thought about ending their life once, i felt uplifting confidence and undying willfulness to be an artist which kept me from chewing dirt 6 feet under while kids would still laugh at me.

The thing is, as sad and fucking uncaring it sounds, i do not pity those who kill themselves.

It's due to the fact that i had a strong enough will to overcome it that anyone else can to and its just insulting that they never mustered up enough willful strength to persevere through the mental, physical, and social obstacles.
I just hope those who come across it find the resolve to overcome the self destructive facade. Cause in the end, Death is nothing but a false escape and an illusion. it's an illusion due to the fact we don't know whats on the other side and we give hope to something else after that cause floating in eternal darkness would suck majorly.

i hope i've shed some light into this subject of life taking.
hope i haven't said anything offensive; if i have, please forgive me for my words.

l8s

No offense taken, my only point was people who want to commit assisted suicide should be able to if they understand the consequences.

I (guess I'm) Christian, and I'm all for euthanasia and abortions.

If you are dying a slow and painful death, if you don't want to live, it's your choice.
If you are in an early pregnancy, and you don't have enough money to take care of another human being, it's your choice whether to abort it or not. But if you're in the late pregnancy, you should just give it up for adoption.

You are the exception to the rule I think...

tldr

I always write long things... Sorry?

Totally agree. The religious right have been impeding the progress of laws and policies which, logically, should have begun to see implementation years ago.

Euthanasia, abortion, stem cell research are all vital componants of an enlightened and progressive society; the core of which should be a rational, secular mindset, which recognises the importance of scientific advancements in the understanding of our species, the planet we happen to be on, and the incomprehensibly expansive universe in which find ourselves.

The people who seek hold back this understanding in any scientific or social context, purely to help preserve the plausibility of whichever branch of bronze age mythology and dogma which they happen to have been indoctrinated into, are selfishly holding back the progression of humanity simply because they need the comfort of believing themselves to be immortal.

It's absurd. Any rational person with any understanding of the human brain will point out the implausibility of a soul, or any intangible part of "you" that supposedly survives after death. The brain IS you. And once it ceases to function, logic would dictate that "you" return to the same state of non-existence which you were in before you were born.

Yes, this means that life, for every individual, most likely lacks the "grand design" or importance, of which many convinced themselves they were a part. It is the human condition to wish to feel important or useful, and it is the effect of our limited, individual, subjective viewpoints on reality that we cast ourselves as the focal point in any situation with which we are presented.

It is difficult to remove oneself from this perspective, and begin to see every other subjective body as an equally important lens through which to see reality; however, if education were changed, and children were raised to properly understand and process this mindset, then we would have a generation of people who recognised how fragile and fleeting their existence is, and perhaps a generation of people inspired to make the most of it.

Of course, there is also the possibility that raising secular, rational children may lead to a generation of nihilists, who recognise that, if one returns to non-existence after death, and lacks the means to look back on life with either regret or pride, then it becomes irrelevant whether one dies tommorow or in a hundred years

While I'm inclined to believe there is some form of deity that put everything into motion, I feel it's obvious that it no longer has any interest in our existence (if it ever did to begin with)...

I do hold hope for an afterlife, however I acknowledge the little scientific research that has gone into life after death is terribly weak (specifically the 21 grams research), and life after death seems doubtful to say the least.

Regardless, I don't think a secular upbringing would cause a nihilistic society, because our legacies will live on through our children, and the work we do while we're alive. I feel those things are our only true forms of immortality available to us...

Lastly, I agree with you that people seem to gravitate towards religion due to their fear of death.

Thank you for your thoughtful post!
- Celx

B.R's brain argument is one of my favourite anti-thiest arguments, if at the same time of the most depressing.

I am a full fledged, on-fire-for-God Christian, and I disagree with assisted suicide and abortions. Personally, I think both are murder, whether the lives are cut ridiculously short against their will, or right before the natural end by their own choice... HOWEVER, I believe people have the right to make their choices and take the consequences from those actions (God did give us free will, after all). Just because it is something I don't believe in, doesn't mean people won't make those desicions anyways. There is one issue I do want to address, though, if you don't mind: speaking in Biblical terms, yes, Jesus knew Judas would betray Him and cause Him to be sacrificed (but the Jewish people of that time claimed responsibility for it, by saying His blood would be on their heads, and their childrens', and so on...) This had to happen in order for Jesus to be the Living Sacrifice for our sins (in those times, sheep didn't throw themselves onto the altar, so neither could Jesus). It wasn't so much an assisted suicide as it was a willing sacrifice. He didn't die for Him, He died for the whole world, and that's the difference. Sorry if that got off topic, and I apologize if anyone was offended, but I felt like I needed to speak my piece.

You don't need to apologize for "offending anyone", you weren't being an asshole or anything.

I can't see the logic in your argument though, I mean even if his death was to "save our sins", he still died of his own volition, if he didn't then his sacrifice would have been forced wouldn't it?

I relise it doesn't really matter what I say, since it won't change your opinion. There's a saying I like which is "the mind is like the mouth in that it's meant to close on something".

Someones had fun with the thesaurus :3

While I do own a thesaurus and dictionary, I must credit my extensive vocabulary to the privileged company I keep, the books I've read, and lots and lots of idle time spent on FORA...

Like one knife sharpens another, so do these things to my vocabulary :3
But yeah words are fun...

post content, not preaching. post this shit in the forums please. goddamn the artist news posts nowadays.....

Literature is an art :)

Besides my politics influence my work, so I think this post is relevant in that it compliments my submissions on newgrounds, specifically "Cooljaw: O.S. IIII-V".

I have a soapbox so I may as well express some opinions on this journal thingy, in tandem with informing people of my new submissions.

But feel free to disregard whatever I talk about, also cocks...

I agree with you completely. There are many fates worse than death, and forcing someone to suffer when they could be free of all their pain, regardless of what awaits (or doesn't await) them after death, is as bad as torturing them in my opinion. While in most circumstances I personally would want to live, there are some things that I would rather die than suffer through, (incurable) cancer and Alzheimer's among them. In the case of the latter, I would much rather face a physical death and whatever it entails, even if it ends my very existence, than have my identity slowly stripped away by mental illness and dementia. Besides, one brings sure loss of existence as an individual through the theft of memory and one's identity, and the other is merely mysterious.

I strongly believe that religion should be kept out of politics. What people believe is their business, but when they assume that they know better than everyone else and start forcing others to abide by their rules, that's where I draw the line. Nobody should have the right to tell others what to do based on unprovable beliefs. Religion is opinion, not fact, and it should be treated as such. Until we know the truth about everything, one opinion is as good as another. I apologize if I'm being a bit too harsh, but I think laws should be based on common sense, not an ancient book, regardless of which ancient book it happens to be. Once again, no offense meant to religious people as a whole. Most of you are okay, it's the "I'm right and you're wrong," guys that I hate.

From a moral perspective, I understand why assisted suicide is a controversial subject. Suicide is largely looked upon negatively, as something that shouldn't be done ("You have so much to live for!"). But there are exceptions to every rule, and I think that just as we all have the right to live our lives, we should have the right to end them. Whether or not one believes in an afterlife can complicate things, especially the nature of said afterlife. I personally like to think that we continue to exist consciously after death in some respect, but I can't prove it, and I don't pretend to know the truth. I'm certainly not going to pretend to know better than anyone else, mainly because I can't honestly say that I do. Nobody's beliefs should ever take precedence over one's own choice, especially not in matters of life and death.

Agreed...

That's not it at all. The basis of what I believe is to question what I believe, and then research and analyze, to become closer to God. What you say can change my opinion, but only if it has some sort of scripture or basis other than opinion. For example, as far as His sacrifice goes, John 3:16 says "For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son", so it kinda was forced, but later on in the Bible, it talks about Him praying in the garden before He was betrayed, saying in Matthew 26:39 "O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will." So, He understood that there was no other way to bring salvation to this world, and therefore was a sacrifice from God. He made that choice, but like I said, not because He wanted to die, but because it needed to happen for all of us to have a chance at salvation. I understand that we each have our own opinion, and I respect the fact that you have strong beliefs as well as I appreciate you hearing out mine, I just feel like I needed to say something about what you had said... also, I love to have religious discussion/debate :)

If I'm ever in Arizona I hope you'll accept an invitation for a drink and a discussion!

I don't know if you've heard of a Youtube user called Thunderf00t, he has been promoting the same principles as what you have discussed up here, check him out if you haven't already.

I don't really go on youtube, I prefer www.fora.tv in tandem with vimeo.com... But that said I will check that dude out!

Thanks,
- Celx

fag

Queer...

A truly intelligent, informed, and conscientious person on Newgrounds-- mirabile visu! But my wonder aside, I do agree with you on assisted suicide/euthanasia. I am a Christian who believes deeply in God, but I also believe in free will, which is really all that differentiates us from the animals.

If one truly wants to end his life, but is physically incapable of doing so, whatever doctor or other individual who performs this function is not guilty of sin or any moral transgression, in my opinion. That individual who opted for euthanasia may very well have to answer for it at the Resurrection. Same goes for abortion--not sure whether it is murder or not, but if it is, then the woman may have to answer for it as well before God. It's funny though how pro-lifers are almost always pro-death penalty as well.

I'm in favour of a DNR (Do Not Resuscitate) card that all citizens would carry-- it would detail whatever conditions the individual does not want to live with. In exemplis, if someone suffers an accident that leads to the amputation of both legs, and does not wish to live as a legless cripple, then on his card he should be allowed to indicate that, and be treated accordingly--given a massive dose of painkillers, or simply relieved of his life. No use wasting time and energy to save someone's life just so that he could live out the rest of his days, against his wishes, in a useless and broken body.

It pains me to see modern medicine allowing people to survive horrible and disfiguring injuries that would have killed them years ago; to survive in such a state that I would hardly call life, save that their nervous system, cardiovascular, and respiratory systems are still in perfect working order. Of course, some people would want that for themselves, and that I respect. But why not respect those for whom life is more than eating, drinking, respiring, thinking and excreting?