Yeah, I don’t know. I just pray to not be in that position.
I think think, on balance, it’s a sin, but if you are going not be yourself and be a tremendous burden on others due to an illness like Alzheimer’s, I think of this:
“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” John 15:13
Note, I am not a theologian, so I am very willing to admit being wrong on this. It certainly is not the historical belief. But then, we didn’t have science that prolongs life at much suffering back then.
Perhaps the acceptable alternative is to refuse all treatments and die quickly.
Consider that Jefferson and Adams both died fifty years to the day after signing the Declaration of Independence. Mark Twain always said he came into the world with Halley's Comet and and would go out with Halley's Comet. There is more to the human mind than anyone could ever fathom. Our ancestors knew that a heartsick person could pine away his or her life.
Through every generation since the dawn of man, with all the foibles and failings of the spirit and all of the philosophers and various other thinkers attempting to explain it, there is not a single thought or emotion anyone could have that hasn't been felt by thousands of others in the past. I cannot comprehend why anyone should believe any problem is insurmountable. As the old adage says, "This too shall pass."
“I cannot comprehend why anyone should believe any problem is insurmountable. As the old adage says, “This too shall pass.””
Most of the time, yes. But with some age-related degenerative diseases (i.e., Alzheimer’s) the cure is found in death.
I’ve always been against any sort of suicide, and probably still am, but after watching a family be destroyed financially and emotionally caring for a woman that screams in pain everyday and doesn’t know who they are -— well, my opinion is softening.
I don’t think I would knowingly put my family through that; it seems cruel and stepping out of the way promptly would be a gift I could give them because I love them.