1. Introduction
In 1961, novelist and journalist Ernest Hemingway took a gun, put it to his head, and pulled the trigger, thus ending his life. Afterwards, there was a major to-do within the Catholic Church on whether or not they would be willing to provide him with an honorable burial inasmuch as he was Catholic.
There were Catholic church officials that would not hear of it, because it had been a longstanding policy of theirs to deny a suicide victim any kind of burial. However, we have to remember that Mr. Hemingway was a famous author, and the Catholic Church didn't want to look bad in the public eye. Therefore, they went ahead and granted him an honorable burial.
For many years, the Vatican supported the ideology that nobody who committed suicide could make it into Heaven under any circumstances. Even if that person wasn't in their right frame of mind when they killed themselves, they insisted that the lake of fire awaited them in the afterlife.
Why should I even care about it if I'm an agnostic? I don't really care about it. However, at the same time, I don't want church officials terrorizing small children with stories about how any loved ones of theirs who took their own life is burning in Hell.
2. A Change Of Catholic Church Policy
In 1983, the Vatican removed suicide from their list of mortal sins, allowing for Catholic church officials to teach their parishioners that there were exceptions to the rule on whether suicide victims actually went to Hell in the afterlife. In other words, they revised their policy toward suicide victims to something more humane than before. Therefore, now, according to them, suicide victims can make it into Heaven.
Did the Catholics lighten up on the question over whether suicide victims could make it into Heaven out of the kindness of their hearts? I have to question. It could have very well been their fear that they were going to lose so many congregants that their entire establishment would go belly up, but I won't speculate.
I find all of this so interesting, because well after 1983, there have been Catholics who have fiercely argued with me that suicide victims have no chance of making it into Heaven. Hmmm. I guess they neglect to read the same Scriptures that they peddle so passionately to others, and they fail to keep abreast of the updated policies of the Vatican. Below is a video in which a Catholic church official explains the Vatican's position on suicide.
Although The Catholic Church Opposes Suicide, They Don't Necessarily Consider It A Definite One-Way Ticket To Hell
Unfortunately, there are still deranged individuals who will not budge on this issue. They insist that suicide victims have no other destination in the afterlife but Hell no matter what the circumstances may be. Robert Lyte is one of those deranged individuals.
3. Final Thoughts
If you ever had the occasion to watch The Exorcist starring Linda Blair and Ellen Burstyn, you will probably remember that one of the Catholic priests that was trying to drive the evil spirit out of the 12-year-old protagonist ultimately committed suicide near the end of the film so that he would not have to live with a demon possessing him. That is, the demon eventually jumped out of the 12-year-old girl and jumped into that priest after so many exorcisms. Supposedly, that movie was based on a true story.
If that same movie was based on a true story, somehow I don't believe that God, if he does exist, would cast that Catholic priest into Hell after he did the heroic thing of saving the 12-year-old girl from the demon that was inside of her. The movie was filmed back in 1973. It surprises me that nobody has ever brought that particular subject up about the movie in connection with that priest's suicide.
Anyhow, it is nice to know that even the Catholic Church is showing compassion to suicide victims in spite of its strong position against suicide. It would be even nicer than that if other religious faiths here in the United States followed suit.
What is my position on suicide? I don't want anyone to do it. However, while I may not be a fan of suicide ideation, I also don't subscribe to the puritanical school of thought that all suicide victims are burning in Hell at this very moment. Then again, I don't believe in the existence of Hell or Satan.
At the same time, I do believe in the right to die. If someone's health is horrendous and they're in excruciating pain, I see no reason why they shouldn't have access to state-assisted suicide. I mean, I find it really strange how in the United States, the very same people who support capital punishment want to do everything to stop the legalization of state-assisted suicide. It's as though they want people to commit a capital murder to have access to state-assisted suicide.
Is there such a thing as an afterlife? I have come across medical studies that have provided circumstantial evidence that your consciousness does continue on after you die. Of course, that's another article for another time.
This article is copyright-protected.