Freedom to Harm Oneself?

Should we limit people’s freedom if in their freedom they are harming themselves? To harm oneself might be in opposition to the principle of harming others. Even though one is not the same as the other, to harm oneself IS to harm a human being. Should we limit harm to oneself? Each society seems to have different answers to this question. Usually there is a list of personal harms that are accepted (eating junk food, smoking), while others that are not (suicide, some kinds of drug use). So societies make their own choices.

But as a personal choice, we need to remember that harming ourselves is often a moral choice because it effects others. If we allow ourselves to be harmed, but we are to care for children, the children will be harmed by our choices for ourselves. Others will be emotionally harmed if we kill ourselves, no matter if we tell ourselves otherwise. So generally, the moral choice is to curtail our own freedom for the sake of others. But making this choice does not limit our freedom at all because it is still our own choice.

What about suicide?
Suicide has been considered an unforgivable sin from the time of Augustine. The classic Catholic argument is that suicide is giving into despair, without the opportunity for repentance. A more modern idea of the sin of suicide is that it is the taking of human life and all human life is sacred and protected by God.

However, both of these views are limited. The second view limits human sovereignty. It is the taking of another person's life that is declared to be sin in Scripture-- the taking of another's God-given sovereignty. But one has the right to do what one finds necessary to do with one's own life. The moral view is also limited: What if a person is attempting, however wrongly, to obey Jesus command to "cut off" whatever is causing one to sin? What if a person is simplistically seeking the presence of Jesus (as a friend in my high school did)?

The motivations of suicide are too complex to clearly mark as "unforgivable." Jesus declared that there was only one sin that was unforgivable, and suicide wasn't it. Thus, for suicides, there is the opportunity for God's mercy. It is interesting that the early church for 300 plus years refrained from calling suicide a sin, for Jesus and some of the martyrs could be seen as staging an elaborate suicide, which would not only not be a sin, but is the righteousness of God.