don't think it was originally in the rule book

[evilgrins]

10:28 PM 4/3/10 · In the past year I've lost a few friends, one of which was suicide. Now I know insofar as Christianity goes this is a direct line to Hell, for those of them that believe in it, or at the very least a roadblock from Heaven

Comments

[dragonbat2006]

"Thou shalt not murder" applies to yourself as well as to others.

[evilgrins]

Small problem there, the definition of murder is to willfully kill another person.

[dragonbat2006]

The original Hebrew doesn't make that distinction. All human life has value including your own.

[evilgrins]

human life has value including your own
I'm a little fuzzy on how being unable to murder oneself denotes value

[dragonbat2006]

From: http://ohr.edu/ask_db/ask_main.php/231/Q3/

It is forbidden to commit suicide. G-d told this to Noach by saying, "Even your own blood, that of your own lives, will I demand (accountability for)" (Bereishet 9:5). Our unbroken tradition explains that this was a prohibition against suicide and that it is part of the "Seven Noachide Laws."

The idea is basically this: A person's life isn't "his" - rather, it belongs to the One who created it, G-d. Therefore, only its true Owner may reclaim it. Despite one's noble intentions, "mercy-killing" is an intervention into a forbidden domain. This does not mean that one should be lax about relieving the person's pain.