I don’t want to live if others have to die for me to live.

"So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets." Matthew 7:12

Love is the Golden Rule and greatest purpose for life.

Would purposefully dieing to donate all your organs and tissues be loving if it would save many peoples’ lives?

I would not want another person to die for me to live. Purposefully dieing to donate my organs is not loving.

Is killing to save another person’s life loving?

No, I would rather die, then have someone killed to save my life.

Would setting yourself on fire to protest war be loving?

"To burn oneself by fire is to prove that what one is saying is of the utmost importance…. The Vietnamese monk, by burning himself, says with all his strength and determination that he can endure the greatest of sufferings to protect his people…. To express will by burning oneself, therefore, is not to commit an act of destruction but to perform an act of construction, that is, to suffer and to die for the sake of one’s people. This is not suicide." (http://www.geocities.com/tcartz/sacrifice.htm).

Self-Immolation awakens the conscience of people, helping to foster peace. I would desire for the social conscience to live even if a person willingly dies. "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain." Self-Immolation is loving. It’s a baptism of fire.

It is only loving to die to change people’s minds, not to save people’s lives. It is only loving to die for "bad" people (i.e. sinners, enemies), not "good" people (e.g. family, your country).

What is love?

This entry was originally published at Interconnectedness by Mikhail (Misha) Lomize