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Just hoping for a good debate on this topic...

What's your take on Mercy Killing?

Is it condoned in the Bible...?

Well, honestly, i'm not entirely against mercy killing. I don't know what there is about it in the bible though.

There's two short stories from Vietnam('The Things They Carried' by Tim O'Brien) I'd like to say on the subject. Just something to chew on.

There's a story from Nam I know about a little boy who asked a soldier for a chocolate bar. He was crippled and walked with a plastic leg. Hopping up to the soldier, he smiled real big and cried 'GI number one!' The soldier laughed and handed over the candy. As the boy hopped away, he turned to his comrade and said 'Christ, one leg. Some poor sucker ran out of ammo.'

Another story from out in the bush in Nam is about two soldiers, Lee Strunk and Dave Jensen. It all started out when they got in a fight over a jackknife(Lee stole it from Jensen) but eventually they came to trust each other. On ambushes they'd pick each other as partners and always watched the others back. They drew up a contract that if one got seriously screwed, like a wheel chair wound, the other would find a way to end it.
Then Lee Strunk stepped on a mine and lost a leg. He stopped there for a moment and hopped a bit, trying to get his balance, then fell down and blacked out. He woke up later with Dave Jensen beside him waiting for the dustoff.
Lee tried to wriggle away, saying 'Oh, man, don't kill me'
'Don't worry, I won't, Lie still now.'
'I'm serious man, don't kill me.'
'I won't. Just calm down, okay?'
'Don't kill me.'
Later, they heard that that Lee's dustoff was hit somewhere and he went down. Dave Jensen seemed very relieved.

So what are your thoughts, guys?

I still haven't figured out what's a "dustoff". It's not a word recognized by the computer dictionary, let alone by the spell checker.

Interesting that you ask about Mercy Killing because I did a speach on what is called Physician Assisted Suicide (PAS)...I don't know if you've heard of it, not that it really matters, but I went looking for Bible verses and I found an interesting one in the Old Testament that could possibly relate to what you call a Mercy Killing...

There does seem to be some inconsistancy with it, but I'll tell you the verses/chapters and you can decide what to make of it...

1st Samuel 31:1-14 and 2nd Samuel 1:1-16

They talk about how an Amalekite man says he killed Saul, who was at the time King of Israel, and how he killed him because Saul told him to...A Mercy Killing if you will...But that Amalekite was killed for killing Saul...

I don't know where it would be if it is mentioned in the New Testament...

I agree, but the Amalekite was killed for killing Saul, even though in a sense it was a mercy killing...This was the only reference in the Bible I could find relating to a mercy killing...I'll keep looking...