You cannot determine whether an action is selfish without knowing the motivation behind it, so an absolute like “trying to prevent someone from committing suicide is selfish” is categorically false. I can imagine someone being motivated to keep someone else alive to exploit them or to avoid personal inconvenience, but I imagine genuine concern for another’s wellbeing is generally a much bigger motivation.

Also, I would not entertain the angels being called to heaven thing. I would be already wary for it glamorizing suicide, but it contradicts Christian teachings anyway. As far as I know, no branch of Christianity has dead human souls become angels. Angels would have either existed from before creation or else been one of God’s earlier creations before man in Genesis.

I don’t want to casually throw out advice without knowing more about the situation, but your ex seems to be very manipulative. I would distance yourself from him if possible.

people who feel/think this way are angels being called to heaven

He’s an idiot. Move on.

He sounds not well himself. Religion is a hell of a drug.

you should respect a person

But

he’d just laugh at me when i said i was depressed or anxious.

His statements and actions are only consistent in a single way: maximising the harm felt by people

Do you want to trust him? Does trusting him feel good in any way?

Complicated answer. I do think suicide should be a human right (but you should have to be proven to be of sound mind and that it’s not for lack of social support, so mostly only painful terminal disorders). That said, your ex got to the conclusion of “people should be allowed to kill themselves” in a way that approaches the concept from a bizarre spiritual system that allows it to ignore pretty much all known ethical and moral standards.

Psychosis. He needs professional help.

That’s scary and it sounds like he’s advocating for people to not empathize.

that you should respect a person’s wishes to die or a depressed person’s wish to not get better or else you’re a toxic and bad person.

What utter bullsh*t, colorful camouflages of selfishness and cynicism. You better don’t follow that path.

Compassion, loving, caring, helping each other. These are the proper thoughts to think and things to to.

your ex is a narcissist that didn’t want to put in the effort necessary to help someone.

Your ex is bonkers and you deserve better.

Ignoring for the moment that he’s an asshole who made fun of you (don’t ignore that, but do ignore him), the whole ‘angels called to heaven’ thing is bizarre. It’s easy to label this as religious fruitcakery, but practically all churches demonize suicide. After all, if the afterlife’s so cool that everyone is tripping over themselves to get there, then there wouldn’t be anyone left on earth to exploit.

If he had a religious upbringing, then maybe he’s messed up because of internalized homophobia or trauma. Often those families and communities pay little regard to mental health. But that’s entirely his problem, he doesn’t get to treat you like that.

He sounds deeply depressed. He doesn’t understand that depression is something you can recover from. At this point, he genuinely may not want to recover from depression. He may subconsciously choose hopelessness from the start to protect himself from disappointment and failure.

There’s no sure-fire way to get out of depression. It is very individual. If there’s a problem with you not receiving a basic human need, you’ll need to figure that out and address it. You also need to learn to talk back to your negative voice and redevelop positive goal-setting. Sometimes it takes a long time and most of this occurs subconsciously, as you adapt to the circumstances around you.

But when you do recover from depression, you feel better. The depressed person just can’t see it in the moment. Ex’s approach is kind of like not saving someone drowning in a pond because you think they’ll drown on land too. There’s a before and an after that makes a difference here.

Yes, he is toxic. It sounds like he simply doesn’t see any intrinsic value to life that is not his own. You are better off that he is an “ex”.

Sure, you can say it is selfish to want to save someone. Does it matter to the person who is about to jump that they are saved by someone who feels self-important/selfish.

The problem is that it is just saying something does not make it true. The reality is an act of trying to save someone is inherently unselfish unless there are some pretty extreme mitigating circumstances.

People that have been beat down and abused are not angels being called to heaven. They are deeply hurt individuals that need support not a death sentence from society. This reeks of someone desperately trying to justify suicide in their head by letting someone die rather than dealing with their problems.

Suicidal thoughts come and go, sometimes rather quickly. Should you respect the fact that someone is in crisis and is going to kill themselves, but ten minutes later wants to live, by letting them act on an unhealthy impulse.

I had a friend who used to make fun of mental health issues people had until his girlfriend left him and became a lesbian. Suddenly he was in the hospital for suicidal thoughts, depression, and panic attacks. This just sounds like someone who has never experienced these issues acting like an asshole.

Something about a comma splice.

I find that alot with religious types. jesus personally flys them up to heaven on his winged unicorn. its not surprising religion gets so easily warped into whatever people want it to be to rationalize their thoughts.