Looking for a Scapegoat

It was around 3:00am when a car carrying the body of John Wayne Gacy rolled into the parking structure of an Illinois hospital. Gacy had been put to death by lethal injection in the early morning hours of May 10, 1994 for the rape and murder of 33 young men and boys, 29 of whom he buried in the crawl space beneath his own Chicago home between the years of 1972 and 1978. Now, his lifeless body was quietly being delivered into the hands of Dr. Helen Morrison who was waiting at the hospital to perform a very unique autopsy.

Dr. Morrison had previously interviewed Gacy, along with many other serial killers, in an attempt to isolate personality traits that were common among such ruthless murderers. Now at the request of Gacy’s family, Dr, Morrison was going to remove the brain of the notorious serial killer in hopes of discovering some sort of physical abnormality that would provide answers for why Gacy destroyed so many innocent lives.

From Person to Patient

After a society puts to death the concept of sin and moral responsibility, it will anxiously search for alternative explanations for the reasons why mankind commits such heinous acts against itself. Although the culture wants nothing to do with a God that calls men into account for their actions, it still cannot run from the moral consciousness that the Creator has embedded deep within each human heart. Although the fall of man was great, the fingerprints of God still remain on every soul, and it is this universal moral law that the amoral man desperately tries to come to terms with.

What path does such a society walk down to explain man’s inhumanity to man? For a clue, you just have to view the sad interviews of mothers who have watched their children be locked up for crimes that are incomprehensible to them. Almost always you will hear something to this effect: “He’s a good boy; he’s just … sick!”

This, then, is the answer. The problem has nothing to do with outdated concepts like sin and morality, but it is pathological in nature. The person is really a patient – one that is marred in some way – and one who is just manifesting their disease. With this identity swap comes the elimination of real responsibility. After all, someone who is sick generally doesn’t want to be sick and didn’t ask for the illness to come upon them. They have no choice but to act in the way they did. Because of this, society’s response isn’t one of punishment, but one of proposed healing. The person merely needs to be cured of their sickness and then all will be well. Such is the secular humanist view of wrongdoing.

How does the Christian worldview differ from this stance? Surprisingly, there are some very close similarities, but some very large differences as well.

The Concept of Depravity

“I was born that way”, is often the cry of those wishing to justify a lifestyle that stands in stark contrast to what God’s Word teaches. The reasoning is that if they were born with a certain predisposition – such as a leaning towards homosexuality – then it must be natural and normal. The fact is, the identification of the perceived genetic disorder is correct, but the conclusion of the defect being morally acceptable is a far cry from the truth.

The Word of God makes it clear that each one naturally born is infected with the sickness of sin. Romans 5:12-13 states, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned— for until the Law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law.” Paul continues this thought in Romans 5:19 when he states that all were made sinners through the disobedience of Adam. It is very true that we all are ill with a sin nature. Any person with children who doubt this should ask themselves at what point they taught their toddler to be selfish, self-centered, or prone to ill-tempered outbursts.

It is also true that some dislike what they find when they peer inside themselves, whether they are Christians or not. For example, many homosexuals no more wish for their sex drive any more than they desire a third eyeball. So powerful is the sin nature that it wrestles strongly against the work that the Holy Spirit is doing inside of true believers and occasionally it wins out. Paul himself says in Romans 7:18, “For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate.”

Because of this, it must be acknowledged that just because someone is born with a particular predisposition, it does not mean that it is “normal” or moral. There have been a number of studies suggesting that alcoholics are the end result of inborn chemical events that occur in the brain, yet no one would encourage a person to plunge headlong into alcoholism. There is a very real difference between physical human characteristics and leanings that are of a spiritual nature, which should be resisted for the benefit of one’s own good and the good of those around them.

As many preachers of God’s truth have well said, man is not as bad as he can be, but he is as bad off as he can be. Depravity’s wrecking ball has left lasting damage to all persons – saved or unsaved – in this life, and whether the world acknowledges the true source of its pains or not, depravity will continue to take its toll until the Savior returns.

Real Help

The cure for depravity is the putting to death of the ingrained sinful nature that exists in us all, and the acceptance of a new nature that starts to grow when a person believes on Christ. The problem is that many Christians fail to understand that this new nature does not instantly appear, but instead takes time to mature. Justification – our standing in the sight of God – does occur immediately upon being born again, but sanctification – the inward cleansing that produces purification and holiness of character – it is a process that takes a lifetime.

God’s cure for depravity is real and brings about true healing, where society’s secular attempts at changing Mr. Hyde back into Dr. Jekyll produces nothing but frustration and fails to affect real change.

Freedom of Choice Exists

Society tries to say that a person acts poorly for a variety of reasons that are beyond their real control. It believes John Wayne Gacy must have suffered from some physiological problem that drove him to kill. For certain, various disorders do exist, but the vast majority of evil committed in this world is of a voluntary nature. We choose to do good or opt to do evil. This is the free will that God has designed – a will that can turn its back and walk away from God (as the young rich ruler did Jesus) – or one that admits its weakness and embraces the salvation and transforming power of the new birth.

It has to be this way. As A.W. Tozer said, “Where there is no freedom of choice, there can be neither sin nor righteousness.” Odd isn’t it that secular society honors itself when it makes what it considers to be freely chosen right choices, but then turns around and denies any real responsibility for the bad choices it makes.

Conclusive Results

It is a rather unsettling thought to realize that the first person born to human parents became a murderer. God warned Cain that sin was crouching at his door – that its desire was to have him, but that he needed to master it. Cain didn’t and the end result was the murder of his very own brother.

We must all master sin, but we can’t do it alone. Only the power of the resurrected Christ indwelling each of us provides the victory over the sickness of sin and its end result, which is physical and spiritual death.

What were the results of Dr. Helen Morrison’s examination of the brain of John Wayne Gacy? Simply that he had a normal male brain. No defects. No abnormalities. No excuses.

They failed to find their scapegoat because they could not see inside the dark heart of their patient where the real culprit had lived.

The Strengths and Inadequacies of Personal Witness

“Dave” is the kind of Christian man that many men in the church long to be. On the outside, he’s a well-built guy who visits the gym a lot and routinely practices his martial arts skills of which he has become an absolute master. His physical prowess comes in handy because Dave is in law enforcement and sometimes has to physically persuade lawbreakers to, shall we say, “discontinue” their activities. But Dave’s insides are what’s most attractive about him as he’s a very humble and kind man – someone who really mirrors the gentleness and attitude of Christ. This spirit has served him well in his lay ministry to youth where he has served as a terrific role model to teens that desperately need someone to model their life after.

Dave’s also the kind of dad that most any boy would idolize, and his son certainly seems to as he’s done everything possible to be just like dad. For many years, besides bringing his child up in a solid Christian home, Dave has trained his son to be an absolute superstar in the martial arts, with the young man clearly demonstrating that the teaching has not been lost as he’s brought home award after award that proves he’s one of the best in the sport.

But something recently happened that took Dave by surprise. His son went abroad for a month of advanced martial arts study in one of the Eastern countries and came back with spiritual doubts that had not been there before. During his studies, the young man had come in contact with a number of men that adhered to various Eastern religions whose doctrines stand in stark contrast to the claims of Christianity. These men lived out what appeared to be a virtuous and upright life in front of Dave’s son. They confidently professed their faith in gods that in no way resembled the God that Dave had worked hard to model in front of his boy. The end result was the young man was now confessing that he had reservations about Christianity being the one and only way a person could truly experience and know God.

Dave expressed to a friend that he was at a loss to understand how this could have happened – his son had been raised in a home that exalted Christ and he had done his best to live out his faith in front of his boy each day. What had gone wrong?

The Strengths and Inadequacies of Personal Witness

There is much talk today in the Church about living out the faith that we all profess in Christ, and this is all well and good. “I’d rather see a sermon” is the mantra of many, which means don’t just talk and preach about your faith, but let’s see it in action. In fact, Jesus talked quite a bit about how it should be easy to spot the redeemed on the earth because they would live in a way that is distinctive from others. Luke 6:43-45 says, “For there is no good tree which produces bad fruit, nor, on the other hand, a bad tree which produces good fruit. “For each tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they pick grapes from a briar bush. “The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart.”

There is no doubt that many have been won to Christ through radically transformed lives that exhibit true righteousness and love for one another. It is a marvelous thing when the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22) is ripe in the life of a believer and is providing the lost with a glimpse into the heart of the One who has spiritually regenerated each born again believer. With hypocrites and false disciples in abundance, the Church certainly does indeed need to live what they believe, light their lamp, and walk in a way that draws everyone to the cross of Christ. This is the strength and value of a real personal witness.

But what about people who live a virtuous and upright life and yet are not Christians? There can be little argument to the fact that there are plenty of folks in other religions who lead what appear to be righteous lives that can shame some that belong to the Church of Christ. In addition, there are a number of cults who greatly value the family and go to great lengths to embrace and comfort the hurting.

What effect does their personal witness have?

This is no doubt what confused Dave’s son. Being sheltered in his Christian home in America, he had not been exposed for any extended period of time to those of other faiths, and when he saw their ethical and upright behavior, coupled with a firm commitment to their spiritual worldview, it caused him to question how any of these people could really be “lost” in the eyes of God. They were, in many ways, just like him in terms of many core standards and thoughts.

This is where a spiritual personal witness can be misleading or inadequate when it comes to communicating the actual truth of the worldview being practiced. Has what appears to be an external virtuous life become the ultimate litmus test for whether a professed spiritual faith is really true?

Reconiling Personal Witness against Real Truth

When it comes to matters of spirituality, there are at least three different twists that the secular world puts on truth:

• What appears to “work” and produces an externally perceived good result must be true and morally acceptable.
• Inclusive beliefs are best while exclusive beliefs are divisive.
• In the end, everything is really true.

With respect to the first point, it is invalid to conclude that just because something appears to “work”, that it must be true. A lie can accomplish the end goal of the liar, but it doesn’t make what they said true. Going beyond what’s true and false, an external good end result doesn’t make something right or moral either. As the old cliché goes, “the ends don’t justify the means.” Further, this ethical approach (called Generalism), doesn’t recognize the intrinsic value of a particular act or circumstance, but only the end result. For example, if you try but fail to save a drowning man, your act would not be deemed “good” as it failed to produce the hoped for good end result.

Dave’s son needed to understand these points as well as realize that outside appearance can be a poor argument for the truthfulness of a belief system. In logic, this is the reverse of an informal fallacy called Argumentum ad Hominem, which says you reject a particular proposition because it’s put forth by a person who appears to be of bad character. By contrast, neither should you accept something as true just because the one putting forth the idea seems to be of good character. Sincerity in a faith doesn’t make that faith true.

The second point says that belief systems (like the ones Dave’s son encountered in the East) that tout themselves as inclusive are far superior to those that hold to exclusive principles, because the latter is arrogant and divisive. Those who claim such a thing really fail to think logically and don’t clearly examine the proposals set forth by these ‘inclusive’ religions, which oftentimes attempt a syncretistic blending of different or even opposing beliefs into one. The trouble is it simply doesn’t work.

Those who work hard at trying such things don’t understand that truth, by its very nature, excludes that which is opposite. How can a faith in Buddhism, which is non-theistic if not downright atheistic, reconcile that belief system with Christianity, which is theistic? The exclusive nature of truth is undeniable, and when its light is shown on supposed ‘inclusive’ faiths, it finds them to be every bit as exclusive as the opposing worldviews they denounce. To believe in them absolutely requires the rejection of opposing beliefs unless one wants to cast all forms of critical thinking aside.

The fallback stance after these two dominoes fall is that all roads lead to God, everything faith is really true in the end, and all seekers will somehow be rewarded for their walk. If this is the case, then Christ dying on the cross was a non-event and in no way is significant when it comes to a person spending eternity with God. The difference between Christianity and Eastern religions is that in Christianity, Jesus is my redeemer, but in the Eastern worldview, I must become my own redeemer. Would Christ die just to produce “a” way, with the implicit implication being, “But if you don’t trust in me to redeem you, then you must redeem yourself and become acceptable to God in some other way.”

Falling back on reality and logic again, we must either both trust/believe and take Christ at His word when He said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”, which is a very exclusive claim, or embrace and follow the Eastern burdensome march through karma to ultimate enlightenment. Pluralism simply falls apart at this point as the two simply cannot be united.

Conclusion

A personal witness is indeed a powerful mechanism for winning the lost into the body of Christ, and in addition, it certainly serves as partial evidence that a person has been transformed into a new creation. But this witness must exist in conjunction with spiritual truth that corresponds to reality and is coherently solid in the eyes of our Creator. Reliance on anything else will prove disastrous on the day when God calls every man into account.