Are there people who are uncontrollably evil (if so, why does God allow it)?

[Balaco]

This question popped into my mind recently. Are there people who have mental/psychological issues that cause them to be evil/sinful genuinely beyond control?

If so, why does God allow people to live in a condition where they can’t reasonably follow Him and do good?

 

[PassionofChrist]

No, I don’t believe so. There are severe psychological issues such as the schizophrenia spectrum, etc, no one is pure evil or pure bad. They may harm others or even kill others because they are not seeking help, they are not aware help is available to them, or they are in an environment where they cannot get help. I work with mental illnesses and addictions and have never met anyone who didn’t have any good in them. We are all children of God. We all have our own crosses to bear whether that be physical disability, mental health complications, regular day to day life, etc. There are people who are so severely disabled that they can’t communicate at all and people love to say that they have no quality of life, euthanasia arguments ensue. I think if we start looking at people who have done horrible things as ‘‘all bad’’ then we discount the choices that were made by that person and that God grants us all free will.
Take Jeffrey Dahmer or any serial killer. God does not wish these circumstances to occur but we have free will. Many serial killers are products of brutal childhoods - parents have free will to do horrible abuse. It isn’t that God wants this to happen or allows it, it’s that we all have free will that cannot be taken away.

At least that’s how I see it. I don’t think anyone is uncontrollably bad or evil - everything is circumstance and choice in some degree.

 

[TK421]

This question popped into my mind recently. Are there people who have mental/psychological issues that cause them to be evil/sinful genuinely beyond control?

If so, why does God allow people to live in a condition where they can’t reasonably follow Him and do good?

I think (and this is me and not dogma) that a person can be put in a situation where they are given so little light that it becomes impossible (or next to impossible) not to do evil, but it is still possible for them to do little evil versus much evil. In such instances, an act of kindness from that person might be more meritorious before God than a noble person submitting to martyrdom.

In cases of severe psychological disturbance and abuse/neglect, especially in early childhood where the very foundation of a person’s moral compass is utterly corrupted, it becomes predominately the burden of others to save that person (not in the absolute sense: but to save them from their temporal woes) more so than even the person them self, who is nearly incapable to do so, who God has permitted to be in such a situation precisely in order for others to be able to be a Christ for them, or to stand condemned for condemning them. Christ is present in the poor: those that are materially poor; those that are poor in love; poor in gifts; poor in friendship.

God does not will sin or evil, but he does permit it to happen, since the denial of that evil may give rise to even greater evil: to eliminate one thing only to allow haughtiness to flourish, and thus the situation is worse off than when it began.

 

[dividus]

You have, of course, the instances of psychopathic and sociopathic behaviour exhibited by some, where they seek to inflict suffering upon others - and seem to feed off, and derive pleasure from doing so.
I am not sure quite where such individuals fit into God’ scheme of things. All one can do is pray that they may see the wrong they do before the end of their lives.

 

[Gertabelle]

I’ve taught thousands of students over the years, and yes, I have taught a tiny number of students who are sociopathic – they simply do not care about the consequences of their actions on others so long as they get what they want. At least one student of mine was actually diagnosed as sociopathic, and he would intentionally seek out vulnerable students to manipulate and use in his schemes, or sometimes just to hurt them for some pleasure he would get out of seeing them suffer.

This extreme case was almost certainly a combination of nature and nurture. His home life was seriously messed up. But lots of my students have come from homes with parents/guardians who are less than good role models, etc.

No, this boy is an exception, and there was definitely a chemical or anatomical component.

The best we all could do was protect the other students while working with him and his mom – who to her credit turned her life around and started studying psychology to try to help her son, God bless her for this! – to see if any progress could be made.

The sad and most difficult part of this process, is that someone who is truly sociopathic learns how to give the correct response (tears, apologies, etc.) in order to get what they want (freedom to continue their reign of terror).

This is a controversial topic, from what I understand. From diagnosis to treatment, there is much disagreement, and this young man probably will not be removed from endangering others until he commits a heinous crime against another human being.

I don’t know why God allowed this poor kid to have this affliction. But I do know that his culpability for his actions may be completely removed because of his inability to experience empathy.

But that does not diminish in the slightest the damage he has done – and probably continues to do – to the people around him. He and the other children, teens, and adults like this need an abundance of our prayers – for them and those around them.

 

[Sarcelle]

I’ve taught thousands of students over the years, and yes, I have taught a tiny number of students who are sociopathic – they simply do not care about the consequences of their actions on others so long as they get what they want. At least one student of mine was actually diagnosed as sociopathic, and he would intentionally seek out vulnerable students to manipulate and use in his schemes, or sometimes just to hurt them for some pleasure he would get out of seeing them suffer.

This extreme case was almost certainly a combination of nature and nurture. His home life was seriously messed up. But lots of my students have come from homes with parents/guardians who are less than good role models, etc.

No, this boy is an exception, and there was definitely a chemical or anatomical component.

The best we all could do was protect the other students while working with him and his mom – who to her credit turned her life around and started studying psychology to try to help her son, God bless her for this! – to see if any progress could be made.

The sad and most difficult part of this process, is that someone who is truly sociopathic learns how to give the correct response (tears, apologies, etc.) in order to get what they want (freedom to continue their reign of terror).

This is a controversial topic, from what I understand. From diagnosis to treatment, there is much disagreement, and this young man probably will not be removed from endangering others until he commits a heinous crime against another human being.

I don’t know why God allowed this poor kid to have this affliction. But I do know that his culpability for his actions may be completely removed because of his inability to experience empathy.

But that does not diminish in the slightest the damage he has done – and probably continues to do – to the people around him. He and the other children, teens, and adults like this need an abundance of our prayers – for them and those around them.

It is not just the lack of empathy but also the inability to develop a conscience that are the hallmarks of a sociopaths.

I was on a forum discussing sociopaths and one self-confessed sociopath told of his inability to feel empathy for others. He then said something which stuck with me. He said he thought of right and wrong as an objective set of criteria which exists regardless of feelings. I think this closer to Christian doctrine than the criteria of basing right and wrong solely on how I would feel if the action was directed at me. Now this person said he did not feel bad about hurting others but he did not derive pleasure from it either.

The most dangerous I think are those sociopaths who do derive pleasure from hurting others.