Can a serial killer repent?

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If anyone cares to discuss BTK–
  1. The profilers said his recent activity indicated he wanted to get caught.
  2. Once caught, it was revealed that he had been involved in a mainstream Protestant church for quite a number of years.
  3. He pleaded guilty, and openly confessed to – what must be almost everything.
  4. A judge has recently granted his wife an emergency divorce, with his full cooperation. He has signed EVERYTHING over to her.
I am not surprised at these events-- they have matched up to my theories. Anyone have an opinion? AAh— that does not make him a nice person, but does indicate the extent of God’s grace.
 
I don’t know. Its possible for anyone to repent who is given the grace to do so by God. Who those persons are we do not know. That being said, it seems unlikely that many, if any, serial killers repent. This is because the more depraved one becomes, the more one closes oneself off to grace and God does not hold out grace forever. At some point he withdraws his grace and hardens the heart. There is a good sermon on this by St. Alphonse de Ligouri called, “The sin beyond which God shall no longer forgive.” I haven’t read it in ages but I think the gist of it is that we are alloted so many mortal sins and if we use them all up, God will no longer offer any grace. This is why we should avoid mortal sin as much as possible because we never know when the last mortal sin we’ve committed may be the last one that God is willing to forgive.
 
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byzmelkite:
There is a good sermon on this by St. Alphonse de Ligouri called, “The sin beyond which God shall no longer forgive.” I haven’t read it in ages but I think the gist of it is that we are alloted so many mortal sins and if we use them all up, God will no longer offer any grace. This is why we should avoid mortal sin as much as possible because we never know when the last mortal sin we’ve committed may be the last one that God is willing to forgive.
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That doesn’t sound very compatible to Christianity. Jesus died for ALL of our sins, not some finite allocation per person!

Pete
 
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Pete2:
That doesn’t sound very compatible to Christianity. Jesus died for ALL of our sins, not some finite allocation per person!

Pete
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Christ’s death is sufficient to atone for all sins but as the fathers and doctors point out (see especially St. Thomas Aquinas), Christ’s death is not effacacious for the forgiveness of all sins but only for those predestined to persevere in faith unto the end.
 
yes they can repent in prison and give up all that they own and all they ever will own to their victems
 
I think his behavior the past few years indicated an intense fear that he might do it again. Like two people at war in one body.
all they ever will own to their victems
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That is interesting. By giving everything to his wife, did he stop his victims’ families from collecting lawsuits against him? I really don’t think he was that wealthy a person.
 
Sometimes I wonder about the cupability of serial type killers.

There was a study years ago that showed that many male serial killers where, what they call, super males, that is they have an extra Y chromosone.

Then there is the thought that this must be a mental disorder of some type.

If both or even one of these are true then the crimes that these serial killers commit might not be considered mortal.

Just a thought.
 
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ByzCath:
Sometimes I wonder about the cupability of serial type killers.

There was a study years ago that showed that many male serial killers where, what they call, super males, that is they have an extra Y chromosone.

Then there is the thought that this must be a mental disorder of some type.

If both or even one of these are true then the crimes that these serial killers commit might not be considered mortal.

Just a thought.
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And I think its this excusing grevious sin as mental illness that is contributing to the general loss of a sense of sin in people. Insofar as a human being has reason, a human being has a basic sense of right and wrong. No matter how corrupted it becomes, the person is responsible for his own corruption.
 
We have a retired Msgr in our Parish and before retiring, he taught Church history at a local Catholic University so a lot of his homilies are based on actual church events which nobody ever heard of.

When he first came to our Parish, I use to look up the stories that he told to see if they were true because I never heard of them and some of them were a bit hard to believe. After verifying several of them as being true, I’ve concluded that the stuff that he tells us is indeed based on actually events.

That said, a few months ago he told a story of a bad man who was sentenced to life in prison for horrible crimes that he committed. People would walk past his cell window and taunt him and he would curse at them. After a few years, the cursing stopped and there was silence. After several years, prayers could be heard coming from his cell. After a few more years, people began to ask him to pray for them and he did. As a matter of fact, some miracles of healing were even attributed to him.

Because the change in him was so great, after 20-30 years, he was ultimately released and eventualy canonized a saint. I wish that I could remember his name from the homily so that his complete story could be posted but the point of the story is that with the grace of God, ANYONE can repent!
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byzmelkite:
Christ’s death is not effacacious for the forgiveness of all sins but only for those predestined to persevere in faith unto the end.
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I’m having a hard following this … Jesus taught that we are to forgive our brother 7x70 times (or another way of saying an infinite number of times). That being the case, why would God stop giving us graces after a certain point? We are to forgive & forget but God doesn’t? God wouldn’t ask more of us than He wouldn’t do Himself. Especially since Scripture tells us that it is God’s will that no one be lost?
 
Sir Knight:
We have a retired Msgr in our Parish and before retiring, he taught Church history at a local Catholic University so a lot of his homilies are based on actual church events which nobody ever heard of.

When he first came to our Parish, I use to look up the stories that he told to see if they were true because I never heard of them and some of them were a bit hard to believe. After verifying several of them as being true, I’ve concluded that the stuff that he tells us is indeed based on actually events.

That said, a few months ago he told a story of a bad man who was sentenced to life in prison for horrible crimes that he committed. People would walk past his cell window and taunt him and he would curse at them. After a few years, the cursing stopped and there was silence. After several years, prayers could be heard coming from his cell. After a few more years, people began to ask him to pray for them and he did. As a matter of fact, some miracles of healing were even attributed to him.

Because the change in him was so great, after 20-30 years, he was ultimately released and eventualy canonized a saint. I wish that I could remember his name from the homily so that his complete story could be posted but the point of the story is that with the grace of God, ANYONE can repent!

I’m having a hard following this … Jesus taught that we are to forgive our brother 7x70 times (or another way of saying an infinite number of times). That being the case, why would God stop giving us graces after a certain point? We are to forgive & forget but God doesn’t? God wouldn’t ask more of us than He wouldn’t do Himself. Especially since Scripture tells us that it is God’s will that no one be lost?
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Read Romans 9. The Lord hardens those whom He hardens, that is, he withdraws grace from those who persist in sin. We do not know when this happens nor to whom it happens (except for biblical examples like Pharoah and Judas).
 
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ByzCath:
There was a study years ago that showed that many male serial killers where, what they call, super males, that is they have an extra Y chromosone.

Then there is the thought that this must be a mental disorder of some type.
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Haha I think my dog (put to sleep about four years ago) had an extra Y chromosome. Once we got her (yes, her) we had no small animals left in our backyard. It was nice that we could actually grow a garden and have a birdfeeder. But… the skunk put up quite a fight. But that’s another story.

If it’s a mental disorder, they still have the responsibility to do what’s right, but God will take into consideration that it was harder for them. Kind of like ADHD and homosexuality.
 
It’s really hard to say.

Of course it’s possible for them to repent. However, this level of sin indicates someone who has fallen so deep in sin that he may have quenched his conscience.

Paul wrote 1/4 of the New Testament, after he repented for persecuting the Church. That was pretty far into sin.

Can a serial killer repent? Probably.

Will a serial killer repent? Unlikely.
 
Anything is possible with God. I would think IF they did repent, they may be spending a mighty long time in Purgatory.
 
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byzmelkite:
Christ’s death is sufficient to atone for all sins but as the fathers and doctors point out (see especially St. Thomas Aquinas), Christ’s death is not effacacious for the forgiveness of all sins but only for those predestined to persevere in faith unto the end.
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Ah, I think byzmelkite is pulling a fast one on us.

Predestined to persevere in the faith?

Sounds like a calvinist to me.
 
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byzmelkite:
I don’t know. Its possible for anyone to repent who is given the grace to do so by God. Who those persons are we do not know. That being said, it seems unlikely that many, if any, serial killers repent. This is because the more depraved one becomes, the more one closes oneself off to grace and God does not hold out grace forever. At some point he withdraws his grace and hardens the heart. There is a good sermon on this by St. Alphonse de Ligouri called, “The sin beyond which God shall no longer forgive.” I haven’t read it in ages but I think the gist of it is that we are alloted so many mortal sins and if we use them all up, God will no longer offer any grace. This is why we should avoid mortal sin as much as possible because we never know when the last mortal sin we’ve committed may be the last one that God is willing to forgive.
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So I guess this person is saying Jesus didn’t know what he was talking about when he said you have to forgive someone 70 * 7 times.
 
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Jerusha:
  1. Once caught, it was revealed that he had been involved in a mainstream Protestant church for quite a number of years.
.
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.

I don’t know if you realize this but one of his victims was a 58 year old female who lived down the street from him. He took her corpse to his empty church and photographed the body in bondage positions. So, being part of a church did not seem to have much affect on him.

Could he have repented? Yes, anything is possible but I don’t think it is likely. From what I have read, serial killers are seriously evil people.

If he did sincerly repent would God forgive him? Yes, I am certain of it. Unlike some posters, I don’t think that he was purposely trying to get caught. Not all serial killers are geniuses. Many evade capture simply by not killing those who are closest to them. Think about it. If you kill a stranger, there is no connection to you. That is a pretty frightening thought.
 
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