Me, Jeffrey Dahmer, and Family Feud

“You shall not murder.” Exodus 20:13 (NASB)
“You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment'. But I tell you that anyone who is angry at his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother,'Raca', is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says 'You Fool!' will be in danger of the fire of Hell!” Matthew 5:21-2 (NASB)
“One hundred people surveyed, top four answers on the board...looking for the number one answer. Here's the question... 'What is the first thing you do when someone cuts you off in traffic?'” inquires Richard Karn, host of my favorite game show, Family Feud. Can you guess? What would you say? America gave these answers. Number four answer “Honk”; number three answer “Flip off the driver”; number two answer “Ignore them”; and the number one answer “Scream and Yell at the driver”. I guess all those who said “Lock and Load!” are either too busy watching Dale Jr. turn left or still awaiting parole?! I would likely fall on the number one answer except not so much audibly, but, boy, if they could hear me think!!! The road was paved for Mark Applegate...everyone else is just using my road!
As we continue our hop, skip and jump through God's moral law, the Ten Commandments, we delve into the 6th Commandment...”You shall not murder.” (The number six is shaped kinda like a bomb if you need a memory aid to remember which one it is.) If you do a quick survey of your “good-ness” using the Ten Commandments, the 6th seems like a safe one for most of us. I wouldn't have a clue how to shoot a gun, being the city slicker that I am. I am a wuss when it comes to fighting. I can't cook well enough to hide poison in my food. I can't even beat Bowser in my kid's video game! A murderer I am not...or so I thought until I read the words of Jesus in Matthew 5. Alas, Jesus clarifies the Commandment in the above verse in Matthew to include our thought life. When we hate someone , we commit murder in our heart. When we physically or mentally extend the middle finger of friendship to a driver in traffic, we are in danger of judgment. When the restaurant gives us pickles when we expressly said no pickles, and we fume...we break the commandment! When the chubby writer in the paper says something stupid, and we grumble about him, we kill him in our heart. With this in mind, we are all left like O.J. Simpson, murderers who have, thus far, got away with it. Or have we??? God's judgment is so perfect, it leaves us all in a pickle when we die. Is forgiveness available for physical or mental murderers? Boy do I have good news...read on!
I was reading yet again from one of my favorite books in Christendom, In the Grip of Grace, by Max Lucado, when he dropped this bomb on me. “Do you know what disturbs me most about Jeffrey Dahmer? What disturbs me most are not his acts, though they are disgusting. Dahmer was convicted of seventeen murders. Eleven corpses were found in his apartment. He cut off arms. He ate body parts. My thesaurus has 204 synonyms for vile, but each falls short of describing a man who kept human skulls in his refrigerator and hoarded a human heart. He redefined the boundary for brutality. The Milwaukee monster dangled from the lowest rung of human conduct and then dropped. But that's not what troubled me the most.... Not His trial, disturbing as it was, with all those pictures of him sitting serenely in court, face frozen, motionless. No sign of remorse, no hint of regret....Not his punishment, though life with no parole is hardly an exchange for his actions. How many years would it take to satisfy justice? A lifetime in jail for every life he took? But that's another matter, and that's not what troubles me most about Jeffrey Dahmer. May I tell you what does? His conversion.” (p. 35-6)
By every account I have read, Dahmer became a Christian shortly before he was killed in prison. He was treated, realized what kind of monster he was and threw himself at the feet of Jesus Christ to save him. He is, if all indications were correct, going to be sharing the same heaven as the Apostle Paul. Does that trouble you? Does it anger you? Do you doubt the power of Jesus' sacrifice on the cross? Surely a filthy sinner like Dahmer is on the fast track to Hell, if anyone is?!?! Three verses, among others, speak otherwise!
“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23 NASB)
“If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.” (Romans 10:9-10 NASB)
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9 NASB)
God has a tough standard. We all have broken every commandment, whether in a physical sense or an emotional/internal/thought-realm sense. There is someone that all of us hate. God treats it as murder, yet forgives completely anyone who comes to Him with a humble spirit and asks. Does he grade sin's seriousness on some sort of scale? He may but the absence of conclusive evidence scripturally leaves me to expect that either way God treats all sin extremely seriously. Our only hope is to do what Dahmer did, apparently, and throw ourselves at the feet of Jesus for forgiveness. What an amazing God who forgives wretches like me and Jeffrey!
Weekly Scripture Verse: 2 Timothy 2:15...hold me to that standard too!
Diet update: I am at 253 after gaining very small amounts in each of the last 2 weeks. I am working out 6 days a week now and still doing fine on the diet part...hopefully I am adding muscle weight. I have established a long-range goal of running a marathon within the next couple years. Thanks for your prayers and encouragement!