The Dahmer Dilemma
The gospel's uncomfortable, radical offer of forgiveness.
November, 2018
24 years ago this month, American serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer was killed in prison by another inmate. Dahmer's crimes involved murder, cannibalism and abuse, and were so horrific that he's often listed along names like Adolf Hitler when discussing "evil" people. He's a common inclusion when popular culture lists those "undoubtedly" consigned to hell.
Not long after his arrest, conviction, and imprisonment, news spread that Dahmer had become a Christian. Naturally, this was met with skepticism. When he was killed, Americans expressed a vague elation, feeling he'd gotten what he deserved.
Dahmer's evil, juxtaposed with his supposed jailhouse conversion, raises difficult questions for Christians. Was he really saved? Could acts that heinous even be forgiven, at all? Was his death divine justice? Looking at Dahmer's unique case should remind us of a few points about our limitations, our sin, and God's grace.
First, we need to be aware of our own limitations. We tend to judge—positively and negatively—when know little about others. We do the same with events, making declarations while still ignorant of facts. That's something the Bible specifically warns us against (Proverbs 18:13; 1 Samuel 16:7: John 7:24). Only two people know exactly what was happening in Jeffrey Dahmer's mind and heart during his last days: Dahmer and God. We can't say for absolute certain that he was, in fact, a true believer. Nor can we say with total certainty that his conversion was false.
The most meaningful contact with post-conviction Dahmer, it seems, was with the man who baptized him in prison. According to his testimony, Dahmer was extremely repentant of his crimes. Dahmer supposedly wondered if the government was not failing to uphold justice by keeping him alive. He asked if God wanted him to commit suicide, since he deserved death. According to this counselor, Dahmer knew that he was at risk of violence from other inmates, but was unconcerned about his fate, saying he deserved death anyway.
If such things are true, they'd be reasons to think Dahmer really did convert. However, we're not God, so we don't have perfect knowledge. That means we can't say for sure. This is no different than our knowledge of any other person and their spiritual state. We can conclude, but we can't prove.
We can say for certain, however, that if Dahmer was truly repentant for his crimes and turned in faith to Christ, that God saved him. That's not necessarily what we want to hear. People like Dahmer—or Hitler, or others—are easy to label as "worse" than us. We want to claim their acts are unforgivable. We're uncomfortable with God forgiving the "really evil" people like Jeffrey Dahmer. Deep down, that discomfort is really because we think we're at least "good enough" that God has reason to forgive our "smaller" sins. We feel better believing God's obligated to give us forgiveness in a way he's not inclined with a "real" sinner like a serial killer.
The idea of God forgiving someone like Dahmer can also make us angry, because we want to see "evil people" punished. We think it's "unfair" for them to be saved…which it is, just as much as it's "unfair" for God to save any of us. Ironically, we demand God hold those people accountable, according to our own preferences, while expecting God to hold us to a lesser standard.
The truth is, while not all sins are equally "bad" (John 19:11; 1 Samuel 2:17), all sin is equally damning (Revelation 21:22–27). And nobody deserves to be saved (Romans 3:10; 3:23). Christ's sacrifice can cover the biggest, worst, most heinous sins (Hebrews 7:25). It's entirely possible that Dahmer was legitimately saved while he was in prison and died as a redeemed believer. Rather than making us uncomfortable, or seeming awkward, we can remember that all of us deserve death for our sin, and if God can save someone as despicably, wickedly sinful as was Jeffrey Dahmer, He can save anyone who comes to Him in faith.
-- Editor
