Psycho Theology

Let's take a moment right now to stop reading and relax. Can you feel it? Maybe not. I can though. I can feel the fresh air blowing through. It's great to be back writing regular blogs instead of roasts. Don't get me wrong, I loved slandering (or is it libeling?) everyone of you, but to be perfectly honest those twelve roasts wore me out. I've been looking forward to a regular blog for about two weeks now and it feels good to back in the stirrups again.

Believe it or not I have been doing other things besides roasting. Over this Christmas break I began watching a new TV series called Dexter. Isaac Newman was watching Dexter last year and I've always wanted to start it, and now I finally had the opportunity thanks to a free month of Netflix. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the series Dexter, let me fill you in. Dexter is a show that centers around a protagonist (Dexter, obviously) who is a blood spatter analyst for Miami Metro Homicide. Dexter is also a serial killer. The irony of a forensic specialist catching serial killers by day and then conducting his own killing at night is genius enough to deserve a television series, but it's the moral jousting match that Dexter creates that kept me glued till the sun rose every morning. Dexter isn't your run-of-the-mill mass murderer that kills out of anger, jealousy, lack of money, a drug addiction, or anything else. Dexter kills because, well, he has too. As a young child he witnessed the brutal murder of his mother, and sat in her 2-inch-deep puddle of blood for two days before being rescued by his soon-to-be adopted father, Harry. Needless to say, this horrible event caused some serious psychological trauma, causing Dexter to become empty and emotionless inside, and a voice inside of him that urges him to kill, which Dexter names as his 'Dark Passenger.' After a kill, the voice goes away. For a little bit. Dex's father discovers his Dark Passenger at an early age, but does something that most fathers probably wouldn't do. Instead of sending him to psychologists or trying some extreme unorthodox method of curing him or any other treatment that wouldn't work, Harry works with Dexter and helps channel his urges by taking him hunting pheasant and deer. At a certain point, Harry realizes that Dexter's urges will only grow stronger and expand to bigger and more exciting kills, such as humans.

This is where the jousting match begins. According to Harry's ideals, there are people in this world that deserve to die. There are certain people whose deaths would make this world a better place. People who do horrible things, like murder a mother in front of her child. Harry then develops his code, that Dexter follows into his adult life as a vigilante serial killer that targets the wicked.

Now if you're a proper Christian, your whistle should be blowing and your flag should be flying through the air and you should be screaming, "Penalty on Dexter, unnecessary judgment, 15-yard penalty!" I would agree with you. My faith is incomplete and growing, and my theology is still in its infancy, but if I had to put a label on my cornerstone it would most likely read: "The grace of God is infinite and no one is beyond redemption." But a guy like Dexter should make you think, as is the purpose of the show. On the one hand, you have a guy playing God by deciding who deserves to die and who deserves to live, a judgment that we Christians reserve for God. But on the other hand, you have a guy who absolutely has to kill. When he witnessed his mother's murder, his Dark Passenger was written into his DNA. So if he has to kill, wouldn't it be best to snuff out humanities worst? It's a tough call. As you watch Dexter, you can't help but pull for the guy, but if your a Christian shouldn't that concern you? I don't know. I can't say that I would support such actions, but I also can't deny that because of Dexter's actions, the world really is a better place. Every serial rapist he kills saves who knows how many women from that terrible fate. Every murderer that is killed saves another family from being shattered apart.

But nobody is beyond redemption. If we truly believe this, then we believe that even people who rape and murder little children are just as deserving as we are when it come's to God's grace. And if you are human, this should shake you a little bit. As a Christian can we justify a murder if it saves a woman from being raped? Sometimes I wonder what Jesus would do if he was walking down an alley late at night and happened upon a rape. What would his actions be? Would he be a Dexter and save the woman at all costs? Could God actually work through a psychopath like Dexter in the real world by saving His children from unspeakable evil?

I don't know.