BTK: Child of God?

By now we all know that Dennis Rader, the congregation president of a lutheran church in Wichita, a man who has been described as "devoutly Christian", is also the BTK (an acronym that stands for his preferred modus operandi: Bind, Torture and Kill) Killer. A few days ago, Rader pleaded guilty to 10 counts of murder in the first degree and calmly described the horrible acts that ended the lives of 10 unsuspecting and seemingly random victims. All this, by Rader's admission, was done to satisfy his "sexual fantasies", whatever that means.

The natural response to hearing this kind of news (certainly it was my first response and I'm not sure that I don't still feel the same way) is to despise this obviously sick and disturbed individual as some kind of inhuman monster who has coated the eternal slip n' slide to hell with the blood of his victims.

But how to we reconcile this with the idea that he was an active member of the church and still professes to being a Christian? The other members of his congregation must be going through agony right now, grappling with this question. He has been visited, as well, by his Pastor who said he would not turn his back on Dennis, no matter his crimes and that he would continue to support him as a brother in Christ, while also fully supported the actions of authorities on the case. The pastor also said something to the effect of "nobody is really that much different than Dennis - in the end we're all sinners."

I have to admit that while I can intellectually say with confidence that I am a sinner, in my heart I have trouble putting my own sins in the same category as this brutal serial killer, who routinely killed his victims by tying plastic bags over their heads and letting them suffocate to death.

Pastor Nagle of Wichita had some very interesting things to say:

"..But something amazing happened. Jesus stood outside Lazarus’ tomb and called out his name, and said to the dead man, “Lazarus, come out!” And he did come out. Much to the shock of the sisters, much to the horror of the crowd, much to the amazement of the disciples, much to the delight of Lazarus, Jesus turned everything around and brought the dead back to life.

And here’s a question: if Jesus could and did turn everything around and bring Lazarus of Bethany back to life, do you think Jesus can and will turn everything around and bring life to Dennis Rader, that pillar of the Lutheran Church in Wichita who is charged as a brutal serial killer? "

"..if the charges hold, we have to say that he was a sinner. A really really bad sinner. A sick and savage sinner. And likely, that’s so. But from our childhood, what have we learned in church? What do we sing in our hymns and read in our Bibles? Didn’t Jesus die for sinners? Yes—but (we protest) surely he didn’t die for that kind of sinner! But what does that mean—that we believe Jesus died only for the nice sinners? The little sinners? The clean and undisgusting sinners? It sounds as if what we say we believe and what we really believe are two different things."

Read the full article

It definately makes me think. But hey, apparently Jeffery Dahmer came to Christ before his murder in prison by a fellow inmate. Who knows, maybe Dennis Rader can be redeemed too.

I think Rader's pastor summed it up best when he said "If Dennis has done what they've alleged he did, then he must pay the price. It still does not have any effect on how I minister to him, I still will love him."