Science: What is the Christian explanation for psychopaths?
Sociopaths and psychopaths have brains that are unable to feel emotions like empathy and remorse. There are numerous documented accounts of psychopaths who have committed terrible acts against humanity, breaking many of God's laws, and had no idea that they had done anything wrong.
To quote the famous serial killer Albert Fish before his execution, "I don't even know why I'm here."
It is reasonable to conclude that a psychopath can not repent for his sins, and most likely does not see the purpose in accepting Jesus Christ as savior, since they feel as though they have done nothing wrong.
I've searched the internet for answers, and found some which in my opinion are quite unsatisfactory. I thought I would ask here since the folks in this subreddit seem to have excellent answers to difficult questions.
Thank you!
Posted Sep 20, 2012, 6:18 PM UTC
There was a philosopher who came to speak at my school, talking about the "natural law." (the same one as C.S. Lewis talks about.) He believes when we've done something wrong, we are somehow given "guilty knowledge." What we do with that knowledge is up to us. We can squash it down, rationalize it, or just get over it, or we can repent. But the "guilty knowledge" is just knowledge, not an emotion like remorse.
I asked him about sociopathy and similar things. He quoted an interview to me of another man who was about to get the electric chair. The man explained his numerous crimes, and seemed distressed that he didn't feel bad. He said "I guess there's something wrong with me, eh?"
The speaker argued that, intellectually, he had guilty knowledge, but he was incapable of having it turned into emotion. Much like, when we see on the news about a disaster on the other side of the world, we may acknowledge "that's bad" but it doesn't affect us emotionally, simply because we're seperated from it.
This is a wonderful response, thank you.
I would argue that this is not "guilty knowledge". If it were, he would have said something like, "I guess I have done wrong things, eh?". His comment is merely an observation that he is not like other people. Of course, without asking him it's impossible to know his thoughts.
I find the concept of "guilty knowledge" vs guilty feelings to be interesting. I will ask my brother-in-law (he's a psychologist) about his thoughts on the matter.
Thanks again!