So I just finished watching the Netflix series on Ted Bundy’s life. He committed some terribly atrocious crimes against women - murdering them in unimaginably horrible ways. I cannot fully comprehend how much evil influences a person to be willing to do something like what he did. There were 36 victims of his evil desires, and so many lives ruined. As the last episode concluded with his execution by electrocution, I couldn’t help but sorrow at all the people celebrating his death - people seemingly only concerned with displaying hatred for others to applaud. God knows each of us individually and has forever, and the sorrow He must experience at the loss of a soul must be great. There is so much we are born with - so much potential - that Bundy threw away. He lost all feeling of empathy and love in his life. He allowed the influence of the devil in his head and heart. Watching the episodes go through the events of his life and crimes, I felt disgust and horror. I don’t know that I felt real hatred. I might say that anger and righteous indignation are not real hatred. I only looked at him at the end of his life and felt pity and sorrow for the person he had been reduced to - all by his own will. Though there was a mortal accountability for his crimes, I just wonder what kind of conversation would be between him and his heavenly family (Christ and our Heavenly Parents). I also felt this way at the end of most Bones’ episodes. Just a sorrow that someone’s life was completely altered by a sinful choice (and most likely eternally altered) so beyond my human capability to comprehend how forgiveness fits in. I thought of that exactly as his sentence was declared - how could you forgive someone like that? How could I ? and I realized, that I could forgive him his crimes, but I was so sorrowful about every life that was involved - including his own. Forgiving doesn’t always mean forgetting, but I think with time and Heavenly help forgiveness is possible for all. We can only truly find forgiveness for the trespasses of others against us through the help of Jesus Christ and the enabling power of His Atonement.
At the end of every Bone’s episode, when the killer would confess, I always felt a sadness. I was never super ecstatic that the person was now left up to their fate by the justice system of mankind - as good as it can be with what we know collectively as a people regarding choices and appropriate consequences. I always loved the expression of grief and solemnity that passed between Temperance Brennan and Sealy Booth each time a suspect confessed to a heinous crime. I feel that death of a criminal is not something to celebrate or that we should dehumanize them in their absolute state of vulnerability. It is a sad place to be and quite lonely as the convicted is left alone with all of their mistakes. I also think of the movie Murder on the Orient Express (based off a book) and the decision the detective makes to let all of the people go though they had all been responsible for the death of a killer. The vengeance is understandable, the intense feelings of sorrow and pain that are felt on all sides cannot be easily soothed, forgotten, or weighed. I just felt sick at watching all of the people outside of Bundy’s execution cheering and marching around with posters covered in inappropriate slurs and just a sad failure to recognize the value of a life to be lost. I felt such a sorrow looking at all of the faces of the beautiful, innocent women he murdered. No matter the person dying, I don’t think it is worth celebrating. I am in the process of researching the death penalty to form my own opinion, but I do think in certain cases like this one, it is a justifiable option. I always wonder after the people who gathered to watch public executions throughout history. I know for the Savior many were there to mock him, but many were there to mourn. In other times of history, it seems most people were excited to watch people die, like the beheadings during the French Revolution, or public witch hangings and burnings, Jewish mass murders in Europe - especially the Holocaust, sacrificing children or women to pagan gods, killing a prisoner of war - or an enemy of the state, lynch mobs against black Americans, and martyrs for their religious convictions.
Despite all the evil that humanity is capable of, we are all born with the light of Christ. We were all born with immeasurable potential to do good, and when one strays from that destiny/path, it is heart-wrenching. Christ sacrificed himself for all of mankind - every single person who has ever lived or will ever live. No one is beyond the reach of His atonement - if only they will reach out and beg for His mercy. I cannot comprehend the forgiveness of God to a serial murderer, but I am not the one to say he could not be forgiven - that depends on the heart of the person. I know God is always willing to forgive us. It is the eternal law of justice that requires our eternal damnation as a fallen people, and the mercy Christ offers us that pays the demands of justice. Our Heavenly Parents would do anything to save the eternal life of their child, but that child must decide on their own to accept the mercy extended. We have what we’ve been given in this life, and for many of us we have the fullness of Christ’s doctrine that we need at this time. I know what it is I need to do for my salvation and I sorrow when I see that plan for another child fall to pieces in their own hands. Godly sorrow is a sadness misunderstood by many people who are very passionate about how they judge evil acts by imperfect people. I am not saying that I don’t absolutely despise the evil that Ted created in the lives of so many, but I cannot personally damn him to hell. That is not my decision and I am so very thankful for an all-knowing, all-loving God who will judge him at that Judgement Day. I have my own faults and shortcomings to deal with that I don’t want to dwell on the mistakes of others. I can only hope to influence good with the people I am around and to help change the lives of others through any means God leads me to.
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