Are You One Step Away From Murder?

Although they don’t know it, lots of people are only a step away from committing full-blown murder. Could you be closer than you think?

If you were ordered to administer a lethal 450-volt electric shock to another person, would you do it?

Most people would say no, but a psychologist in the 1960s did an experiment with results that are chilling on many levels.

In the experiment, the “experimenter” donned a white lab coat and told the participants they were studying the effects of punishment on learning ability. If the “student” answered incorrectly or did not answer, the participants were instructed to deliver increasingly painful electric shocks.

While nobody actually received shocks, participants heard a man screaming in pain, begging to be released from the experiment and, finally, nothing at all. When the participants looked troubled and asked the experimenter if they should stop, they were told that they must continue with the experiment.

And over 60 percent of the participants did. Of course, none of it was real. No one really died; no one had to live with the guilt of murdering an innocent person.

Now, I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that you’ve never murdered anyone. I’m guessing that you, along with most of the people in this experiment, think you’re basically a good person. But does the lack of murder a good person make?

A few thought-provoking scenarios

Suppose there are two men, Dan and Corey, who both hate a third man, Luke, with equal venom. If Dan could push a button that would immediately cause Luke’s death, and he could be sure that nobody would ever know who did it, he’d push it.

The only thing keeping Dan from killing Luke in real life is his fear of being caught.The consequences (jail time, humiliation, guilt, etc.) are too much for him to act on his hatred. However, Corey is braver (or stupider) than Dan. So he acts on his hatred and murders Luke.

Now, here’s my question for you: Who is more moral, Corey or Dan? Would we regard Dan as a moral giant compared to Corey, just because he’s a bigger coward? Of course, Luke probably would have preferred that both of them were wimps.

The answer should be plain: Both Corey and Dan are murderers. They are equally corrupt, because they both wanted Luke dead. And both would have killed him if they had the power to do so without consequences.

Are you beginning to see how hatred and murder are really just two stages on the same progression? The only difference between the hatred stage and the murder stage is the outward act of taking a life. The inward intent is the same.

Now, back to the experiment

Ordinary people like you and me—who never imagined they could ever murder anyone—continued to deliver what they believed to be lethal shocks to another human being. Sure, they were following authority, but they let that override their love for a fellow human being. How much do you think their mind-set would have changed if the situation had been reversed, and they were the one being shocked?

Of course, these people didn’t feel gut-wrenching hatred toward the other person, but is a subjective feeling the best measure of hatred and the spirit of murder?

The Bible sheds some light on this

The Bible teaches that anyone who treats another person in a way he or she wouldn’t want to be treated himself or herself is starting down the path of hatred toward that person in his or her heart. Murder isn’t only measured by action or even seething hatred, but by our willingness to cause another person harm.

Murder is the end of the progression. Loving someone less than you love yourself is the beginning. For the Christian, merely not committing the act of murder isn’t enough. We must root out the drives in our character that lead to murder. Like Dan, we may never in this lifetime act on the hidden hatreds in our hearts. However, would we carry out our heart’s evil intent if we had the time or circumstances to do so?

And that’s why you should be concerned.

God wants to give you eternal life

The problem is that eternal life would allow more than enough time to turn any seed of hatred into action. God isn’t going to give that life to someone who will abuse it—He doesn’t want another Satan.

Christ is coming back to this earth as ruler, and He’s going to judge the whole world—that includes me and you. He promises that He will give us eternal life if—and this is a big if—we follow His law to love God with all our hearts and other people as much as we do ourselves (Matthew 22:37-40).

Now that you know, what are you going to do about it?

Mary Henderson is living the good life with her husband and her espresso machine. They attend the Buffalo, New York, congregation of the Church of God, a Worldwide Association (the espresso machine does not attend).