Evil and Human Nature
Posted by Steve on August 30th, 2007 filed in Faith
Sufjan Stevens has a song titled John Wayne Gacy Jr which is about the infamous serial killer. Gacy was convicted of raping and killing 33 young men, mostly teenage boys. The song is obviously disturbing considering the subject matter, but is made even more so by Sufjan’s last lines. The song ends:
And in my best behavior
I am really just like him
Look beneath the floorboards
For the secrets I have hid
In my last theology class my professor Dr Nienhuis played this song and then asked if we agreed with the last line, if we all are “really just like him”. Are we capable of doing what this man did? Are you capable of murder, rape, or torture?
Are you human?
I think if you believe you are a human being you must admit that you are capable of doing these things. We are human, and we are fallen. We are “really just like him”.
So what does that mean? Should we embrace this fallenness?
No. I think we should acknowledge it, recognize it’s existence and understand it’s power. However if we are made in the image of God then our fallen nature is not essential to our being. My professor also asked the questions, “Have we always sinned? Will we continue sinning?” If we are to believe that someday we will not sin, then some part of our being must be able to restored to it’s original nature, which was pure.
Created in God’s Image
Sometimes this is hard for me, because our fallenness seems so essential, so inescapable. But I think it can be helpful to realize that my sinfulness is not a core part of who I am. It is not how God originally meant me to be. Knowing that is freeing.
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4 Responses to “Evil and Human Nature”
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Recent Comments
April 29th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
I think Sufjan is just saying that we all have something “beneath the floorboards” that we wanna hide and that we are all capable of doing these bad things
December 7th, 2008 at 12:00 am
Sufjan Stevens wrote this song based upon life experience in reference to a socially detestable figure in a community. He is merely noting that we all have such devious capabilities and that he pities the man. If you would analize half of the music in today’s society you would find numerous outrageous things that would drive one to doubt the sanity or quality of society today. So, by just fixating on this alone one cannot grasp the full unbiased opinion of how this would impact others.
January 30th, 2009 at 2:16 pm
i think what he means when he says ‘i am really just like him’, is that he has secrets he keeps hidden and dreads being found out. or perhaps he’s making a reference to the belief that all men are sinful and are not worthy in God’s eyes, that the state of his soul was no better or worse than john wayne gacy’s before he came back to Christ.
and i don’t think he means he killed anyone, or wishes to. think logically, yes, anyone could kill or rape or torture. but most of the human race aren’t morbid freaks, so we choose not to.
either way it is a beautiful song and i don’t think God is going to send me to rot in hell for listening to it nor will he send sufjan to rot in hell for writing it.
September 4th, 2009 at 7:32 am
This song was life changing to me, vastly changed my perception of myself and the human race.
After this song, I now fully believe that God views us all the same. Not one person has sinned greater than another. We’re all the same. It’s not about us being capable of murder, rape or torture, but more so that our little white lie that we don’t think was a big deal is the equivalent of murder/rape/crazy stuff in God’s eyes. Sin is sin. It keeps us from God. But thanks be to Jesus who died to keep us as close to God as He is with God.
And I thank God for giving Sufjan the talents that He did. Sufjan has opened my eyes to God so much more than anything in my life.