Two Ways You Are Like Ted Bundy | Ephesians 4:22

“That you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts.”
Ephesians 4:22

How much do you have in common with Ted Bundy, the sadist, rapist and necrophiliac, and one of the most notorious serial killers in US history? This is not a trick question or an academic exercise. The results may surprise you. Take this quiz and find out. Check all of the following facts from Ted Bundy’s life that match your own experience:

1. Born into a Christian home
2. Raised by dedicated and loving parents
3. Had a healthy upbringing with brothers and sisters
4. Parents did not drink, smoke or gamble
5. Experienced no physical, emotional or sexual abuse growing up
6. Never saw his parents fight
7. Attended church regularly
8. Discovered softcore porn at age 12
9. Graduated to more explicit forms of pornography
10. Continually craved porn that was harder than before, that gave him a greater sense of excitement
11. Developed a fantasy life fueled by pornography, particularly depictions of sexual violence
12. Eventually acted out on his sexual fantasies
13. Kidnapped, beat, raped and murdered at least 30 girls and women during the space of four years
14. Executed by electric chair

How did you do? If you are like many Christian men, you checked your way down this list to number 10 and then paused. You have up to 10 things in common with serial killer Ted Bundy. What separates you from the remaining items on his list isn’t much. Given enough time, and given the opportunity, you could turn into a convicted sex offender. That’s what Bundy thought, anyway. He didn’t consider his life trajectory all that remarkable. And the Bible agrees.

Sexual sin, after all, is progressive. Your compulsion to look at pornography is driven by your sinful nature, “the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts.” Ted Bundy’s sinful nature was aroused by softcore porn that he discovered as a 12-year-old. But his lust grew. Yours will, too, if you aren’t careful. Bundy had to seek out harder and more wicked forms of pornography to reach the same high.

You and I may not share his family life and upbringing in every detail, but we share his habitual use of pornography—and his sinful nature. That sinful nature, if fueled by pornography, is never satisfied. Left unchecked, it grows ever more corrupt until it leads to death. Maybe not death in the electric chair, but death all the same.

These facts about Ted Bundy’s life are taken verbatim from an interview he gave with James Dobson on the day before his execution. Bundy agreed to meet with Dobson because he wanted to warn others of the dangers of pornography, particularly portrayals of sexual violence in pornography.