A sociopath by definition is anyone who has no conscience. They would rather that others be tortured to death than for themselves to lose the slightest advantage. A sociopath loves absolutely nobody but their own self. And since sociopaths comprise an estimated 4% of Americans, it is imperative that everyone AWAKE to this danger and RECOGNIZE it.
However, this subject is usually couched in psychiatric jargon and ideas, most notably by Robert Hare, Martha Stout, and Lillian Glass. Yet psychiatry and modern psychology are often useless or harmful. Therefore this subject must be Christianized. First, psychologists are wrong to say that early Christians did not understand the factors of nature and nurture as regards to sociopathy. Principles of nature and nurture were clearly understood a thousand years before Christianity, as Hebrew scripture testifies to. Besides, it is psychologists who lack the understanding of inherent good and evil.
Their main fault is basing their lists of personal characteristics which supposedly indicate sociopathy primarily on interviews with especially talkative convicted felons. Yet undoubtedly, the great majority of sociopaths never commit major crimes and are walking the streets; not from any moral values, but simply from not willing to risk being imprisoned. And the great majority of convicted felons are men in their twenties through forties. Yet women are just as likely to be sociopaths as men, and underage persons and the elderly are just as likely to be sociopaths as those in their 20s-50s. Therefore, we should throw out the following characteristics which reside on popular sociopathy checklists:
failure to maintain long term relationships, superficial charm, need for stimulation/proneness to boredom, promiscuous sexual behavior, lack of realistic long-term goals, alcohol abuse, narrow focus of interest, and does not learn from experience. Because those characteristics are primarily dependent on a person’s gender, age, culture, upbringing, and mental capacity, they are useless. Besides, counting some of these characteristics, which may be the result of mental handicap, against someone, is unfair judgmentalism. Consider Christian Scripture’s Matthew 7:1-2. Worse yet is Joseph Newman’s list, where he adds good intelligence and suicide threats rarely carried out. So highly intelligent people and severely depressed people should be looked at with a suspicious eye instead of being shown honor and compassion?
REJECT THAT TYPE OF GARBAGE. However, there are other personal characteristics that you should definitely consider, as Christian scripture, 1st Timothy 4:2 notes that some are given over to evil, whose conscience has been figuratively seared with a hot iron. So here is a list of factors that indicate sociopathy, based completely on Christian principles: 1) A history of behavior that resulted in great physical, emotional, financial, or spiritual harm to others; 2) Habitual or compulsive lying 3) Getting people to feel sorry for them as a form of manipulation. That’s because people allow seemingly pathetic persons to get away with most anything. 4) Abuse of animals; 5) Refusal to accept personal responsibility or show remorse for harmful words or actions…………………….
6) Tendency to use and manipulate others for personal gain; 7) Bullying and/or controlling nature; 8) Complete disregard for the feelings, emotions, best interests, or personal safety of others; 9) Undue complaining about others and making people look bad; 10) Callous or blasphemous speech; 11) Lack of appropriate emotional response in the face of intense events; 12) Narcissism, as in the person is either obsessed with themselves, has a grandiose self-image, or refuses to accept constructive criticism; 13) Initially using flattery or other excessive agreeableness in order to blend in or gain favor.
Even with this helpful list we are usually unable to know with absolute certainty whether or not someone is a sociopath. However, if anyone exhibits multiple factors from this list, and won’t change their ways, it is appropriate to totally avoid them as we would avoid a sociopath. That is because the persona in question is guilty of bad behavior regardless, and brought the rejection upon their own self. And trying to outsmart or personally engage with a likely sociopath is always foolish. The only right ways of dealing with them are complete avoidance, warning others about them, and bringing them to justice if warranted.
Now although very few sociopaths are sadistic serial killers or suchlike, the amount of damage they do through legal means can rival the amount of damage done by big time criminals. For example, the amount of money single women manipulate from men and the amount of money women extort from their ex-husbands far exceeds that of all robbers combined. And heartbreaking and emotional devastation is completely legal. Character assassination and false accusations can certainly be devastating. Sometimes the most harmful thing is false information or bad advice, There, YOU’VE BEEN WARNED.
However, we must not pride ourselves if we are not of this sociopathic group. That’s because most people are not nice. For example, only one in five lost wallets are ever returned. So most people are either keeping someone else’s money and/or personal possessions, or don’t care about helping others out. The golden rule requires us to pick up and return found wallets and all their contents, if they have identification in them. So only 20% of people are doing the right thing. Also, everyone has a degree of evil in them. If all of us allowed the evil within us to completely dominate, we’d all be sociopaths. So if you are going the wrong way, change your direction.
Now who could sociopaths be? Female, male, young, old, rich, poor, uneducated, highly educated, single no children, parents with ten children, fat, skinny, tall, short, white, black, brown, yellow, rich, poor, beautiful, handsome, ugly, social outcasts, extremely popular, doctors, lawyers, police officers, judges, religious leaders, atheists, garbage collectors, fast food workers, straight, gay, physically handicapped, athletic, talkative, quiet, brave, fearful, geniuses, mentally retarded, anybody!
In fact, in our fallen world, some of the nicest people are looked at as some of the worst people, and some of the worst people are considered the best, and often considered pillars of the community. Women are especially bad at properly evaluating others. “And no marvel, for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light”——-2nd Corinthians 11:14. The good news is that the Lord Jesus Christ promises justice and righteousness for all in the next life. But until then, BEWARE.