Comments on: Penitentiary Christianity

By: outdeep

outdeep — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 16:28:42 +0000

Karen: I suspect our differing view is more practical than theological. I witness too often folks who deal with their additions by attending pep-rally like worship meetings where loud proclamations with shouts and amens proclaiming God to deliver them from their strongholds but they never seem to get themselves into a smaller group working a program.

They convince themselves they have deliverance but they are in prison or a safe house away from temptation. Nothing inside has really changed.

I realize that not all meetings are like that and I am not trying to generalize. I just learned to take a wait-and-see approach to see if it is lots of spiritual God-talk or if folks are going to get to the place of humility where they are ready to work on their lives.

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By: townpiper

townpiper — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 18:04:08 +0000

MTCON- Thanks and God Bless you and your work. My wife and I have been jail/prison chaplains for over 20 yrs. We take the same approach. We sow the seed and leave the results to God. It’s better that inmates pray about SOMETHING, rather than ignore spirituality altogether and succumb to the culture that surrounds them.

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By: mtcon

mtcon — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 16:23:44 +0000

I work for a Correctional facility and am involved with the Christian Ministry there. I find some inmates very open to hearing and worshiping and others who reject it because of the way some of the christian inmates act and talk. I find opportunities to witness on a daily basis. I always try to pass on the message that we are all sinners, have fallen short of God’s expectations and can only be saved by Christ. Every inmate is loved by God and is as forgiven as anyone else regardless of their crime as long as they recognize their sin and repent and receive the forgiveness promised by Christ’s blood.

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By: Karen O

Karen O — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 16:19:30 +0000

Outdeep – You & I may have differing thoughts on the meaning of a stronghold. As I see it, a stronghold can only be built in one’s life with one’s cooperation. It is the repeated “giving in” to a destructive habit/sin that allows it to grow into a stronghold, at which point prayer for deliverance becomes essential.

With that in mind, I do agree that we need to recognize & confess our own culpability in developing the stronghold.

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By: outdeep

outdeep — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 15:16:22 +0000

In my recovery group, I found that folks who hit bottom (whether in prison or out) tend to take their faith very seriously.

Unfortunately, sometimes the rise of excessive and strong Apocalyptic talk can be counter-productive. A preoccupation with their problem being strongholds often masks folks from making statements such as, “I have such-and-such character defects in my life that I need God’s help in working on.”

Christianity teaches we battle the world, the flesh and the devil – all three. No doubt there is a cosmic battle behind the scenes. But in putting the over-emphasis there we sometimes miss the fact that the problem is also us.

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By: Bob Buckles

Bob Buckles — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 14:58:28 +0000

“The gates of Hell shall not prevail…”

Doesn’t this mean that someone is attacking those gates?

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