What the Bible says about Prisons and Prisoners? Part 1 -God’s Perspective
(Starting with this Blog we want to help our readers gain a better understanding of how God views prisons and prisoners- it will come out every Sat. 10am.)
For most of us prisons are a part of the reality of life that we are happy to ignore. Most people’s attitude is… “they deserve what they get, lock them up and throw away the key.” We are happy to pay our tax dollars in order to be assured that these undesirable elements of society are kept far away from us. However, we must ask ourselves, “is this how God wants us to respond?”
The King James Version of the Bible refers to prisons and prisoners 115 times. Passages such as Psalm 69:33 tell us that God has not forsaken those that are in prison.
For the LORD heareth the poor, and despiseth not his prisoners.
Matthew 25:34-46 indicates that the attention given to prisoners will be a criterion by which those people that pass through the seven years of tribulation on earth will be judged worthy to enter the Millennial Kingdom.
35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
Paul commends his friend Onesiphorus for not being ashamed of him when he was in prison.
2 Timothy 1:16 The Lord give mercy unto the house of Onesiphorus; for he oft refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain:
These passages clearly show us that God has regard for those in prison. He does not ignore them and we can do no less. It is God’s will that we give attention to those for whom Christ died that are locked behind bars. We may want to forget about them, but God will never allow us to do so.
Next week, we will look at some specific examples of how God has worked in prisons and through prisoners.