What’s Faith Worth In Prison? It’s just after 10pm as I nurse a headache, may have to take some more Tylenol in an hour or so. I am no stranger to headaches, I remember having them almost weekly when I was in the third or fourth grade, and how much pain it put me through. I was too young to take aspirin so I had to tough it out. I don’t wish that on any kid. But I’ll get through, I always do. So, what’s the answer? How much is faith worth in prison? What did it mean to me; what can it mean to another inmate? I want to try to address that, in some hope that someone reading this might be able to understand a little more about prison in the head of an ex felon. If you have read my posts and blogs, you know that I try to approach subjects in several forms; physical visions, intellectual thoughts and spiritual debates. As I mentioned before, prison is not just a physical place, it is mental, it is emotional and it is spiritual. It takes on many forms, but most prison support sites. So, is faith worth anything in prison? And if so, how much? I betcha every serious Christian out there is saying, “of course it’s worth something”. (notice I said “serious” Christian, as if there are some that are NOT serious). As we all know, religion is a very sensitive subject, and can easily cause more arguments than the influx of football fans on the ref’s calls over Superbowl Sunday. But I feel comfortable here on my blog talking about it, because no one can ban me from it if I say something that they may not agree with. So, is there faith in prison. Easy question. Yes. To me, if you hope for anything, then there must be some measure of faith. I am not saying there is enough faith to change a situation around, because often times it does not. But a guy sitting in jail looking at 20 years…or life, obviously has some hope that he does not get that. A guy in prison who hasn’t heard from his family in a couple of weeks obviously hopes that he will hear from someone soon. A mother with a son in prison obviously hopes that maybe he will come back to her in one piece. A wife with a husband in prison my hope that maybe there is something, anything that can change the sentence he was given, and get him out of prison. In short, anyone with an expectation may well have faith. The scripture goes, “faith is the substance of things hoped for”. But then some people might argue that you can have hope without faith? Is that possible? Can a guy doing life hope to get out sooner, by still not have faith? Can a mother hope her son can adjust once being released without having faith? Can there be hope without faith in prison. I don’t have the true answer to that, and maybe no one does. I mean, can I expect something while in prison, but not have faith? The easy way to answer this is to say, “if you receive, then it was because you had faith; if not, then you didn’t”. I don’t agree. I will think more that maybe you don’t receive if you don’t have enough faith before I think that I had no faith at all. Case in point. As I wrote in my first book of “Grades of Honor”, I gave up on God the day I was shipped from jail to prison. These were not good days for me, and I made it clear that at that time I gave up on a loving God. During that time, I got more money for the things I needed than any other time during my incarceration. In the midst of my anger at God, I got $300.00 from mom, as well as pens, paper and other things. Irony coming… When I went back to trusting God and placing my faith in Him, I went months on end without money, struggling to hang in there when just a few dollars would have helped me to stay encouraged. Don’t laugh, you don’t know what a soda or a pint of ice cream, or even a ramen soup at night can do to help you our of a difficult day. But when you have no money, it is very hard to hang in there. What part did faith play? It had to have some part in this, but at those times I have no idea what. I prayed every chance I had, I tithed whenever I got a few dollars, even while I was working for 40-60 cents a day. But during those times it was very difficult to keep it together. Faith had to have been there, I know it did, but it just didn’t seem productive. For a guy in prison, I think faith is there. I remember making a post like this on PTO, and some jerk felt like trolling it, and PTO had to remove that post. It was maybe one of two posts out of 1200 that was taken off. But the argument was whether inmates can have faith. Even death-row inmates. The answer is yes. As long as an inmate is alive, he has to believe in something. When you are in negative situations, you always believe that somehow, things can get better. Even if they don’t, you still hoped that they would. Heck, I hoped never to go to prison; that didn’t work out too well. But the faith was there. So is it possible that maybe inmates have misplaced faith? After all, if this is about faith, then what is your faith supporting? I think this may be close to the answer of what faith is worth? It all depends on what you’re applying it to? If your hope is just “I don’t wanna go to prison”, then maybe it is misdirected. If a mom is hoping that her son can make it through the system might not be enough. Maybe that wife out there worried about her husband might not be directing the faith in the right way. Think of faith like money. If I have a ten-dollar bill, I can go to the store right now and spend it, no questions asked…. In the United States. What if I was in Mexico, or Germany, or Japan? Will my US currency be accepted there as easily as it is here? We all know some countries don’t take American money, just as if someone came here with 100 Yen and tried to go to Walmart here in town. It’s still money, but it’s the wrong “application” of it, if you will. Faith in prison may work the same way. What are you believing? If your loved one is in a youth prison, what are you believing? If it’s just that he will be ok, it might be misplaced. Why? Because even with faith, you still have to act, and do something. After all, faith without works is dead. Are you asking your loved one what you can do for him? If he is trouble, do you run and hide, hoping “the Lord will make a way”? Are you calling the prison when there is trouble? Are you educating yourself to what the prison rules are? Are you looking for posts and sites where other former inmates share information? Are you asking questions to get answers, or are you just reading posts for amusement? Just what ARE you doing to make that faith worth something? If you are just sitting there saying, “I just hope he comes home ok”, then I have to say that your faith might be misplaced. Heck, that’s no different from me saying, “I hope to go to Hawaii next month”… (Fat chance he said, sulking) We obviously cannot put a price tag on faith, but without a doubt, it can be invaluable in prison. Even more so than you think, because for many, it is all they have to look forward to. I have seen both ends of this, and just as I can say that I did ok without trusting God (as according to my first books, so as to not get prison ministries and people of the cloth emailing me; I am a Christian), I can also say what faith in prison can do for a person. So, is there such thing as faith in prison? Of course. Does it have value? Of course? But the value is based on the person, what he is directing that faith to, and what actions he is doing to keep it strong. Trust me, faith is the most valuable thing an inmate has. It’s also the most valuable thing for those outside the walls too, so don’t give up.
What’s Faith Worth In Prison?
It’s just after 10pm as I nurse a headache, may have to take some more Tylenol in an hour or so. I am no stranger to headaches, I remember having them almost weekly when I was in the third or fourth grade, and how much pain it put me through. I was too young to take aspirin so I had to tough it out. I don’t wish that on any kid.
But I’ll get through, I always do.
So, what’s the answer? How much is faith worth in prison? What did it mean to me; what can it mean to another inmate? I want to try to address that, in some hope that someone reading this might be able to understand a little more about prison in the head of an ex felon.
If you have read my posts and blogs, you know that I try to approach subjects in several forms; physical visions, intellectual thoughts and spiritual debates. As I mentioned before, prison is not just a physical place, it is mental, it is emotional and it is spiritual. It takes on many forms, but most prison support sites.
So, is faith worth anything in prison? And if so, how much? I betcha every serious Christian out there is saying, “of course it’s worth something”. (notice I said “serious” Christian, as if there are some that are NOT serious).
As we all know, religion is a very sensitive subject, and can easily cause more arguments than the influx of football fans on the ref’s calls over Superbowl Sunday. But I feel comfortable here on my blog talking about it, because no one can ban me from it if I say something that they may not agree with.
So, is there faith in prison. Easy question. Yes. To me, if you hope for anything, then there must be some measure of faith. I am not saying there is enough faith to change a situation around, because often times it does not. But a guy sitting in jail looking at 20 years…or life, obviously has some hope that he does not get that. A guy in prison who hasn’t heard from his family in a couple of weeks obviously hopes that he will hear from someone soon. A mother with a son in prison obviously hopes that maybe he will come back to her in one piece. A wife with a husband in prison my hope that maybe there is something, anything that can change the sentence he was given, and get him out of prison.
In short, anyone with an expectation may well have faith. The scripture goes, “faith is the substance of things hoped for”. But then some people might argue that you can have hope without faith? Is that possible? Can a guy doing life hope to get out sooner, by still not have faith? Can a mother hope her son can adjust once being released without having faith? Can there be hope without faith in prison.
I don’t have the true answer to that, and maybe no one does. I mean, can I expect something while in prison, but not have faith? The easy way to answer this is to say, “if you receive, then it was because you had faith; if not, then you didn’t”.
I don’t agree.
I will think more that maybe you don’t receive if you don’t have enough faith before I think that I had no faith at all. Case in point. As I wrote in my first book of “Grades of Honor”, I gave up on God the day I was shipped from jail to prison. These were not good days for me, and I made it clear that at that time I gave up on a loving God. During that time, I got more money for the things I needed than any other time during my incarceration. In the midst of my anger at God, I got $300.00 from mom, as well as pens, paper and other things.
Irony coming… When I went back to trusting God and placing my faith in Him, I went months on end without money, struggling to hang in there when just a few dollars would have helped me to stay encouraged. Don’t laugh, you don’t know what a soda or a pint of ice cream, or even a ramen soup at night can do to help you our of a difficult day. But when you have no money, it is very hard to hang in there.
What part did faith play? It had to have some part in this, but at those times I have no idea what. I prayed every chance I had, I tithed whenever I got a few dollars, even while I was working for 40-60 cents a day. But during those times it was very difficult to keep it together. Faith had to have been there, I know it did, but it just didn’t seem productive.
For a guy in prison, I think faith is there. I remember making a post like this on PTO, and some jerk felt like trolling it, and PTO had to remove that post. It was maybe one of two posts out of 1200 that was taken off. But the argument was whether inmates can have faith. Even death-row inmates. The answer is yes.
As long as an inmate is alive, he has to believe in something. When you are in negative situations, you always believe that somehow, things can get better. Even if they don’t, you still hoped that they would. Heck, I hoped never to go to prison; that didn’t work out too well. But the faith was there.
So is it possible that maybe inmates have misplaced faith? After all, if this is about faith, then what is your faith supporting? I think this may be close to the answer of what faith is worth? It all depends on what you’re applying it to? If your hope is just “I don’t wanna go to prison”, then maybe it is misdirected. If a mom is hoping that her son can make it through the system might not be enough. Maybe that wife out there worried about her husband might not be directing the faith in the right way.
Think of faith like money. If I have a ten-dollar bill, I can go to the store right now and spend it, no questions asked….
In the United States.
What if I was in Mexico, or Germany, or Japan? Will my US currency be accepted there as easily as it is here? We all know some countries don’t take American money, just as if someone came here with 100 Yen and tried to go to Walmart here in town. It’s still money, but it’s the wrong “application” of it, if you will.
Faith in prison may work the same way. What are you believing? If your loved one is in a youth prison, what are you believing? If it’s just that he will be ok, it might be misplaced. Why? Because even with faith, you still have to act, and do something. After all, faith without works is dead.
Are you asking your loved one what you can do for him? If he is trouble, do you run and hide, hoping “the Lord will make a way”? Are you calling the prison when there is trouble? Are you educating yourself to what the prison rules are? Are you looking for posts and sites where other former inmates share information? Are you asking questions to get answers, or are you just reading posts for amusement? Just what ARE you doing to make that faith worth something?
If you are just sitting there saying, “I just hope he comes home ok”, then I have to say that your faith might be misplaced. Heck, that’s no different from me saying, “I hope to go to Hawaii next month”…
(Fat chance he said, sulking)
We obviously cannot put a price tag on faith, but without a doubt, it can be invaluable in prison. Even more so than you think, because for many, it is all they have to look forward to. I have seen both ends of this, and just as I can say that I did ok without trusting God (as according to my first books, so as to not get prison ministries and people of the cloth emailing me; I am a Christian), I can also say what faith in prison can do for a person.
So, is there such thing as faith in prison? Of course. Does it have value? Of course? But the value is based on the person, what he is directing that faith to, and what actions he is doing to keep it strong. Trust me, faith is the most valuable thing an inmate has. It’s also the most valuable thing for those outside the walls too, so don’t give up.