Apologies and repentance in the Christian faith

                                                                                         

There’s an area of study offered in seminary known as Theology and Apologetics. The term actually refers to a branch of theology that focuses on defending or proving Christianity. But when I heard it, all I could think about are the many aspects of life for which we feel the need to apologize. None of us is perfect; we all make mistakes which hurt others, either inadvertently or selfishly.

Some of us have more to apologize for than others. From the outside, it’s very easy to look skeptically at those who claim to have found their Christian faith while incarcerated. I often wonder whether such conversions aren’t merely vehicles for early parole or public sympathy. What I need to keep reminding myself is that God can and does work miracles, and that it’s really not up to me to judge others’ motivations.

Who needs forgiveness more than those who commit crimes, get caught, and wind up paying retribution surrounded by other felons? Whether the offense involved white collar crime or assault and battery, others were hurt by the actions of criminals. There are innumerable examples of jailhouse conversions, and oftentimes those who discover their Christian faith is such bleak surroundings are all the more determined to change the course of their lives. Some get a chance to start anew after serving their sentences while others find their calling through leading prison fellowship and guiding fellow inmates out of the dark and into the light.

And those are efforts we should all be praying for. Both the incarceration rates and the recidivism rates in this country are outrageously high. The fact that so few former prisoners successfully integrate back into society is bad for them and bad for us; it only leads to more crime. Rehabilitation programs in prisons have notoriously low success rates: approximately two-thirds of those released from prison return within three years. Only a truly repentant heart can lead to a permanent change in behavior. Discovering God’s love—even when it happens within the unlikely walls of a prison—is the truest path to repentance.

After all, one of the most freeing aspects of being a Christian is knowing that we are forgiven for our sins. In other words, apology accepted.

About the author:
The Christian Faith is powerful. The story of how white collar crime ends in Christian faith further reveals its power.

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