February 2024
Hello my Beloved,
It’s been a good few weeks. Things continue to develop slowly with Prison Fellowship. I have been able to continue attending the Thursday afternoon Bible studies. True to his word, Jason no longer attends. I told you before that I felt I had to engage him because he was being so disruptive to the classes, often insisting that any other topic of study was useless until we all studied and embraced his view of ‘perfectionism’. Meaning that you are not truly saved until you reach a state of perfect sinlessness here on earth. Then you can live out the rest of your Chrisitan life confident that you will be protected from ever committing another sin. My goal was to either win him over, soften his view so he wasn’t so dogmatic, or marginalize his view so he wouldn’t keep bringing it up. I feel like a partial failure in that, yes, his view was marginalized, but he also decided that if his view couldn’t be the center of all study, he has to break fellowship with us. Please continue to pray for Jason.
I have also been attending the Friday morning Prison Fellowship Bible study, at least when they let me. I can attend the Thursday study because I am on the master pass list for both morning and afternoon movement Monday through Thursday. I am not on the list for any movement for Fridays. Prison Fellowship has tried multiple times to put me and others on the list so that we can attend the study, but the administration keeps balking. Evidently there is some conflict between what Prison Fellowship says they need and what the administration here thinks they need. Of course, this makes perfect sense when factoring in the incredible incompetence, apathy, and immorality of the employees here.
1.
It’s ok, though. I continue to get better at navigating this minefield. The few times I was able to attend the Friday study gave me more access to Coach, the outside leader of the Prison Fellowship staff here. He was a big-time college basketball coach up north before his own unfortunate incarceration. Upon his release, he chose to work with Prison Fellowship.
Though I haven’t been able to have a long-drawn-out discussion with Coach, I have been able to engage him a few times. He also knows about me from several people I have mentored that are already in the full program. I am hoping the fact that I knew and met Chuck Colsen, the founder of Prison Fellowship, my professional training in theology, apologetics, and philosophy, and the decades of experience I have in ministry experience in those areas will not only help me be chosen for this class, but it will also allow me to be a great asset to them. Time will tell.
My fear is that Prison Fellowship has drifted from its original core teachings. I have only been able to skim through half of their workbooks so far. There is some good stuff in there, but a lot of it seems to be light psychology. They do a good job of trying to develop empathy, some critical thinking and communication skills, and to get the student to choose a more productive path in life. My primary problem with what I have seen of their curriculum is that it has no solid grounding.
In Colsen’s book, How Now Should We Live, he talks a lot about the dangers of postmodern thought and relativism. With what little I have seen and heard of their curriculum; I fear they may be drifting in that direction. In some of their lessons on ethics, they tell the student to take a pragmatic approach to ethics, meaning, does it get you what you want.
2.
Other times they tell you to ground your ethics in what is legal. They also tell you to look at whatever religion you follow to ground what you believe is right and wrong.
Using this method leads to severe problems. If I am pragmatic in my ethics, then the only thing that is wrong is whatever impedes me getting what I want. But where should I look to see if what I want is good or bad? If I tell someone that right and wrong should only be decided by the government, then that leaves me having to admit that abolitionist were evil people for violating the Fugitive Slave Act. If I tell someone to just follow their personal religion, I run into multiple problems. With the rise of the religious category ‘none’, more people are just making up their own religion, therefore, making up their own morality. In essence, what the particular Prison Fellowship lesson on ethics said was, ‘do whatever you want’. I know this is not that they meant, but logically, it’s what follows from some of the statements in the lesson.
It’s not just some of the lessons that are problematic, it’s some of the leaders coming to St. Brides to teach the classes. During one of the classes I sat in on, one of the Muslim students berated one of the Christian students for inferring something negative about Islam. He pointed to Matthew 7:1-2 and said God told us it was a sin to judge anything. Sadly, everyone nodded their head in agreement and the teacher thanked the student and repeated that he was correct, Christians are forbidden to judge.
After my eye stopped twitching long enough for me to see straight, I quickly raised my hand. I explained to the class that the verses that were referenced was not a prohibition against judging, it was a command to judge correctly. Verses 3-5 tells the Christian to do what they need to do in their own life so that they can then see clearly enough to judge others.
3.
This corresponds to similar verses that share the same message. John 7:4 says not to judge according to appearances but instead make a right judgement. The Greek word for ‘judge’ in the passages is ‘krino’. It means to decide or determine the correctness of a matter. Paul uses the same Greek work when he asks the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 10:15 to judge the truthfulness of his words. He also tells them in 1 Corinthians 2:15 that the spiritual person judges all things.
Furthermore, if the Christian was indeed forbidden to judge, then it would be wrong to ask someone to repent (turn back from) as Peter did in Acts 3:19 because you have to judge a person’s beliefs or actions as wrong in order to decide they need to repent. This would also mean that you could never judge a person for judging. It’s sad to see how deeply Satan’s relativistic lies have penetrated the Church. We need to continue to live out Jesus’ command to us in Mark 12:28-31 about loving our neighbor. This command includes our neighbors in the Church who have been blinded by relativism. Relativistic philosophies like postmodernism is not ‘good’ a person’s intellect.
It was so good to be able to talk with you both in the morning and evening on my Birthday. I got several emails wishing me a happy birthday. Each one helped to brighten my day. A friend of mine, named Seymour, made me three different types of peanut brittle. It was really good, not as good as Jeffery’s, though. 😊 Mark also surprised me by making me a huge meal of Ramen, rice, gouda cheese, chili and shredded beef. That, too, was very good. By the end of the day, I was more than stuffed. It was a good day, all things considered!
4.
I am sorry my letter is late again. They continue to move those that are willing to work in jobs around the compound out of our dorm and to replace them with more gang members. As they do this, the volume in the dorm continues to go up. My neighbor continues to blast his music at top volume through his TV even though it’s against the rules. The guard once again just walked by and completely ignored it. It’s really difficult to focus enough to write then a TV and several inmates 3 feet behind you continually screech to the beat about killing cops, rival gang guys, beating up other men and women, engaging in sex with as many women as possible, getting high, and how rich they are. I would rather listen to 20 drowning cats in a blender at 200 decibels, then another hip hop or gangsta rap song. Like any other music, I understand that it’s just one more tool Satan uses to keep people enslaved to him. The same can be said for any song that promotes ungodly ideas. I have to remember though that I am still called to love my neighbors, even the ones that listen to horrible music at max volume. 😊
I love you so very much my Beloved. Thank you again for all that you do for our ministry. I continue to pray for you and the rest of our ‘flock friends.’ Thank you for your continued prayers as well.
Love Always,
Me
SCRAP!
GELPOY!
ILYSOOOM!
LAAF!