An obscure Christian question I was asked in prison
I was walking round prison one day (If you are new to this blog then I was working as a youth worker with Youth for Christ and spent some time working in a local youth prison) and was asked a couple of questions – one was quite disturbing (well, kind of).
This young guy, he was aged 20 and new to this particular prison, came up to me and asked:
“Are you a chaplain?” (This was the disturbing one as I wondered if I looked like a chaplain or if he had been given the heads up by another inmate). Upon receiving my reply he went on to ask what I later learnt was his regular question for anyone religious: “If the devil repented would God have him back?”
Theology is an interesting subject with many levels – many way out of my depth for sure so the question caught me a little surprised. Of course I didn’t show it but when on to answer along these lines.
- We both understand that this is a hypothetical question as the end of the book shows that the devil didn’t repent at all
- The Bible tells us that he was previously an angel.
- There are very few details of angels but we do learn that they rejoice when we repent. Luke 15:10
- 1 Peter 1:12 implies that angels would love to understand this repentance/salvation thing some more.
So I thought, in conclusion – there was no way the devil could repent.
I then asked the young guy a question in return, in fact I asked if I could ask him a question and being polite he replied that I could.
When are you going to repent, I asked.
Repent is a word I rarely use even in the church so never outside it, but it was introduced by the young inmate so I felt it appropriate to bounce it back. The discussion between us both lasted approximately 3 months until his release.
I love Relational Youth Ministry – it is so varied.
Tags: troubled adolescents, troubled teenagers, troubled teens, prison ministry
