By Larry West

“I’ve just been reading about you,” he said as I called to ask him a question. His mood sounded somber so to try to lighten things up a little I said, “Oh no! What have I done now?” The man to whom I was talking is a Chaplain with the California Department of Corrections I have known for many years.

“Oh, not about you personally, but about you folks from the churches of Christ.” He went on to say that he was reading some tracts, put out by the church, which had been left on his desk by an inmate at his institution. He said that large quantities of these were being sent to the inmate. He indicated that the ones he was reading stated that the Mormons, Seventh Day Adventists, etc. were going to hell and how wrong all of these other religious organizations are. He happens to be a Seventh Day Adventist. He explained that he was throwing them away.

I have a number of observations I want to express about this. First, he is required to throw them away by the rules and guidelines of the CDC. Chaplains are not permitted to allow any materials to be brought in to the facility or distributed which speak negatively or derogatorily of any other religious group or organization. This has happened in the past and it causes heated arguments and fights and could even lead to a disturbance. I can not permit this either and very often throw tracts, pamphlets, articles, books and other items in the hot trash. I have written to different publications telling them to take Folsom Prison off of their mailing list because of some of the articles contained in them.

Secondly, few souls are ever saved by negativism. Not many people will be won to Christ by those who begin by condemning them. Often this means that one is speaking against everything they have been taught from their childhood and probably refuting what their parents believed and taught them. How much more

effective the approach is which begins by a study of who God is and the completeness of His word; what Jesus Christ did for all of us sinners by dying on the cross and how our Lord has all authority. Then how we are to live, love, obey and serve Him.

Third, many have a very negative impression of the church of Christ because of this kind of reputation. If those who have the final say in the hiring of Chaplains have encountered this kind of teaching material, or have heard these negative things from others about us, they would not even consider hiring anyone from the church of Christ. Often the first thing a person says when they know that one is a member of the church is, “You’re that group that doesn’t believe in music!” Negative impressions are difficult to overcome and sometimes stand squarely in the way of our being able to study with them.

I hope that you do not misunderstand what I am saying. I am not hinting that the truth is to be compromised. Those of you who know me personally know that this is definitely not the case. When Jesus said, “Be ye wise as serpents and harmless as doves,” I think it applies here. I have found so many times that just providing scriptural answers to people’s questions is very effective. Asking them questions about certain passages works well. We must establish the ultimate authority of God and His divinely inspired word before we can make much progress. When a difference of opinion arises or another viewpoint is expressed, there must be an agreement upon exactly where the final word will be found. It is not who is right, but what is right that is accepted.