My child, if sinners entice you, turn your back
on them! They may say, "Come and join us.
Let's hide and kill someone! Just for fun...."
Proverbs 1:10-11 NLT
Many are surprised to learn that the Bible addresses the subject of gangs...
on them! They may say, "Come and join us.
Let's hide and kill someone! Just for fun...."
Proverbs 1:10-11 NLT
Many are surprised to learn that the Bible addresses the subject of gangs...
It's true! There's nothing new that goes on under the sun. What was happening in the world several thousand years ago, is also happening today. All that's changed are the people and technology. The human heart remains the same.
And when it comes to street gangs and crime, our ancestors were dealing with the same things. This is clear from the Scriptures. Hence, King Solomon's admonition to the youth of his day, "Do not run with them!" While in the New Living Translation of the Bible it says, "Think of the great things we'll get! We'll fill our houses with all the stuff we take. Come throw in your lot with us; we'll all share the loot” (Proverbs 1:13-14).
Today they're called gangs, while the Bible simply refers to them as "sinners." But it's all the same. Young people joining up ready to fight for their self-proclaimed territories, now known as neighborhoods. Their goal? To own and control what they believe is their "turf." To include, if necessary, all forms of violence, even risking their very lives to imprisonment, serious injury, or death.
We know from the statistics here in the United States that our prisons are filled with young people doing time for gang related crimes. And our cemeteries are likewise filling up with them, too. It's become the norm to see and hear about young men in their teens or early twenties, getting shot or stabbed to death, often for the most seemingly senseless of reasons.
Why? What is the lure that draws men and women into joining a gang? Why do they feel the need to control their streets? Is it money? Power? Prestige and pride? Sociologists have been asking the same questions. And I, too, have been asking this, even going to the gang members themselves.
After all, I live inside a maximum security prison where gangs abound. I'm around them every day. Even the tier I'm housed on has a number of them openly flaunting their respective gang signs to show where their loyalty is. It's a way of life here.
Men coming into the system grouping up according to what neighborhood they came from. They were gang members in the streets, and they'll regroup in here. In prison, everyone tries to find their place in the so-called "pecking order." Men from different backgrounds and temperaments, all having to live together. It's a potential powder keg of problems, and a personal challenge for me as well.
I thank God for the inner strength He provides which allows me to live with inner peace in a place such as this, and to get along with everyone as well as I do.
D.B.
And when it comes to street gangs and crime, our ancestors were dealing with the same things. This is clear from the Scriptures. Hence, King Solomon's admonition to the youth of his day, "Do not run with them!" While in the New Living Translation of the Bible it says, "Think of the great things we'll get! We'll fill our houses with all the stuff we take. Come throw in your lot with us; we'll all share the loot” (Proverbs 1:13-14).
Today they're called gangs, while the Bible simply refers to them as "sinners." But it's all the same. Young people joining up ready to fight for their self-proclaimed territories, now known as neighborhoods. Their goal? To own and control what they believe is their "turf." To include, if necessary, all forms of violence, even risking their very lives to imprisonment, serious injury, or death.
We know from the statistics here in the United States that our prisons are filled with young people doing time for gang related crimes. And our cemeteries are likewise filling up with them, too. It's become the norm to see and hear about young men in their teens or early twenties, getting shot or stabbed to death, often for the most seemingly senseless of reasons.
Why? What is the lure that draws men and women into joining a gang? Why do they feel the need to control their streets? Is it money? Power? Prestige and pride? Sociologists have been asking the same questions. And I, too, have been asking this, even going to the gang members themselves.
After all, I live inside a maximum security prison where gangs abound. I'm around them every day. Even the tier I'm housed on has a number of them openly flaunting their respective gang signs to show where their loyalty is. It's a way of life here.
Men coming into the system grouping up according to what neighborhood they came from. They were gang members in the streets, and they'll regroup in here. In prison, everyone tries to find their place in the so-called "pecking order." Men from different backgrounds and temperaments, all having to live together. It's a potential powder keg of problems, and a personal challenge for me as well.
I thank God for the inner strength He provides which allows me to live with inner peace in a place such as this, and to get along with everyone as well as I do.
D.B.
