There is a widespread misconception that sex offenders cannot change. Even large parts of the Church have started to buy into this. In discussing the transition from darkness to light, I will begin by bringing some things to light that will open your eyes. Then we will explain that change is possible via a phenomenon called neuroplasticity. Finally, and most important of all, we will show you from the Scriptures that there is real change which comes to believers in Jesus Christ.
In recent times there has been a growing movement from leftists that pushes both homosexuality and gender fluidity. Gender is not fluid. From the beginning God created people as male and female (Genesis 1:27). There are no other genders. In the next leap of illogic these folk claim that sexual orientation cannot change. Think about this also: In order to successfully push this perverted ideology, for consistency’s sake the same claim has to be made across the board, that no form of sexuality can change whether it is legal or illegal. Just as homosexuals, et cetera, cannot change according to this paradigm, so sex offenders cannot change, either, according to them. It’s an agenda, people!
The recidivism rates for sex offenders are grossly inflated. Studies clearly demonstrate that the actual reoffending rates of sex offenders are poorly reflected in official records. If they do reoffend it is sometimes in other types of crime rather than sexual offenses. [1] However, scaring people and being tough on sex crimes gets politicians and other officials lots of votes, so the scam goes on. That is not even including the uselessness of residency restrictions and the sex offender registry generally! But there remains something more to be brought to the light.
Despite claims to the contrary, the correctional system is profitable. This includes here in Georgia where I live. Georgia Correctional Industries (GCI) runs factories in prisons that produce goods such as office furniture, candy, prescription glasses, and road signs. State agencies are required to buy these goods. Jails in Georgia charge up to $4.65 for a 15-minute phone call, while prisons charge $2.10 for the same length of time. This state also charges up to 30 cents for an e-message to or from prison, which is above the national average. Incarcerated workers in Georgia provide unpaid labor for private contractors and state-owned businesses. Georgia’s correctional system is one of the largest in the country, and prisons are one of the state’s biggest businesses… [2]
Building on this theme, there are programs in prisons purportedly designed to help those with such issues as substance abuse and sexual offending, but these are token programs; their effectiveness is seriously limited. This is the voice of experience, not secondhand information. Even those programs which are probation- or parole-mandated, superior though they are to those in prisons, have a caveat when it comes to sex offenders: “Once a sex offender, always a sex offender.” In light of all this profit and agenda-keeping, is it in the best interests of the correctional system to truly rehabilitate anyone when there is so much money to be made? Would it be in the best interests of the state’s profit margin if the numbers of parolees and probationers, who pay fees, were to be significantly reduced? Is it a good idea for well-paid, licensed counselors to actually rehabilitate sex offenders when that would close some of the revolving doors of the prisons and violate the sexual agenda? What these counselors are saying to their sex-offender clients is especially damnable when they most certainly would know about neuroplasticity!
Simply put, neuroplasticity is the capacity of neurons and neural networks in the brain to change their connections and behavior in response to new information, sensory stimulation, development, damage, or dysfunction. [3] This ability can significantly help people change their behaviors and habits. [4] The fusion of neuroplasticity and habits presents an avenue for orchestrating positive change and personal growth. [5]
In other words, no matter what you may have been doing, even as a sex offender, change is possible. You do not have to be a sexual offender anymore.
Now, a term one may hear in sex offender therapy is “cognitive restructuring”. This is a method used in cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT) to help sex offenders identify and address thinking styles that may increase the risk of reoffending. CBT is a common treatment for sex offenders, and is often court-ordered to reduce the risk of recidivism. [6] This form of therapy and neuroplasticity can work together to alter your brain…[7] So there is a recognition that these together can effect change. But then the sex offender going through treatment is told, “Once you are sex offender, you will always be a sex offender.” And they are told this by people who should know better! Such words as these counteract or cancel out the full potential for change in these people, rendering them as permanently damaged, half-functional members of society who always live with a risk of reoffending. Oh, but there’s that agenda again, and all that money to be made…Well, remember this: Even if you are a sex offender and have been told that’s what you’ll always be, you can change. You do not have to be a sex offender for life. You might still have the criminal record, but that does not have to be your identity as a person. Neuroplasticity works. And the most effective help of all comes from on high!
One overarching message of the Gospel is redemption. Jesus Christ came to save us. Salvation involves what? A change. We go from being dead in trespasses and sins to being alive and renewed in Jesus. The Holy Spirit comes to live within our spirit and we become new. We are declared righteous by God, just as if we had never sinned:
2 Corinthians 5:17: Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
Romans 8:29-39: For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: “For Your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
If there is a bigger tragedy than the legal and correctional systems exploiting and sabotaging sex offenders, it is the Church that is doing some of the same things. Other people with criminal histories are admitted into membership at local churches, Christ being commended for helping them to change. But when it comes to registered sex offenders it is a different story. There is a hard bias against R.S.O.’s. Some of the driving force of this prejudice comes from church insurance providers. They are fixated on sex offenders being a high risk. Also, a number of churches want to permanently chaperone R.S.O.’s who join their churches, forcing them also to sign a legally binding contract wherein they agree to do or not do certain things and be or not be in certain places on the church property. Some churches will not admit them into membership at all.
Churches have a Biblical responsibility to protect congregations (Acts 20:25-31). Those with certain past sexual issues should avoid areas of temptation just as former drunkards avoid bars, for example. This does not mean they have not changed. It means that in each individual their old fleshly nature is weaker in some areas than in others—the inner person has been made new. We can agree with a probationary period, but not permanent watching and so on. Such heavy-handed and biased treatment sends the message to the R.S.O. that he or she is a second-rate Christian, flawed, second-class in their church and somehow never able to fully overcome their past. Churches with this attitude are not worthy of the name. Believers who gossip about or shame R.S.O.’s over their past—who have been forgiven by God—are a disgrace to Christ’s holy name and the Kingdom of God. They are a stench in His nostrils and a stumblingblock to Christian R.S.O.’s who are trying to get a new and better start in life.
Unfortunately, the biases against R.S.O.’s both in society and in the Church are a part of the modern landscape. Some toughness on the part of the Christian R.S.O. is required. But with the Word of God and the power of the Holy Spirit you do not have to be what your criminal history has recorded. You do not have to be what the naysayers, the speakers of darkness, have to say about you. Instead you can walk victoriously in Jesus Christ. Believe in the Word of God. Know and understand that as someone who has been Born Again you are no longer a sex offender in the eyes of your heavenly Father. He sees you as a saint, as one of His children. You can live as a victorious Christian and never, ever commit another sex crime as long as you live, and not even have the desire to commit such crimes anymore.
The world has the truth available to it but hates the things of God. Secular counselors cannot provide all the answers even if they were to actually want to. People, even a number of professing Christians, do not want to see sex offenders forgiven by God or anyone else. But that is God’s business. Walk in the knowledge of who you are in Jesus. Be who you are in Him. Walk in the power of the Holy Spirit and in the light of God’s Word. Someone will get the message. God will raise people up who will be for you and not against you. Thanks to Jesus, quality of life is possible even for R.S.O.’s.
Psalm 119:105: Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
Hebrews 11:1, 6: Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
1 John 1:5-7: This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.
Philippians 4:13: I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
REFERENCES*
[1] https://smartojp.gov July 2015 article by Roger Przybylski, “Recidivism of Adult Sexual Offenders.” Retrieved 09/24/2024; some paraphrasing.
[2] Google: Search Labs | AI Overview: “Georgia Correctional System.” Retrieved 09/24/2024.
[3] https://www.brittanica.com August 29, 2024, article by Michael Rugnetta and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Brittanica, “Neuroplasticity.” Retrieved 09/24/2024.
[4] Google: Search Labs | AI Overview: “Neuroplasticity.” Retrieved 09/24/2024.
[5] https://thetouchpointsolution.com Article, “Neuroplasticity and Habits: How Changing Your Brain Can Change Your Life.” Retrieved 09/24/2024; slight paraphrasing.
[6] Google: Search Labs | AI Overview: “Cognitive Restructuring.” Retrieved 09/24/2024.
[7] https://www.lukincenter.com April 14, 2022, article by BeaconMM, “Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Neuroplasticity: How CBT Changes Your Brain.” Retrieved 09/24/2024.
