We now come to the final section of this article on the criminal mind. As we have examined in part 1 and part 2 of our article, it comes from a story based on a bank robbery that took place in west Houston. After looking at the characteristics of the criminal mind, we will now focus on the solution to overcoming such a mindset.
In general, the basic problem of the criminal mind is that it has no proper orientation to the authority in life. This is the reason so many frustrated young people do not have any capacity for life and end up turning to criminal activity. These same young people use criminal activity as an outlet for their authority arrogance. Young people today are not receiving proper teaching, or reject that authority always begins in the home under their parents and extends to every facet of life. Teenage crime is a direct result of the rejection of parental authority, which then extends to every system of authority they will come under in adulthood. Criminality begins early in life and extends into the teenage years until criminal thinking becomes a way of life. As a result, the criminal mind is irresponsible, immature, and refuses to take responsibility for his or her decisions and motivations.
In sharp contrast, a law-abiding citizen is basically a responsible individual. A law-abiding person chooses to takes responsibility for his or her own decisions and chooses not to infringe on the privacy, property, freedom, and rights of other individuals. A responsible individual always relates to some system of virtue whereby they fulfill honorably their responsibilities in every area of their lives. It is this virtue that creates self-esteem in relation to the laws that relate to God’s divine establishments and a spiritual self-esteem when related to God’s plan for our lives.
An unbeliever with a criminal mindset may have difficultly breaking from that mentality because of their locked-in sin nature inclinations. On the other hand, a born-again believer who is guilty of criminal activity has a higher power at their disposal.
The born-again criminal can break from his or her criminal mindset, but it will take more than just using the confession technique of 1 John 1:9, which states that, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us [our] sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (KJV). The criminal mindset took a long period of time to develop and it will require some time to reverse this negative thinking. The recovery process will require learning and applying a vast amount of biblical principles. Staying consistent in this recovery process will result in the thinking to change. This is the mental renovation that Paul is teaching in Romans 12:2:
The exhortation is clear on not conforming to the humanistic viewpoint of the world, including the naive psychological opinion that takes responsibility of choice away from criminals. We are to renovate our minds consistently with accurate teaching of the Word of God so it reflects in every aspect of our lifestyle. This mental change is the key to reversing the negative trends of the criminal mind.
The complete occupation of the believer-criminal with self must change to an occupation with Jesus Christ. Their belief of superiority in self must change to a belief of superiority in the Lord. Eventually, the mindset of the believer-criminal will change when the former criminal begins to base their happiness in the Lord. The happiness of God that develops will slowly remove those criminal desires. This same process also works when it comes to drug addiction, alcoholism, and such.
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