Fellow Christians, must one visit prisoners per Matt 25:36 to go to heaven and if not, why not?
Allow me to expand on and clarify my basic question by asking some preemptive follow up questions. If a Christian lives near a prison which houses some Christians, but never makes any attempt to visit them or even inquire about visiting them, come the Day of Judgment, does he or she have anything to worry about?
Would Mt 7:21-23 apply to such a person? If not, under what circumstances would the conversation in Mt 25:41-46 ever take place, or was Jesus being totally symbolic about something else and not really talking about the hungry, thirsty, sick, naked, prisoners or strangers? If so, could you please explain the symbolism.
My personal opinion is that Jesus said what he meant and meant what he said, and therefore on the Day of Judgment there will be a billions of people who claim to be Christian who will be asking Jesus, “Lord, when did we see you hungry, or thirsty ...?”, but it will be too late then (i.e. about 99.99% of “Christians” will go to hell).
But maybe I’m missing something and you can help me out. I honestly hope I am wrong about this passage. I don’t like living with the idea that most of my brother and sisters in the Lord are just kidding themselves as far as avoiding hell, but it is very difficult for me to just ignore the plain language of Mt 25:31-46.
In the USA, even the poorest are fat, water fountains are everywhere, second-hand clothes are given out freely at most churches, and homeless shelters are everywhere so those aren’t real issues like they used to be at one time. However, the USA has ten times the incarceration rate compared to the rest of the world. We put people away for life for actions that aren’t even crimes in other countries.
So of the items Jesus listed, the prisoner situation is the most significant issue in America, thus my question. Thanks for your help.