Jim Carrey Talks Jesus During Speech to Former Inmates: 'Suffering Leads to Salvation'

Funny man Jim Carrey recently delivered an inspiring message to a room full of former inmates saying they chose to "walk through the gate of forgiveness to grace."

The Golden Globe winning actor made the comments during a visit to Homeboy Industries, a Los Angeles based organization that provides support to formerly incarcerated people and gang members.

Father Gregory Boyle, who invited Carrey and referred to him as a "friend," runs the organization.

In a video posted online, Carrey told the group, "I believe that this room is filled with God."

"You are heroes to me, and I admire you. When you stepped through these doors, you decided to be a part of this family.  You made a decision to transcend and to leave darkness behind, and it takes a champion to make that decision," Carrey said.

He goes on to say, "I've had some challenges in the last couple of years myself."

The actor's past struggles are no secret.

In an interview with 60 Minutes in 2014, he said, "I was on Prozac for a long time and I'm not sure, it may have helped me out of a jam for a little bit but people stay on it forever. I had to get off at a certain point because I realized everything's just ok."

He was accused of supplying the drugs that his girlfriend Cathriona White used to commit suicide in 2015; something he denies.

He told the group, "...I believe that suffering leads to salvation. In fact, it's the only way..that we have to, somehow, accept, not deny, but feel our suffering and feel our losses. And then, we make one of two decisions We either decide to go through the gate of resentment, which leads to vengeance, which leads to self-harm, which leads to harm to others. Or, we go through the gate of forgiveness, which leads to grace."

Carrey, who once said, "I'm a Buddhist, I'm a Muslim, I'm a Christian. I'm whatever you want me to be. It all comes down to the same thing," also shared about Jesus' example of grace and forgiveness.

"He suffered terribly and He was broken by it, to the point of doubt and a feeling of absolutely abandonment, which all of you have felt. Then there was a decision to be made. And the decision was to look upon the people who were causing that suffering with compassion and with forgiveness, and that's what opens the gates of heaven for all of us. I wish that for all of you. I wish that for myself.'

According to Beliefnet.com, Carrey was raised Catholic before becoming a Presbyterian.