A while back, our church had a couple of the “Vote For
Amendment One” signs stolen from our grounds. After some quick searches online,
I discovered that there were/are several churches in North Carolina who had
their signs stolen or vandalized.
Soon after, I saw a story in the local paper about a lady
who was charged with stealing signs. She had stolen 3 of the “Vote Against
Amendment One” signs.
She has claimed 2 different reasons: First that it was the
will of God to take the signs (which we’ll see in a minute is inaccurate).
Second, that it was a great idea that her daughter had.
She then exercises her right to voice her opinion by writing
a letter to the editor defending her actions. She even compared herself to
Daniel or Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego from the Bible. However, she was not
ready for others to exercise their right to voice on opposing opinion in the
comments section of that letter to the editor. In fact, she went to the
newspaper complaining that they allowed such comments to be posted.
Here’s the long and short of this matter. The Bible says
that stealing is wrong (I do believe it’s in stone somewhere – oh, yeah, in the
10 commandments). Secondly, she cannot compare her situation with that of
Daniel or his 3 friends. They chose to worship and serve God only (which is
what the Bible says) rather than obey man’s laws to worship someone else. I do
not see any law in the Bible that says that stealing is okay in certain
situations.
Also, let’s not forget what 1 Peter 2:20 tells us: For what credit is it if, when you are
beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer,
if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. If we are doing
something that is wrong (like stealing) and we get in trouble for it (like this
woman), it is not for our credit, or in other words we cannot throw the “Christian
persecution card.”
Both sides have stolen signs, but neither is right in doing it.
Plus I don’t know of anyone who has changed their mind or their position due to
signs being stolen or vandalized.
