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My dad pastored a church on Canal St. in New Orleans for 20 years. We had so many problems that we debated leaving the doors unlocked so they wouldn't break anything on their way in. The only thing that worked was treating them like little kids - everything hidden or too high to reach.

My church has been robbed several times, usually of big screen TVs which are used to broadcast the ongoing services into the lobby area. But sound and music equipment has been stolen in the past too. And at my old church, 15" JBL floor wedges and pieces of drum kit were stolen on more than one occasion.

I don't know if stealing from a church is any worse than stealing from an old widow in God's economy. Theft is theft, no matter where it happens, and none of it squares with the 8th Commandment not to steal. Everything belongs to God anyway, whether it is located at my house or has been donated to His house. However, it is natural for people to differentiate possessions at either location into those belonging to me, and those belonging to God. It follows then that there is no way on God's green earth that a thief is unaware that it is a church which they are breaking into, and consequently that it is God from whom they are stealing, whether they believe in Him or not. That takes a special kind of depravity.

sjfcontrol wrote:DId you catch some of the reporter's terminology?

The pastor "brandished" his firearm, and "decided to take matters into his own hands".

That terminology says a lot about the reporters agenda

bran·dish  (brndsh)
tr.v. bran·dished, bran·dish·ing, bran·dish·es
1. To wave or flourish (a weapon, for example) menacingly.
2. To display ostentatiously. See Synonyms at flourish.
n.
A menacing or defiant wave or flourish.
[Middle English brandissen, from Old French brandir, brandiss-, from brand, sword, of Germanic origin; see gwher- in Indo-European roots.]
brandish·er n.

Commander wrote:

sjfcontrol wrote:DId you catch some of the reporter's terminology?

The pastor "brandished" his firearm, and "decided to take matters into his own hands".

That terminology says a lot about the reporters agenda

bran·dish  (brndsh)
tr.v. bran·dished, bran·dish·ing, bran·dish·es
1. To wave or flourish (a weapon, for example) menacingly.
2. To display ostentatiously. See Synonyms at flourish.
n.
A menacing or defiant wave or flourish.
[Middle English brandissen, from Old French brandir, brandiss-, from brand, sword, of Germanic origin; see gwher- in Indo-European roots.]
brandish·er n.

The media seems to think that anything to make the story scarier, more dramatic and promote the "guns are bad" line of reasoning, even if it is a pastor (or any other good guy) using the weapon to stop bad guys. Most (any?) here don't buy into that thinking, many sheeple do!

sjfcontrol wrote:DId you catch some of the reporter's terminology?
The pastor "brandished" his firearm, and "decided to take matters into his own hands".

I did notice first thing. The media will always try to spin the good guy into a maniac. How sorry is that?

The sad part is those two young men will get some kind of probation for being minors and will be back at it next week.

The Annoyed Man wrote:Maybe this was our own longtooth?

Edited to add: meaning he was the pastor, not the burglar!

That's the first thing I thought!

Chas.

Guess these bad guys missed Church when they were growing up.