Dear First Baptist Church of Abilene,I am so sorry to hear of the vandalism that happened to your property a few nights ago. Like the six or seven other downtown businesses, you must feel violated and angry. I know I would.
Vandalism is such a self-centered act that should never be condoned by anyone.
Thankfully the vandal came forward and confessed. Maybe he manned up and volunteered this information. Or maybe he was confronted by the law. Who knows.
But please, I beg of you. Use this opportunity to practice Jesus’ teachings of forgiveness. I mean hey, the WHOLE city is watching you via these news reports. What a grand opportunity to show the power of forgiveness to those who don’t follow Jesus.
I know you suffered a LOT of damage - stained glass that’s not easily replaced and so forth. But really, whining to media outlets about $50,000 to $100,000 of damage doesn’t hold water. The WHOLE city of Abilene knows that this amount of money is NOTHING to you.
Nobody is praising this guy’s actions. And I am not arguing to keep him from accountability. The law will take care of that. I mean, a third degree felony and $300,000 bond is nothing to scoff at.
But PLEASE, grab this opportunity to teach the city about forgiveness.
*photo by Victor Cristales of the ARN
4 comments:
I agree with part of your assessment of the current situation in that if you had been in attendance in the morning worship service, you would have heard exactly what you described. A plea was given to pray for the young man and all in our city who seem to find violence as a means to express themselves. What I do not agree with is the statement about the church whining to the media about the dollar amount of damage done. The media was the one who contacted the church and it was the media that questioned the dollar amount. The amount of damage done is simply a fact that the media reported, not whining by the church. In fact, it sounded like the church was more concerned about the children that were displaced in the Day Care that takes care of children from all walks of life, some from homes that have experienced violence. So one of the safe places for the children has now become not so safe. Glass can be replaced, a sense of security in a child's life is much harder to gain back.
Thanks for your input Anonymous.
Yeah, maybe "whining" wasn't the word to use. Sorry.
But after reading that first report, it struck me as whining - referring to the damage done to "God's house" as if to shame the vandal with a religion he probably doesn't follow and a religious vocabulary he doesn't use.
Or maybe if vandalizing a church building was worse than breaking the windows on a porn shop or busting out a windshield on a '78 Pinto.
Come to think of it, I wonder if our local media would even mention a porn shop vandalism...who knows.
But anyway, it sounded whiny. My apologies if it wasn't.
Though you have to admit...$50K is NOTHING to a collective of people who can spend a million $ plus to remodel their sanctuary, a million $ for HD broadcasting equipment, $900,000 for an organ, and so on.
I'm sure you guys could improvise and put the day care in the new sanctuary for the time being or something? Right?
Could it be the he was referring to God's House because that is where the vandalism occurred? If this had occurred at your home, would you respond to the media by saying that the damage was done to "my house." But I do agree that the damage to all the businesses was a shame and guess I heard his response in light of the question that was asked. And if I understand correctly they have improvised and are continuing on as normally as possible.
I guess I don't see eye to eye with you on "God's House".
My god doesn't live in a building.
Or if he did, it would be on the wrong side of the tracks with a cigar smoking bench out front.
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