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A good thief?

N

Newkid00

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I was reading one of my books and I thought of this. Say a thief steals money from greedy, selfish people, but gives 100% of the money to people who need it(which could save their life). Would that thief counter his thievery? Would he be a 'good thief' so to speak?
 
Newkid00 said:
Would that thief counter his thievery? Would he be a 'good thief' so to speak?
Click to expand...

Morally yes, scripturally no.

(First impulse answer)
 
There is no such thing as a good thief. Its like saying there are good muslims.
 
Which means there is such a good thing as a good thief :)

Morally speaking, yeah, I'd say the theif could be considered good. If the people were truly greedy and ungrateful of their wealth...and did nothing to help others, then the theif is doing the needy a service.

Stealing is never right. No matter how undeserving of the goods the owners are, the property you are taking belongs to them. (Unless that property was taken by illegal means and thus you are "stealing" it to return it to their rightful owners.)

There are many scenarios, come to think of it. For example, we like to think of Robin Hood as a good-hearted hero who would help the poor by stealing from the selfish rich. (Who, incidentally, were rich because of the disgustingly high tax imposed on the poor. So, in essence, Robin Hood was 'returning' the money to the needy.)

I guess I could say that morally and emotionally you would regard the thief as good, but lawfully he would be labelled a criminal.

That's my two cents.
 
Oh good grief!

A good thief?

Next there will be:
. . . a good liar? . . . (well it's not really stealing - it was for a good cause) . . . perhaps
. . . a good murderer? . . . (well they deserved it coz they destroyed the life of a poor person)

yeah right :-?
 
That’s actually a brilliant question Newkid00.

Let's redress the question this way and see if we can spot the hypocrisy in the answers.

“I was reading one of my books and I thought of this. Say a patriot murders the terrorists, radical people, but saves 100s of lives who need it. Would that murderer counter his killing spree? Would he be a 'good murderer' so to speak?â€Â

Now sit back and watch as most do a 180 in the answers and close the book on what Jesus had to say about it. People use Jesus to say it's wrong to steal but they won’t use Jesus to say it's right to love your enemies.
 
Newkid00 wrote:
Say a thief steals money from greedy, selfish people, but gives 100% of the money to people who need it(which could save their life). Would that thief counter his thievery? Would he be a 'good thief' so to speak?
Click to expand...

I'd say the thief is not only stealing, which we know God disapproves of.

Thou shalt not steal Exodus 20:15

But also not trusting that God can take care of earthly things.

Jesus told us:
So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Matthew 6:31-33

We already know from Jesus, its not all about money and stuff:
Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:19-21

We should give what we have, that's a real sacrifice. It's not a sacrifice at all to take what is not yours then give that.
 
I think that there are indeed situations where stealing is "the right thing to do". I say this very grudgingly however. My reasoning: I think that the "moral law" given to us in the Scriptures was never intended to be a set of exceptionless rules to guide human behaviour. I think that God has given us a world of such complexity that such a system simply cannot work. Although I will not expound at length, I will say that I think that Jesus is saying something along these lines in the Matthew 12 text where the pharisees confront him concerning the grain-picking of the disciples.
 
And we wouldn't be stealing from the "greedy selfish people" anyways if we did love them like Jesus said we should.
 
Well, the 10 commandments doesn't say:
Thou shalt not steal ... (for exceptions see Article III Paragraph 4 under Flexibility of Moral Code.)
:-D
 
oscar3 said:
There is no such thing as a good thief. Its like saying there are good muslims.
Click to expand...

ridiculous answer. This is why many Christians are steryotyped as racist hateful people.



I would like to bring up the same thing, sort of like potluck has. If you murder someone, you are obviously in the wrong. But what if you murder a man that had a bomb and was going to blow it up in a school and kill 50 people?

What if you thieve from the rich, so the poor won't starve to death and die?

I think it sort of comes down to what the exact scenario is.
 
I agree with Veritas that if we are to love, then we love and correct the ways of the greedy and selfish and not steal from them. But I tend to agree with reservations because of the points Drew has brought up. When it comes to "preservation of life", I agree that Yashuah said one can bend the scriptural rules. For example, if a lady knocks on my door petrified and asking for refuge from thugs who are out to get her, then I can hide her and bear false witness to the thugs even though it would be breaking one of the 10 commandments. Yet I somehow feel that God is not going to jump down my throat and hold me accountable for it.
 
Newkid00 said:
Would he be a 'good thief' so to speak?
Click to expand...
In the Robin Hood story the Monk does not really a thief. But he eats from it so he has the advantage of what was gained by the theft.

In the story of Jesus the "perfume" that Mary anointed him with was said to be worth a years wages. It was actually a pain killer that even today would be very expensive and that is why they use other medicine that does not cost as much. It was said that Mary was a protitute and many people believe that the "perfume" came as the wages of her prostitution. Yet He did not stop her and so took advantage of what little comfort was made available to Him though the annointing.

Three hundred dollars is still a years wages for some women after they pay the company store for a bed to sleep in and meager food to eat. Of course in American some women charge that for one hour. So some women can make in a hour what others have to work all month for.

Anyways if someone out of guilt wants to donate the money and use it to benifit the poor that is fine. But I do not see where it would be right to be a theif in the hope that good will come out of it.
 
TanNinety said:
For example, if a lady knocks on my door petrified and asking for refuge from thugs who are out to get her, then I can hide her and bear false witness to the thugs even though it would be breaking one of the 10 commandments. Yet I somehow feel that God is not going to jump down my throat and hold me accountable for it.
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Sounds like the story of corrie tan boon who did go to a nazi death camp for trying to protect the Jewish people. Although they could have gone free if they had made a public confession of guilt.
 
PotLuck said:
Well, the 10 commandments doesn't say:
Thou shalt not steal ... (for exceptions see Article III Paragraph 4 under Flexibility of Moral Code.)
:-D
Click to expand...
With all due respect, this line of thinking is not really all that robust. The scriptures do not "say" many things. But that does not mean that they cannot be inferred. In Matthew 12, I think Jesus clearly teaches that law is not "absolute". I know that this a controversial stance to take, but I would be happy to defend it if asked. Potluck, would you or would you not "bear false witness" as per Tan's example?
 
I see very few of these "exceptions" in real life though. What I see 99% of the time is true thievery, murder and what not for personal gain. I don't think I've ever witnessed any of these other extreme circumstances of "good" in my life. Sure, I've heard of them but I hear of the more common offenses in abundance.
For the "street" I would think "thou shalt not steal" and "thou shalt not kill" do indeed apply to the fullest.
 
Drew said:
With all due respect, this line of thinking is not really all that robust. The scriptures do not "say" many things. But that does not mean that they cannot be inferred. In Matthew 12, I think Jesus clearly teaches that law is not "absolute". I know that this a controversial stance to take, but I would be happy to defend it if asked. Potluck, would you or would you not "bear false witness" as per Tan's example?
Click to expand...

See the :-D

As to Tan's example?
You darned right I would.
That's one thing. Gossip and outright lying for one's ego or to get away with something are quite another.
 
There were judges over Israel and Moses himself was burdened with judging the people. Those judges were given by God to the people who used these laws to do their work in respect to God's laws.
 
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