When I had been married only a few months, my wife and I left our house to run some errands. We were gone for just over an hour and returned to find that we had been burglarized - or “burgled,” as some might say. Someone had hurled a rock through the back door, gone through our things, and stolen my wife’s jewelry (primarily Navajo and Zuni pieces she bought when she taught on the reservations in New Mexico and Arizona).

The sentimental value of the jewelry was significant but, being resilient and sensible, she only said that we and the cat were safe and that everything else could be replaced. We both were left with a dirty feeling, however: we had been violated. Someone had crossed our boundaries contrary to our wills and taken from us something - perhaps a false sense of safety and inviolability - that could not be replaced.

Almost 27 years later, there are still times when my wife and I come home to an empty house and, in the back of our minds, wonder what we will find. True, we do have two ninety-pound dogs inside but they are of such a nature that they would likely help find things if the thief would give them a dog biscuit first.

I felt a similar - in some ways deeper and more personal - emotion a few days ago after posting a comment on (where else?) a Christian blog. Mine was the second comment and raised some issues and put forth a perspective not mentioned in the post or the other comment. My comment popped up immediately; no other comments were made that day (I know: I am narcissistic enough to go back and check to see if anyone has expressed great appreciation for the obvious wisdom and insight I have displayed).

The following day I did find an additional comment, this one from the owner of the blog. His comment was eerily familiar at some points: he had not only presented my views as though they were his own but had not been courteous enough to at least say that his thoughts were similar (although not triggered by) my own. The feeling of theft, however, came from this: he had clearly written his comment at least twenty-four hours after mine (since it did not appear until the following day) but had changed the time stamp to make it seem that he had left his comment two minutes before I had posted mine. I, too, use WordPress and this is quite easy to do.

The net result is that my comment looks redundant and as though written by someone oblivious to what others have said - which I sometimes am, I suppose, but not in this case. I emailed the individual and asked for my comment to be removed but it has not been. Too much trouble, I guess: it takes two clicks of a mouse to delete a comment in WP.

The (perceived? actual?) theft was of intellectual property; unlike material goods, ideas and thoughts cannot be replaced once stolen. Intellectual property rights are something I find too many Christians too ready to ignore. Perhaps they rationalize that “all truth is God’s truth” and they don’t have to honor another’s original thoughts. Maybe they feel that being “no respecter of persons” is an attribute of God that is particularly applicable to ideas and thoughts. Or maybe they are just thieves with consciences seared as with a branding iron.

I must confess (at least to the possibility) that this offense stung more because this is a young, rising, American Christian-Idol-wannabe, another of the fake-it-til-you-make-it pretty boys that are so popular with the hero-worshiping masses of our subculture. I, on the other had, have all the appeal of an Old Testament prophet. I don’t think it’s the youth that troubles me - I don’t feel this way about other young men (I don’t compete with women in this testosterone-driven fashion) and, in fact, do what I can to help them become more successful. And I don’t think it’s his looks that I resent, either: I’ve never liked smarmy smiles and fatuous faces. He is pretty, though.

No, it is the theft itself that troubles me, and it is a personal (primarily, I confess) and corporate injury that I feel. I have dealt with non-Christians who have done the same but (a) I don’t have the same standard for them, and (b) they don’t act so arrogant and smug about it. It’s as though they have a clearer sense of right and wrong than corresponding Christian thieves.

As alluded to previously, the theft also troubles me because I get the feeling that this individual is trying to achieve a place of prominence in Christian pop culture. He is quite the sycophant when dealing with the recognizable elite of Christendom but doesn’t seem to have a lot of time for the hoi polloi, which includes me.

This is the heart of the corporate injury I feel. I have been a believer for more than thirty adult years and have seen the shame brought upon the name of Christ by people with great form and no substance. “These are the men who are hidden reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you without fear, caring for themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead, uprooted; wild waves of the sea, casting up their own shame like foam; wandering stars . . .” They will be held responsible for their exploitation of others; we will be accountable for our glorying in them and veritable worship of them.

If I were more given over to bitterness, I would stop putting fresh ideas and things online. It only invites theft, it seems. I’m not so bitter, though, so I’ll continue to put things out there and run the risk. To be honest, my contributions are not that outstanding and no one is going to get rich from my ideas. Hopefully, though, a few will be helped from time to time by my words.

I am, however, just angry enough to stop reading such a thief. Who needs another prick of one’s sensibilities? I have more than enough already.


2 Cor 1.13