Is it a sin if you don’t pay back what you’ve stolen? Like I used to copy movies and, well, that’s stealing, but I don’t feel like paying back what I copied. Isn’t that why Jesus dies for our sins?<\/p>\n\t
Repentance from sin means making a complete turn around in your attitude and behavior toward sin. Paul said he “declared first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem, and throughout all the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance<\/em>” (Acts 26:20).<\/p>\n A part of the change is a desire to fix problems that you may have caused when sinning. “For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death. For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner: What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication! In all things you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter<\/em>” (II Corinthians 7:10-11). Zacchaeus demonstrated this when he turned to Jesus. “Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold<\/em>” (Luke 19:8). Zacchaeus declared that if he wrongfully took money from someone, he would return to that person four times what he stole. The Jewish Law only required that a thief return 20% more, but we can see Zacchaeus’ zeal in wanting to change because he was willing to do more than the law required. Of course, there would be many whom Zacchaeus would not remember or not able to restore. For these, Zacchaeus declared he would take half of what he had and give it to the poor. Perhaps those he stole from would benefit, but in this manner, he removed the ill-gotten profits from his own household.<\/p>\n If you copied things you shouldn’t have, the best thing to do is get rid of the copies. If there are things that you really like, go out and buy a legitimate copy of it so that the ones producing the material are able to benefit from their labors. Spread the word why taking things without permission is wrong and thus demonstrate by your attitude and behavior that you want to do what is right before God.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: Is it a sin if you don’t pay back what you’ve stolen? Like I used to copy movies and, well, that’s stealing, but I don’t feel like paying back what I copied. Isn’t that why Jesus dies for our sins? Answer: Repentance from sin means making a complete turn around in your attitude and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[551,526],"class_list":["post-9165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-reputation","tag-stealing"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":52519,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/im-not-sure-if-my-thoughts-are-sin\/","url_meta":{"origin":9165,"position":0},"title":"I’m not sure if my thoughts are sin","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 2, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I saw a website that makes going to heaven seem really difficult. I have religious OCD and I get blasphemous thoughts constantly and repent all day long. Some of the thoughts feel like I want them. What should I do? If I'm not sure if my thoughts are really\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":22926,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-godly-sorrow-and-how-can-a-wheelchair-bound-person-be-baptized\/","url_meta":{"origin":9165,"position":1},"title":"What is godly sorrow and how can a wheelchair-bound person be baptized?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 6, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I plan to be baptized as soon as I feel that I have properly obeyed the prerequisite commands to baptism: Hear the gospel, believe the gospel, repent of past sins, confess that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of\u00a0 God, and after being baptized remaining faithful until death. Which\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":21727,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-i-turn-myself-in-for-the-sins-i-did-in-the-past\/","url_meta":{"origin":9165,"position":2},"title":"Should I turn myself in for the sins I did in the past?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 15, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: For some time now, my guilty conscience has reminded me of several crimes that I have committed in the past. The felonies include physical abuse, shoplifting, illegal file sharing and perhaps other things. I was caught red-handed for shoplifting once. However, I was only convicted for that one time.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":44561,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/im-afraid-my-past-stealing-will-come-back-to-haunt-me\/","url_meta":{"origin":9165,"position":3},"title":"I’m afraid my past stealing will come back to haunt me","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 4, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, Please, I am 15 years old, in school and I have stolen. I took someone's card details and bought some items for myself. I went to the person and told him, but I only told him about three items and paid him back while there were four items.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":18425,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-many-days-after-apologizing-do-we-have-to-stop-committing-a-sin-for-god-to-forgive-us\/","url_meta":{"origin":9165,"position":4},"title":"How many days after apologizing do we have to stop committing a sin for God to forgive us?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 16, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: How many days after apologizing do we have to stop committing a sin for God to forgive us? Answer: You seem to have a mistaken idea. When you realize that you are sinning, you should immediately stop. \"For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":67998,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/when-should-the-treasurer-be-allowed-to-teach-after-stealing-from-the-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":9165,"position":5},"title":"When should the treasurer be allowed to teach after stealing from the church?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 9, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Our treasurer stole from our church. She has repented but hasn't made restitution. She wants to teach. What does the Bible say about this? Answer: A part of repentance is attempting to repair the damage caused by your sins. Paul \"kept declaring ... that they should repent and turn\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9165"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9165\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}