Is vandalism acceptable if it’s in the name of evangelism?
A video going viral shows an unidentified man atop a Los Angeles billboard, paint can in hand, carefully covering the word "not" on a sign that reads "Jesus is not God."
With the skyline of LA behind him, the man transforms the controversial message into a proclamation of traditional Christian faith:
The original billboard is part of a campaign by World's Last Chance, a religious group that describes itself as non-denominational volunteers preparing for the return of Christ. Their billboards, which have appeared in California, Georgia, and other states, challenge mainstream Christian teachings on several fronts, including the deity of Jesus and the doctrine of the Trinity.
When Does Conviction Cross the Line?
The video has garnered thousands of shares and comments from Christians praising the painter's bold action. But it also raises the question: is destroying or defacing property ever justified in defense of religious belief?
On one hand, many believers feel a visceral reaction when encountering messages that contradict their deeply-held convictions about Jesus. The impulse to "correct" what they see as dangerous heresy is understandable – after all, from their perspective, souls are at stake.
On the other hand, the billboard was legally purchased and displayed. World's Last Chance paid for the advertising space to share their interpretation of Scripture, just as any church or religious organization might. The property belongs to the billboard company, and painting over it is, legally speaking, vandalism – regardless of how righteous the motivation might feel.
Why Do Most Christians Believe Jesus Is God?
To understand why this billboard strikes such a nerve, we need to rewind nearly 2,000 years to one of Christianity's most fundamental – and contentious – questions.
The belief in Jesus's divinity wasn't universally settled from the beginning. In the early 4th century, a presbyter named Arius from Alexandria, Egypt, taught that Jesus was God's first and greatest creation, but not eternal or equal to God the Father.
This teaching spread rapidly and divided the young Christian church. Emperor Constantine, concerned about a rift in the early Christian church, convened the Council of Nicaea in 325 CE to address the controversy.
Over 300 bishops gathered in what is now İznik, Turkey, for what became the first ecumenical council of the Christian church. This important meeting resulted in the Nicene Creed, an agreement that affirmed that Jesus is "of one substance" with the Father – meaning truly and fully God, not a created being.
Fun fact: the exact location of this famous council was a mystery for centuries. That is, until last year, when archaeologists finally zeroed in on the ruins of the basilica where it was held:
What Happened After the Council of Nicaea?
Interestingly, Arius refused to sign the creed. He was exiled, but the beliefs known as Arianism continued to influence parts of the empire for decades afterward.
For mainstream Christians today – whether Catholic, Orthodox, or most Protestant denominations – the divinity of Jesus is non-negotiable. It's considered essential to Christian salvation: if Jesus were merely a created being, his death couldn't atone for humanity's sins. The belief that God himself took on human flesh, suffered, died, and rose again is the heart of traditional Christian theology.
Yet not all who identify as Christian accept the Nicene formulation. World's Last Chance is part of a small but persistent tradition of non-Trinitarian Christianity.
Modern denominations sometimes associated with Arian-influenced teachings include Jehovah's Witnesses and certain branches of the Messianic Jewish movement (though many understandably avoid the term "Arian" because of its… historically negative connotations).
Vandalism vs. Evangelism
When you understand this history, it’s easier to see why the billboard video went viral. But does that make the vandal’s actions right? It's one thing to feel that someone's religious message is wrong or even harmful – it's another to silence it.
There's also the matter of precedent. If it's acceptable to vandalize a billboard you disagree with, where does that end? Could atheists paint over Christian billboards? Could Muslims deface signs promoting other faiths?
Where do you stand? Does religious conviction justify defacing property that promotes what many Christians consider “false teaching”? Or is it important to defend the right of all groups – even those we vehemently disagree with – to share their interpretations of faith?
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