Today's sermon included a few lines on the robberies that have been happening within the pastor's neighborhood.

One thief was caught with a pair of navy-issued sunglasses that he stole from the pastor's car and sentenced to eight years in prison. Why, you ask? Because it is a felony offense to steal navy-issued sunglasses.

Last week we heard a lesson on forgiving seven times seven.

Okay... where is the thief's forgiveness from the pastor for stealing the sunglasses?

Why didn't the pastor forgive, forget, and or at a minimum plead for a lesser sentence?

This has had me boiling over all afternoon.

Do you know the pastor hasn't forgiven?

I can forgive somebody, it doesn't mean they won't have to pay the consequences. The pastor may not have any control over what the punishment was.

At least that is the way I read the post.

If you can't do the time, don't do the crime. I despise thieves.

Also likely the pastor could do very little if it was a case under military jurisdiction.

Forgiveness doesn't mean that the offense was ok, it means that you aren't going to seek personal retribution for it. Forgiveness allows the offended party to move on and not be hung up in their anger, resentment, fear, etc. toward the offending party. It also doesn't erase the consequences of one's actions. The pastor may have personally forgiven the thief, but once the thief was arrested and charges filed by the prosecutor, it's out of the pastor's hands. The thief still broke the law and has to pay the consequences, as set forth in the law, for that.

Seems a bit harsh I think.

Brefots,
It's only harsh if that were the theif's first offense. It's possible the theif has several theft charges against him/her, it's also possible the theif had a weapon in his/her possession, that will automatically bump the charge up from a misdemeanor to a felony. Also, if the theif was with two or more people, this also allows for a gang enhancement. There are several factors that could account for an 8 year sentence.

Email or call the pastor to explain how you feel. Pastors generally like honest feedback.

If the sunglasses were issued to a military member.... PERHAPS they're still considered Gov't property... thence a 'Federal' crime.

All state have a monetary line between misdemeanor theft & Felony theft. The severity depends on the value of the item(s) taken, and what degree (any) of force used.

the Sentence (consequence) most often depends also on the offender's prior criminal history.