Grandma Steals Baby Jesus

Status: True
image Virginia Voiers, a 70-year-old grandmother, has been charged with stealing baby Jesus from a nativity scene in Eureka Springs, Arkansas.

"It was a lark, it wasn't any serious stealing,'' Voiers told the Lovely County Citizen newspaper of Eureka Springs. "My granddaughter commented that no one had taken the baby Jesus this year and said, 'Grandma?' I said, 'Oh, what the heck.''' Usually, the baby Jesus is returned by the thief. Voiers said her Saturday caper was the first time she'd taken anything from the nativity. "I didn't know we had a tattletale downtown,'' said Voiers, who is also a Sunday school teacher at a Methodist church.

She got caught because a security camera had been installed to catch pranksters in the act. In other words, the entire theft was filmed. I'd love to see that video.

Pranks Religion

Posted on Sun Dec 04, 2005



Comments

It amazes me that a Sunday school teacher would actually steal. Let alone steal baby Jesus from the local nativity scene. Or don't Sunday school teachers have the same morals as other church staff?

But it would be interesting to see the video!
Posted by Smerk  on  Sun Dec 04, 2005  at  10:12 PM
Yes, I thought to be a Sunday School teacher, you had to lack a sense of a humour?
Posted by Nettie  on  Mon Dec 05, 2005  at  01:33 AM
Good one Nettie. 😊 What you need to be a Sunday School teacher is a sheep mentality, which Grandma has. "I thought stealing was tradition."

(Note to the sensitive: I'm mostly joking)
Posted by Steph  on  Mon Dec 05, 2005  at  06:07 AM
Where is Bill O'Reilly, "the only one who will stand up for the Baby Jesus," when you need him?
Posted by Cranky Media Guy  on  Mon Dec 05, 2005  at  06:14 PM
The city of Eureka Springs, AR has a nativity display? Have they read the First Amendment?

I'd sure be complaining if my tax dollars were paying for a security camera to protect a city-owned religious display.
Posted by Joe  on  Mon Dec 05, 2005  at  08:21 PM
OOps--I didn't read the whole article, but only the first sentence that referred to "stealing the baby Jesus from the city's nativity scene."

Apparently a sorority owns it and the security camera.
Posted by Joe  on  Mon Dec 05, 2005  at  09:02 PM
:lol:
I know Virginia and she is a good hearted fun woman who would never "steal". Seems she WAS caught "taking" it... more like she was "BORROWING" it.... Jimmy Kimmel Live was downtown filming it live tonight. We are a nice fun li'l Arkansas town and we know how to have more fun than anyone else on earth. This is the best "accidental" advertising for tourism than our million dollar ad agency could/would EVER do.
Y'all come see us sometime and you'll see what I mean. Just don't steal Jesus... LOL!!
Posted by Madame Theresa  on  Mon Dec 12, 2005  at  10:39 PM
Madame Theresa said:

"I know Virginia and she is a good hearted fun woman who would never "steal". Seems she WAS caught "taking" it... more like she was "BORROWING" it...."

Well, that may have been her intent. Unfortunately, the law says that taking something that doesn't belong to you is THEFT. If the church thinks that she was just having fun, why didn't they just tell that to the local cops? If the victim didn't want to press charges, they probably would have been dropped, especially in a small town.
Posted by Cranky Media Guy  on  Tue Dec 13, 2005  at  12:50 AM
Yes, it was what it was, unfortunately... and no, they will not probably drop any charges. She hasn't asked them to. The woman is a woman of grace and will accept her punnishment and go on from there; she contributes more to society here than any maximum fine will, and even that will help the city coffers if they impose it. Should community service be isuued as well, we can count on her to perform all of that plus some.
This is an "old woman gone temporarily wacked"...(I doubt she'd even USE that as an excuse; she's pretty graceful and humble about accepting her punnishment) not a meth manufacturer looking to find mercy in the court, like we have so much of in this country! This is life's classic example of taking your lemons and making lemonade. That is not illegal...yet...LOL!
Posted by Madame Theresa  on  Tue Dec 13, 2005  at  11:28 AM
Madame Theresa said:

"This is an "old woman gone temporarily wacked"...(I doubt she'd even USE that as an excuse; she's pretty graceful and humble about accepting her punnishment) not a meth manufacturer looking to find mercy in the court, like we have so much of in this country!"

While this is by no means the Crime of the Century or anything, the fact remains that she did steal something. The comparisin to meth manufacturers is irrelevant. If you owned a store and the same old lady stole something from your shelves, would you be willing to just let her go (assuming you didn't know her personally, of course) just because her theft wasn't comparable to meth making?

Or look at it this way: someone robs a bank. Should we say, "Well, it wasn't murder so let's just let them go"? There's ALWAYS something worse to compare things to.

No, I don't think the old lady needs to go to jail but I also think you're looking for ways to excuse what she did because you happen to know her. If the theft was committed by some teenage boys, would you be quite so lenient?
Posted by Cranky Media Guy  on  Tue Dec 13, 2005  at  05:21 PM
maybe it's because she's family, but mrs. voiers is one totally awesome woman, and it's not like most small towns don't have traditions that involve breaking the law.
Three of the cops that arrested her were LAUGHING, because they knew about this tradition. before, the baby Jesus has shown up in oklahoma and in multiple other places.
2) the manger scene is not set up by the city itself, just so everyone knows.

it may be offensive to some, but anyone in small town alabama has no problem with it- it's called lovely county for a reason.
Posted by a silly young girl  on  Sat Dec 24, 2005  at  04:49 PM
a silly young girl said, "it may be offensive to some, but anyone in small town alabama has no problem with it- it's called lovely county for a reason."

somehow, i doubt the validity of anything you say since... we're talking about Arkansas and not Alabama which is a little further than just a few miles down the road.

on that note, the fact that the nativity scene was owned by sorority intrigues me. you would think that a sorority would understand the concept of a prank. after all, stealing the baby jesus seems to be a yearly thing in this town.

and while you cant compare it to dealing meth. you also cant counter that statement by comparing it to stealing something from a bank or grocery sore either. people who steal from banks and grocery stores actually get something they want; money, food, condoms... someone who steals a baby jesus from a nativity scene, especially when its an old lady is going to have no use for that item. what the hell are you going to do with a baby jesus anyway? buy meth, i think...
Posted by FoxPhyre  on  Thu Jan 05, 2006  at  02:11 AM
Looks like you folks don't quite get it. This "stealing" of the baby jesus has been a prank that has been going on in Eureka for years. It is simply taken for a while and then returned. No one is harmed..not even baby Jesus..in fact it gives him a chance to get out and see the world. This year pranksters started adding more babies to the scene... obviously some people have a sense of humor about the whole thing. I'd heard through the grapevine that someone was thinking of taking him on a trip to europe a few years ago..and sending back photos. Relax people..it's not really baby Jesus..it's just a plastic likeness.
Posted by laura  on  Tue Jan 16, 2007  at  02:20 PM
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