[shimshimheyxD]

As Christians, as those purchased by the blood of Jesus Christ, we are slaves no more to sin but instead we are slaves to righteousness. Read the Scriptures and search your hearts as you pray, and I am sure God will help you make the transition from illegal downloader to law-abiding citizen.

I have heard many arguments for downloading, but they all are excuses to cover up the sin of stealing. Some of you might say downloading .mp3s is not a big deal, and in a certain sense you are right. There are much bigger things to be concerned about: spreading the gospel, feeding the poor, praying for healing in our church. But the reason that downloading becomes an issue is that people treat is as nothing, as trivial, when in fact it is stealing. So, to treat sin so lightly surely disappoints our God.

Here are the various excuses people have come up with.

[1] I can't afford to buy all the CDs. Besides, I only want 2 or 3 songs on the disc. Why should I waste money buying the whole album?

My Response - I cannot afford to buy a Ferrari, but surely I should not steal one. This is called LIFE, people. We will not always be able to buy everything we want. Live with it. As a Christian.

[2] Everyone's doing it. And by everyone, I mean millions of people. It can't be wrong if that many people are doing it.

My Response - Millions of people believe in Islam. Need I say more?

[3] I'm not selling the .mp3s or anything like that, so I'm not really hurting anybody. I'm just "sharing" files.

Response - Owning something you did not purchase is stealing. And yes, every .mp3 we download hurts an artist, a producer, a truck driver who delivers CDs to stores, a poor artist who worked on the label design, an avg. salary worker who mixed the tracks, and hundreds of others involved in making just one album. Many people are affected by your .mp3 (and movie) downloading.

In short, downloading .mp3s is ILLEGAL against the government and SIN against God. It is stealing. Period. No matter what justification you come up for it, it is stealing. Will you miss your free music? Sure. Will you have many less songs to put illegally on your ipod? Yes. Will you have a clear conscience before God Almighty? Yes. Will you stand out as a Christian who refuses to conform to the rest of the world in their stealing? Yes. Will you be a light for Jesus Christ as you don't even get tempted by such a small, pathetic temptation such as .mp3 downloading? We hope so.

I know that this will take time for you. But be quick. I had to wrestle with my conscience when I was in college and the downloading craze with Napster had begun. But after much prayer, God freed me from my sinful habit and I erased every single illegal file on my computer and threw away all the blank CDs that I had ripped from friends. To this day, I do not own or download or share a single illegal file. I do make backups of CDs I have purchased or songs that I got legally from iTunes.

Here's a simple test to know your heart. If I asked you to walk into a music store in the mall and put one of the CDs into your backpack and walk out of the store without paying for that CD, would you find that absolutely wrong? Downloading is the same as putting a disc into your backpack and walking out of the store. The only difference is that downloading is a more cowardly, anonymous way of getting things you didn't purchase. It takes guts to walk into a store and walk out with a stolen item. But with a computer, it's so easy, so available, and so cowardly. Every time you think negatively about someone who robs a bank or someone who steals something, you are pointing a finger at yourself.

I believe that Christians have become so numb, so used to downloading, that they have lost all sensitivity to the sin of stealing songs. It is not even sin to many of you. The church that represents Christ, sadly has not even addressed this issue. We are just like the world in this respect. We are not set apart for God and specially dedicated to Him in this respect. We have joined the world and become like the world instead of our Savior.

As praise team members, you are called to be examples. We as humans will make many mistakes and commit sins in our future, but anytime that we can make the right decisions, we must fight to do so. That is the Christian life. It is God's grace empowering us to live obediently. And slowly but surely, we will become holier and more obedient because the faith that saves us results in obedience.

I leave you with one question: Does illegal downloading glorify God?


I got this email from my pastor. Can you all help me and find loopholes and arguements?
Thxs.

Venice Note: Try to make logical posts, please.