Downloading .mp3s

[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.

[Xice_God]

i dont think that god should talk about internet, sharing files and especially child porn(their specialty)

[Snagg]

Here's an argument.

Downloading mp3s actually helps many artists. Some people believe it or not still buy CDs. MP3s allows artists to become known much more quickly and therefore, more people will buy their CDs.

For me when I download mp3s, it does not hurt anybody because I would not have bought the CD anyways. If I liked the artist, I would have bought the CD. There are so many CDs I have bought simply because I loved their songs which I downloaded.

True, artists are affected by mp3 downloading, but they are affected both positively and negatively.

Many artists have mp3 downloading to thank for becoming known to the world.

[Sly]

Just search "Artic Monkey's" on Google and theres enough of an example to prove him wrong.

[EEX_ca_aok]

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

I'm an atheist, so I shouldn't even give a damm, but that's one of the most ignorant posts I've ever seen. How about you go kill yourself so you can be with your non-existant god? Nobody says your religion is right, and the fact that you're using religion as an excuse is pathetic. The entire world is not Christian, and so using a commandment as an argument is ignorant and wrong.

Artists don't benefit that much from CD sales, as at least 80% of the profit goes to the CD publishers. The artists make most of their money from the record deal itself, not the sales.

Pirating games and movies is actually much more harmful than downloading mp3s.

[Snagg]

Artists also make a bulk of their money in tours and concerts, and free songs help advertise that.

[SouLess]

I hope he realizes that a ton of people still buy CDs. In fact, CD sales are pretty high right now.

The fact is, most people that download CDs wouldn't of boughten the CD anyway. For example; Someone tell me to listen to Band X. I've never heard of them, and without being able to download MP3s, I would have to take a chance by spending 15+ on the CD. But with the wonderful world of the internet, I can download it. If I like it, I'll likely pick it up next time I get the cash or next time I'm at a record store, and will most likely buy whatever other CDs that I didn't download of theirs, as well as all the new releases as they came out. If I don't like it? Big deal, I won't bother with any of the other music.

[CelestialBadger]

How about you go kill yourself so you can be with your non-existant god? Nobody says your religion is right, and the fact that you're using religion as an excuse is pathetic. The entire world is not Christian, and so using a commandment as an argument is ignorant and wrong.

Way to show that you didn't actually read the entire post.

[EEX_ca_aok]

That's a loophole in the email right there... wtf are you talking about?

[B)ushid(o]

Well, since it was your pastor who sent the email, I assume that he was directing it towards other Christians, therefore arguments directed at the validity of Christian beliefs holds no water because the email was directed at Christians (of the same denomination, I assume, as well).

Also, he mainly addresses the belief that file sharing is not stealing, to which all arguments derived from how downloading helps artists, how CD sales are still high, etc. are null because it doesn't disprove his main point on how downloading music is illegal and sinful and only counters his third point.

Downloading music is technically a criminal offense and a violation of the Ten Commandments. You could argue that it's sharing because people partake of the same music, but then the obvious counter would be that it's unauthorized duplication.

[CelestialBadger]

wtf are you talking about?

He didn't even write any of that and you're telling him to kill himself... makes sense.

[x42bn6]

I think we all know that downloading MP3s that are illegal are, well, illegal. But so is sex before marriage, and I think that most teenagers, Christian or otherwise, suck at that too.

Some succumb to pleasure and temptation more easily than others.*

[Jimbo]

With the release of mp3 players, nobody buys cd's after they dl music.

[Knox]

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

Wow, after reading that do what EEX_ca_aok said, please go kill yourself so you can be with your God.

This entire thread is retarded. He is basically trying to use a arguement that dosen't apply to even half of the world. "GOD SAYS IT IS WRONG SO DONT DO IT LOLZ"

It's also taught by the Church that masturbation is wrong. Are you still all that holy?

[Laharl]

Actually downloading mp3's isn't illegal in Canada.

[Dragnskull]

its only illigal if you get cought in america.

[Tipsy]

I really don't see downloading files from the internet as wrong or sinful for that matter. It's not different to me than a friend buying a CD and burning me a copy, or a friend buying photoshop and installing a copy on my computer, or any other number of things. For most of these things, someone did buy the product and they aren't stealing it. What big difference is there between sharing it with a friend, a family member, or a complete stranger? Does a difference in familiarity change it? I really don't see a coherent moral argument against downloading files that others have bought, be it Christian or secular.

The only thing I could possible see as stealing would be downloading something that someone else physical stole. Though, to the best of my knowledge, most music, movies, programs, etc on Kazaa, Napster, Bit Torrent, you name it, were bought by someone.

Also, keep in mind, divine law and secular law don't always go with each other. Calling it stealing by government laws doesn't neccesarily make it stealing in divine law.

[TrOiK]

Honestly as people from this forum and in a civilians life not lucky enough to make the big time not gifted with a natural talent they have enough money as it So who cares **** them they're probably millionnairs OMG I LOSE MILLIONS AND MAKE EVEN MORE THAN IM LOSEING.

[shimshimheyxD]

Originally Posted by T_

Honestly as people from this forum and in a civilians life not lucky enough to make the big time not gifted with a natural talent they have enough money as it So who cares **** them they're probably millionnairs OMG I LOSE MILLIONS AND MAKE EVEN MORE THAN IM LOSEING.

this is actually very true. And what people have said, they go to like 40concerts each year, and at least like 1000 people are there. 30 dollar tickets and 1000 people = 30000 $$.. then 30,000 x 40 concerts = 1,200,000.. .. then making profit from cd sales which is like 30,000++.. They sell posters, action figure, t-shirts, videos, clothings, and more which is probably 50,000++.. So they are making more than 100,000 dollars. So wtf are they complaining about.

[Venice_native]

If you had the choice, would you want one dollar, or five?