That is the Question To Burn or not toBurn:
Illustration based on Adam and Eve. Dürer in America: His Graphic Work, Charles W. Talbot, editor. (New York: Macmillan, 1971) with apologies to the artist.
By Jess Norton
H I G H E R
T H I N G S __ 4
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veryone wonders whether or not it is ethical or Christian to share music by burning copies of CDs that they do not own or by illegally downloading music from the Internet.
Even if you disagree with the laws, we as Christians are commanded by the Bible to submit to the laws of the land that God has established.This is made clear in the first two verses of Romans 13, which say,“Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment” If the law of man is set in place through the authority of God then for us to go against such a law is clearly un-Christian. It is not only an offense to the state but to God as well. Human laws bind the Christian. We should also consider whether or not the Bible says anything else concerning the subject.The Seventh Commandment admonishes men not to steal. So we should also consider if making copies of CDs or pirating music from the Internet is really stealing. Suppose that you have been working very hard for five years to build an invention that is all your own.You are about to get a patent on it and begin to gain an income from all of your very hard work. Someone comes along and copies your pattern without your knowing it and passes the pattern around so that everyone can have their own version of your invention without paying for it.That would not only upset you, but it would also hurt you financially. It would mean that you had wasted the time that you had given to the project expecting to gain a profit from it.The future income that you anticipated was taken from you. It is in a sense as if the people who stole your invention stole from your future.They took what was yours from you before you even got to enjoy it. Music is very much like an invention because every time it is played, it is slightly different. Even if sheet music is used, there can be many quite different interpretations of the same piece of music. Each recording that musicians make is their own invention. No one else can play it quite like they do.Their style and abilities are unique to them, just as any invention is the physical outflow of the inventor’s unique thoughts.This can be seen in the various bands that have their own distinctive sound and in various singers who have a style like no one else does. For example, no one sounds quite like Frank Sinatra or like Elvis or The Beatles.While they can be imitated, they can never be replaced because they are each special and have a sound that is particular to them and to no one else. Musicians practice and work very hard to develop their own style and skill.They are working with the hopes of gaining a profit.
