“The Day The Music Died”

Friday, September 18, 2015

Over the years, I have downloaded music off of the internet for my family and myself.  I know that within the past few years that the laws have gotten stricter on that subject.  I am not sure how many songs I have that would be consider "not legal" due to all of the rules.  Also, I know that years ago almost everyone would use tape recorders to record music off of the radio, and no one really ever said anything about that.  I was thinking of deleting everything that I have. I do not want to break God’s law, but the more I think about it, I know that it would be near impossible to figure out what would be "legal" and what would not be.  I hate to lose my songs that I grew up on.  I was thinking that I would just not download any more unless I was sure that it was legal and just keep what I have now.  Is that okay?  I am so confused because I also have a bad case of "OCD" that makes me think about things too much.  I want to do what God wants. Would God really want me to delete everything or just be careful from now on and keep what I have because I would not be able to separate the legal from the non-legal?  Also, with the way laws are, what is legal today will not be legal tomorrow, so it is like a never-ending battle keeping up with it.  I don't care about the law of this world; I only care about God's law.

Sincerely, Soundly Confused

Dear Soundly Confused,

Pirated music is definitely illegal, and you are right in being concerned about the morality of it. If you were stealing the CDs from a retail store, you would return them no matter how much work it took. We must keep in mind that just because it is more socially acceptable to steal music through online sites, that doesn’t make it any less of a moral issue.

The first and most important thing is that you steal no more (Eph 4:28). You have already committed to this, and it is commendable. After that, you must deal with the rest of your music collection in a way that allows you to feel comfortable legally and have a clear conscience. If you have any songs that you know are illegal – delete them. This also means that if someone makes you aware at a later date that some of your music is pirated, you should be ready to delete it then. Take the attitude of Zacchaeus who was ready to make restitution for his past wrongs whenever possible (Lk 19:8). It is true that government regulations are always changing, but we are still bound by them (Rom 13:1-2).

You also mentioned that you are “OCD” on this subject. That is probably a sign that your conscience is bothered by you having this music. If you can’t do something in faith, it is sin (Rom 14:23). It is very important that we keep a clear conscience in all that we do (Acts 23:1). If you are bothered by the music collection, it is better to delete it all and suffer a loss than to keep it (Matt 18:8-9). It may feel like a drastic choice, but it would be well worth the loss of both your legal and illegal music if it purified your conscience (1 Pet 2:19).

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