Why Not?

It won't do any harm to anyone, so why shouldn't I? The music industry is already way overpaid; it doesn't matter if I pirate a few CDs. Going five mph over the speed limit won't make me a hazard, besides, everyone else does it anyway.

When I hear words like this, I feel a little like a fuming Thoroughbred, chomping on the bit before a race, especially when the person speaking claims to be a Christian. Why? Because we shouldn't think like that. Romans 13:1-2 says, “Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.  Therefore, whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves.” We are to obey the government and follow its laws with only one exception – if the law directly contradicts what God has ordered (biblical examples include the Hebrew midwives in Egypt, Peter and John in Acts 4, and Daniel).

You can argue all day about whether pirated music harms or doesn't harm anyone, but that shouldn't be the point. That's the language the world uses to argue for or against pornography and homosexual marriage. The point should be what God says, period.

In 1 Peter 2:13-16, Peter agrees with Paul by saying, “Therefore, submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether the king as supreme, or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men – as free, yet not using the liberty as a cloak for wickedness, but as bondservants of God.” As Christians, we are free. Jesus paid it all, and it doesn't matter what we do in this life, our eternal destiny is secure. Does that mean we should go sin it up? Paul says, “By no means!” We are to be sanctified, set apart, different from the world. A non-christian should be able to look at any one of us in any situation and see that we are not like them. The world is constantly looking for reasons to hate us and say that we are hypocrites. If they look at us, and we are just like them, they have their reason, and we have one more soul that may never know the truth because we made life on this side look just like life on that side. That's why not.