Is using software without a license "stealing"?
This question was recently asked by the good folks over at Logos who have experienced more than their share of stealing software. I answer the post with the following comments:
Questions of software piracy and Christian ethics are a relatively new question for most of us. The definition of “stealing” has always been a bit obscure when it comes to matters of faith. For example, the Bible says that not tithing is actually stealing. I am a pastor, but I have never accused anyone of breaking this sin of stealing by not tithing what they owe God. Perhaps part of the reason why it is easy to “steal” in our culture is that much stealing is against “companies” which are large and anonymous and everyone assumes have plenty of money (and maybe even insurance). But on the other hands, I know students at a nearby seminary who are struggling to get through on almost nothing, and if came down to paying their bills or “stealing” a Bible program, I think they would choose the latter as the lesser of two evils. I don’t know?
I would say that this is a bad illustration … because Christians are not required to tithe. Malachi 3 doesn’t apply to us; it says “test me in this” … in this situation, for this people, for this time, in this instance. It is not a universal text, but for a time. Furthermore, if it was, then Christians are robbing God if they give less than the 3 required tithes from the Old Testament PLUS offerings … which is over 23%, not ten.
There is no doubt that the lack of the term “tithe” is conspicuously absent from the NT (in for example the NIV). Of course it was a major institution at some point in Israel’s history (as witnessed through 31 instances in OT). It appears that it was also still in place in Jesus’ time: (1) Matthew 23:23 is a woe to the Pharisees because they tithe but neglect other parts of the Law (cf. Luke 11:42); (2) the prayer of the Pharisee who thanked God for his willingness to tithe (Luke 18:11) as shows the continued existence of the institution in the life of Jesus; (3) There is reference to it in Hebrews 7:5, 6, 8, 9.
As you stated, there are at least 3 tithes in the OT–which could have meant 23% based on the overlap in calendar and timing of each tithe.
But in spite of the fact, the OT institution of the temple and priesthood was destroyed by the Romans and replaced by Rabbinic Judaism that does not mean that Christians stopped following commandments regarding gift/tithes/offerings to God. In fact, there is every indication in Acts that the early Christians shared tremendous amounts of their wealth. Who knows if they practiced the actual “tithe,” but it is very likely that Malachi 3:8 or 3:10 may not have been far from the lips of early Christian teachers and leaders, even though it is not found in the NT. There are many examples of Christians being called upon to make tremendous sacrifices/gifts ([a] Paul’s Jerusalem offering for the poor being one example; [b] the women who supported Jesus in his ministry being another; [c] not to mention the offerings that are continually presented to God in the apocalyptic descriptions in Revelation; [d] etc.)
I think it is quite possible that the failure of NT writers to mention something like the tithe could have been because their relationship with Roman. People tithing to the church and not to Rome might have been represented a threat to their existence. The need for the tithe might have been minuscule in the early days of the church because so many Christians believed in a imminent appearing of Christ.
My point is that while there is no scripture that says in the NT, “Christians must tithe!” This does not mean that the commandment Malachi or other places in the scripture is not applicatory to the life of 21st century Christians (particularly Americans who control much of the world’s financial resources).
In my mind, the fact that Jesus was willing to die such a painful and sacrificial death for Christians, it would not be out of the question for churches to call upon its people to give in obedience to the commandments of scripture including passages like Mal. 3:8, 10. I think at the heart of this kind of application of passages such as Mal. 3:8, 10 is the authority that many Christians fail to consider of the OT which is due to: (1) the Reformation hermeneutic that seems to place the OT/Law in an adversarial role compared to the NT/grace; (2) a failure to see the OT-NT intertextual/scriptural authority that early Christians were willing to place upon the OT; (3) an over-abundance of the “old” perspective hermeneutic in place in most churches today that sees books like Malachi as not only out-dated but irrelevant to the life of a NT Christian. I think these questions must be thought through afresh in the light of passages such “all scripture is God breathed…” which refers not to the NT but the OT scriptures (which could have included passages like Mal 3:8, 10).
This post was chosen for the inaugural (and experimental) This Week in Early Writings.
I get nervous when Christians get into these situations where they agonise over something that no normal person worries about. It makes following Christ a burden, and achieves nothing.
Few people consider that getting a copy of some software from work is stealing. After all, nothing tangible changes hands and (in honesty) none of us can afford to buy this software anyhow at the inflated prices advertised (which corporates, of course, do not pay anyway). There is no loss to anyone, unless we take seriously the pretence of the industry that copies that they could never sell are in some way “lost revenue.”
Copyright, after all, is not a moral principle of itself. It is merely a convention which was brought in so that people would be able to profit from their labours (quite rightly) and has since been extended to a degree unthinkable even a century ago.
I would suggest that this is all an issue on which Christians, as Christians, have no special opinion. We must not steal, certainly. On the other hand we need not make it a matter of excommunication to backup a music CD to play on our iPod (technically illegal tho this is). Let’s not erect an edifice of works here. Not even of “Ms. Works (c) (r) ™”.
As a software developer I would frown upon people stealing software I created, as it is my bread and butter. However, the software development community might be the most hypocritical group on earth right next to lawyers. Software developers steal more software than everyone else combined (a made up statistic used for dramatic effect).
On a side note, Logos is the most overpriced piece of crap program I have ever seen. If christian’s were as motivated as teenage hackers in Germany, you could have a superior program for absolutely free.