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[alyssa_koay]

1.
You get in the car and you're in a hurry. Work starts at 8 but you're already late. Your boss hasn't been too impressed with the projects you've worked up lately, and you've just gotten off the phone with your mother about her pestering neighbor. You fly through a red light after determining for yourself that it's safe considering there was only an old man trying to cross the road. You take on the freeway at well above the speed limit and then you see the flashing blue lights slowly gaining on your tail. So you pull over and the officer tells you you've broken the law. He pulls out his pad and tries to intimidate you into thinking that your whole world is about to come crashing down. You're in such an inept state of mind that he feels sorry for you and gives you an alternative to the RM300 fine: RM30 and all is forgotten. For a moment you seem so willing to jump on that offer and give him that bribe. But then something tugs at the back of your mind and you wonder, is this what a Christian should do?

2.
You're hanging out with your friends on a Saturday night, eating maggi goreng at the typical mamak store, when you see a guy walking towards you, black case in hand, eager to do a sale. On the way he stops at a table and flashes out his pirated dvd collection, all the latest movies, newest stock. Your friends are excited because they'll finally get to watch some movies without having to splurge on rising ticket prices and burnt popcorn at the cinema. They begin expressing their frustration at the costs of dvd's, the enterprising movie production companies, and the stupidity of American copyright laws that has created so many problems for them to enjoy the old times of purchasing cheap movies for the pleasure of the unaffording. The seller arrives at your table and your friends immediately fish out their moneybags and pick out their favorites. And then you remember about what you've learned in church. Do not steal, do not break the law, etc. etc. and you start to think, is this something a Christian should do?



What are your thoughts? Please share...

[Victor Ng]

1. Pay the fine (and I mean RM300). You are at fault, whether you are a Christian or otherwise. End of story.

2. Oh... I download movies only...

[pfalcon]

I guess the Sit 1 is pretty straightforward... like Victor said, Christian or not, the law is the law. Deal with it.

Sit 2 is a little more complicated in the sense that pirated markets exist because prices are rising... yet it still doesn't justify the fact that we can buy pirated stuff... as common as it is in Malaysia, the law is still the law... downloading in itself isn't illegal, but if we download licensed products without payment/compensation, then I guess it's still wrong...

[wingcross]

ooo downloading movies isnt illegal ar ?

[Jefferychan]

not sure bout it XD hahaha

[pfalcon]

It ain't illegal IF it is a freeware available on the web. Such things are like WinRAR, Quicktime, Windows updates, e-sword (which happens to be a really good study aid)...

It is illegal IF it is a shareware/licensed and we do NOT pay for the product. Examples: Mathematica software, licensed games on www.downloads.com, things like that...

[logoskch]

What about PAYING for pirated DVDs? Would that be stealing? Would that be illegal? 

[Victor Ng]

Whatever it is, downloading copyrighted movies and songs are illegal. (Unless you get Free Single of the Day from iTunes Store)

Paying for DVD also illegal.

Downloading pirated software, crack them are also wrong. Onle freewares and open source software are free. If you downloaded shareware and cracked it, it's wrong.

So? All wrong wrong wrong. What should we do?