West Main Youth
Stop the Burn Club

Many months ago, I was challenged to reconsider my stance, and the stance of SO many Christians on illegal piracy. Of course none of us like to think of it as illegal or even immoral. But the fact of the matter is that it is! The Bible directly commands us to follow the laws of this land (Rom. 13:1-5, I Peter 2:13-14). Our land tells us that the illegal duplication or distribution of any copyrighted material is illegal. Therefore, by doing so, is breaking the law! God didn’t say only follow the laws that we agree with or that make sense. It was a blanket statement! Piracy is stealing!!!!!! You would never walk into Circuit City and steal the newest CD but many of us have no problem downloading it illegally or burning copies from friends.

The same goes for software and movies…or any other digital property for that matter! We must stop!
I could give you all of the statistics in the world about what the FBI can punish you for and how much it will cost you. But, that is not my concern. What concerns me is this: WHAT MESSAGE ARE WE SENDING TO THE WORLD WHEN WE DO THIS? We are called to higher standards. We are called to be HOLY and SET APART. “Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy." I Peter 1:13-16….. It is time that we make a change. When people look at our CD and DVD cases and they see hundreds of shiny little silver discs with titles written in sharpies, what we are saying to them is “my faith in Christ is not real. I don’t care about him enough to follow his will”. (For more detailed info see the "Stop the Burn" lesson on this webpage)

Please join me….. If you will join our “Stop the Burn Club” with me, I wanna’ know! By joining, you agree to trash all illegal material you may own (including burned discs, downloaded music on Ipods maybe even the software you’re using to read this right now!) and to never again use or obtain pirated material! It is hard trust me….I had to throw away A LOT! But I strongly believe this to be an area where we as Christians can make a direct impact in society. Please pray about it. Read God’s word and join us!!!! Together we make a difference!