The Monkees: "Mr. Webster"

Though this band had many popular hits, they did record some social comment songs. This is one about a banker who never gave his faithful employee a raise. Check it out here.

Worldly people doubtless applaud what Mr. Webster did at the end of the song. After all, he was never given any consideration for thwarting twenty-seven robberies.

As God's people, revenge isn't in our job description. Romans 12:19 (Bible in Basic English) admonishes, "Do not give punishment for wrongs done to you, dear brothers, but give way to the wrath of God; for it is said in the holy Writings, 'Punishment is mine, I will give reward, says the Lord.''"

And of course, stealing is stealing. Exodus 20:15 (BBE) plainly says, "Do not take the property of another."

Now some folks will remember the parable of the unjust steward. He had his master's creditors reduce the amount they owed for their goods. Luke 16:8 (BBE) does say, "And his lord was pleased with the false servant, because he had been wise; for the sons of this world are wiser in relation to their generation than the sons of light."

What Christ meant is that we believers aren't that smart. It wasn't a commendation of theft but a demonstration of how to be prudent regarding our futures.

I know we aren't all bishops but we must heed what Titus 1:7 (BBE) says. "For it is necessary for a Bishop to be a man of virtue, as God's servant; not pushing himself forward, not quickly moved to wrath or blows, not desiring profit for himself;"

If Christ hasn't rewarded his faithful ones by Saturday, I hope to post about disenchantment with what once thrilled us.

Bachman-Turner Overdrive: "Give Me Your Money Please"

When I first heard this song in the spring of 1976, I didn't like it. It sounded like BTO were glorifying robbery. My mind changed when I listened closely to the lyrics. The robber in the song was polite. That's the whole point of the song.

Have a listen and tell me what you think:

No matter how people justify it, theft is theft. Exodus 20:15 (Bible in Basic English) is quite clear on that matter. "Do not take the property of another."

Even obsessing about what somebody else has is an evil activity. God is quite clear on that too in Exodus 20:17 (BBE). "Let not your desire be turned to your neighbour's house, or his wife or his man-servant or his woman-servant or his ox or his ass or anything which is his."

And any excuse we give for confiscating something from somebody, except if our children get hold of something dangerous, is still theft. Paul asked a very good question in Romans 6:16 (BBE). "Are you not conscious that you are the servants of him to whom you give yourselves to do his desire? if to sin, the end being death, or if to do the desire of God, the end being righteousness."

Our Lord and Master made it plain that we must obey him and his Father in Luke 6:46 (BBE). "Why do you say to me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not the things which I say?"

Nobody likes being assaulted or robbed. Even so, Christ commanded us in Luke 6:29 (BBE) that, "If a man gives you a blow on one side of your face, then let the other side be turned to him; from him who takes away your coat, do not keep back your robe."

Of course this doesn't mean that we can't report the assault or robbery to the police. They're appointed to keep the peace and to prevent bad behaviour.

And if Christ doesn't come to judge the world by Thursday, I hope to post about the seemingly-long time Christ is taking to return.

Saturday Song: Air Kelly, Watch the Stars

A friend of mine gave me an MP3 file of this song and I immediately fell in love with Air Kelly. After listening to a few albums of this music on YouTube, I knew I had to add the band's albums to my wish list.

Hear Air Kelly's song here.

Do you remember the controvercy back in the nineteen-eighties regarding home taping being detrimental to the music business? I've found that much of the music I recorded from library records and friend's LPs resides in my music collection today. I've ended up buying CD copies of the music I loved.

This brings up a thorny subject, namely the command in Exodus 20:15 (KJV) which reads, "Thou shalt not steal." Is recording music and passing copies to friends theft?

I've given this matter much thought and I conclude that it is stealing. Artists work hard to produce their wares. They expect to be paid, just as any other labourer or professional should. By bootlegging copies, it diminishes the amount of sales that creative folks rely upon.

And it isn't just those individuals who end up hurt by illegal copying and trading of MP3 files. Record companies lose out as well. This indirectly hurts up-and-coming bands since companies become cautious about signing up new talent. Independent labels and bands are hit even harder by the theft of their work.

My hope is to purchase all the music which I taped in the past. I've already bought many CDs of my favourite bands and I plan on buying MP3s of the songs which I've liked in the past.

If you would like to comment on this song and what I've written, please do so. But if not, have a nice weekend anyway.

THOU SHALT NOT STEAL

How far does Exodus 20:15 go? What about copying and pasting articles to friends' e-mail addresses? Is that stealing. Thanks to my friend Don, I realize that I'm guilty of thievery.

A few months ago, I joined an  e-mail group called Blind Conservative. One thing which is popular there is to copy articles from web sites and post them verbatim to the list. I found it quite handy. Instead of going to a web site and fighting with the screen reader so I could hear the article, I could sit back and let the computer read it to me as I sipped my morning coffee.

But what looks right in our sight is often wrong in the sight of God. Don brought to my attention that copying and pasting articles deprives writers of their income. News outlets depend on advertising revenue. Stories are the bait that brings in traffic to their pages. When articles are bootlegged all over the place, it results in fewer page views. And fewer page views means reduced advertisement revenue.

Thanks to Don, I realized that I was ripping off advertisers and news outlets, some of which also need donations to continue their work of bringing us stories from around the world. My zealous redistributing of their work to my friends was in effect stealing advertising dollars from these organizations.

Another point Don made was that all these e-mails I've been sending out clutter up people's IN boxes. Some folks have only a limited amount of mail storage space. It never occurred to me that I was depriving friends of their valuable space with the full-length articles which I posted.

In Christ's Sermon on the Mount (Matthew chapter five to seven), he said that even contemplating  sins is morally the same as committing them. Since this is so, and since I'm representing Christ to the world, I must make sure everything I do and think is faultless. Therefore, I resolve not to bootleg any artistic work. The laborours are indeed worthy of their hire.

Since it's such a trial for blind PC users to navigate web pages, I'll only send them the articles that I feel would be of interest to them. I'll also include the web site link and the name of the author so the writer will get credit. Sighted folks only need the summary of the article and the link.

In my most recent book called How I Was Razed, I wrote of the time when I used to trespass on railway land to shorten my walks to the post office. I no longer do that since it's illegal. In fact, the heavenly Father corrected many more of my errant notions. Read more about his wondrous providence at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Powell's Books.