• By: Admin
• March 25, 2023, 10:43 p.m.

2 min read

Is it sin for a christian to use cracked or pirated software?

Luke 10:7
"And remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they provide, for the laborer deserves his wages. Do not go from house to house."

The software doesn’t come into existence on its own. They are written by people who wish to make a profit. When we use pirated software we deprive those people of their wages.

It mentions "the laborer deserves his wages". The wages come from the people that pay for the software.

Check the software's website. If it says it's free to use, then it's not stealing. But you say "pirated/cracked", which mean that it's stolen and a licensing process needed to be circumvented through a crack.

Notice that in addition to stealing yourself, people that use/receive stolen goods are the final loop of a long chain of crime. If people didn't use stolen/counterfeit goods, a lot of related crime would be less or even not exist.

Pirate/cracked software are notorious for hosting malware such as bot nets and bots that use the hosts computer to mine crypto, and for stealing data from the host. So someone that thinks they're smart because they use pirate software are often the fool in the story.

And yes, it's a sin. If you can't afford a paid version of a software, nowadays there are stacks of free/open-source software, some of high quality.

Do you think that stealing only involves taking physical items from somebody that you haven't paid for and it does not hold the same for intellectual property?

Theft is the taking of something that you have not paid for or acquired through legal means or by mutual agreement. It's something that belongs to someone else. It's not limited to physical items but also means intellectual items such as computer programs or movies or music or games. Let's show some maturity in your moral decisions.

Contextualizing the Matter

Is it wrong to have cracked software.
I am a student and my parents obviously don't have enough money to pay my software. I need the Microsoft 365 Office packet . There are free versions of it but its actually not good enough , they are not the full versions . I also like to edit Photos at Adobe Photoshop . Also don't have enough money to buy it .
My question is - Is it wrong to have cracked software as a student . At this time I am unable to pay the license . I want to be better at this stuff , but that I am unable to progress because of that . Is it wrong ?

 

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Church

software

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