Originally posted by: GuideBot
According to the Bible, unless a man-made law conflicts with a god-made law, the man-made laws will be respected by God and He made it a sin to break them.
It's pretty much like US Federal Constitution versus the state constitutions.
It could also be compared to the 3 Laws of Robotics, where the order is
1. God decides if it's good or bad
2. Society (law) decides if it's good or bad, unless it conflicts with 1
3. personal preference rules, unless it conflicts with 1 or 2
As for ownership, I don't think a definition was ever laid down. Also, the dominant belief (at least in my school of thought) is that the Bible is 100% flawless in regards to our salvation, that is, it will never tell you to do something that is going to put a wall up between God and yourself. The Bible was written by ancient Jews, Greeks, and Romans (mostly), and you need to have a handle on their culture and general ways of doing things before you can begin to apply the Bible to our modern time when you're talking about secular issues (like fair use vs. piracy and where the lines are drawn).
Personally, I don't download music, movies, etc at all. For one, I figure it's stealing because the stuff isn't meant to be free, yet I'm getting it for free (unless you get it off of an ad-supported service or something like that). There's also the practical angle, I only get things I know I'll like, and if I like it I want them to make more of whatever it is, so I want to give them my money and keep them in business. Crazy that something practical is in there, isn't it?
Edit: You're obviously looking for justification when you already know the answer, guess I'll read more than three posts before responding next time.