Working in a Secular World as a Christian

npw11 said:

This is just a case example, please also answer the italicized concern above.

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Like God once did, you can lay down the rules but you can't expect to have them followed any more than He did. God also did not need to take blame for our actions but He continues to lead us towards more righteous thinking without being heavy handed. There is a solution in there somewheres.

If you are in charge of publication of materials that were made using pirated software, then your duty would be to purchase a license to prevent the accusation should it arise in the future as the scripture says "avoid the appearance of evil."

However if post-discovery you decide to not purchase the license, then the creative work that was made with the pirated software is still your own creative work, and need not be destroyed, however you must cease the use of the pirated software and destroy it to prevent its use again. If you knowingly continue to use the pirated software, then at that point it is considered theft, and the remedy is to not only purchase one license, but two to satisfy the requirement of restitution for theft.

npw11 said:

Hello! I live in Indonesia where the use of pirated software is common, and I know that it is a sin to use pirated software (Romans 13:1-2). I am a leader in a nonprofit organization, whose members are mostly non-Christians. I am concerned as to how much, or to what extent, I am responsible for making sure that none of our nonprofit work is the product of the use of pirated software.

For example, if I enforce a rule that none of our nonprofit work be the product of the use of pirated software and a member in the nonprofit violates it, am I responsible for retracting that work after it is published? This is just a case example, please also answer the italicized concern above.

Please note that I also have psychiatrist-diagnosed OCD. And as a result, I have this inflated sense of responsibility (or hyper-responsibility). I need your help to see where my responsibility ends because my vision around these issues is blurred. Thanks, and God bless!

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This is going to depend on what your role is, and your business relationship to the person in question. Your only responsible for those working directly under you... and even then how do you know the work product was created using pirated software?

For most widely used software, someone somewhere has created a free open source version that does essentially the same thing. For instance you can use Adobe Photoshop (at cost) or Gimp (open source), you can use Microsft Office Suite (cost) or you can use FreeOffice (open source) and the list goes on...

If I'm creating a logo, for instance, you'd not know whether I used Adobe or Gimp... If I'm working from home, you'd not necessarily know if that memo was written using the MS Suite I legitimately own, or one that I pirated...

You can only control so much, the rest you may simply need to take in faith that those working under you are following your directive not to use pirated software for their work product.

All you really need to do is to send out a memo requesting your employees not create work product using pirated software and then have some faith in your people. You can't control everything, nor does God expect you to.