When Christians Sue Christians

Jun 24th, 2008 by Sam

I still don’t understand the biblical logic of when Christians sue Christians, regardless of the issue. It seems there have been some illegal copies of some Christian books online. The Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA) has filed a lawsuit against biblecentre.net for hosting these books. Here is their press release (see the whole release at Justin Taylor’s website):

The Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA), on behalf of a coalition of its member publishers, filed a copyright infringement lawsuit in London in October 2007 against a UK-based website, Biblecentre.net. The suit asks that the court prohibit the site from continuing to post nearly 130 Christian works without permission. ECPA has asked the court this week to award a victory to ECPA by default.

The Biblecentre.net site, operated by Andrew Amue, has provided Christian books for download for almost seven years without acquiring the necessary licenses from the publishers. Amue first offered product downloads for free, then started charging a membership fee. ECPA and the publishers repeatedly demanded for Amue to respect the copyright of the works; however, Amue refused to secure the necessary license or to remove the content from his website.

Now what troubles me is what appears to be a neglect of following biblical principles in 1 Cor 6 regarding lawsuits where Paul writes:

When one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints? 2 Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases? 3 Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life! 4 So if you have such cases, why do you lay them before those who have no standing in the church? 5 I say this to your shame. Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to settle a dispute between the brothers, 6 but brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers?

There could be an argument that this is written for a local church context. But I think the text doesn’t limit lawsuits only in the local church. The clincher is in verse 7:

To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded?

Why not? Why not let this man get away with this violation and let him defraud? Wouldn’t that be better than to have the world judge believers? I realize that these books are the lifeline of these authors. Personally, I have bought books. I have even bought Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology through Olive Tree. But sometimes I tend to think Christians have followed the world’s ideals when it comes to copyrights. Honestly, this is why I love John Piper and Desiring God Ministries. Before anyone offered anything free, JP and DGM were the first to offer everything for free. They often give away books and give incredible bargains to churches for outreach purposes. They had a pay-what-you-can-afford policy since its inception. I applaud JP and DGM. But I must admit, I question those who would sue other believers over copyrights. Why not be defrauded?

Posted in Personal Thoughts | 8 Comments

8 Responses to “When Christians Sue Christians”

on 24 Jun 2008 at 4:02 pm1archshrk

Just thinking out loud here but do these verse also apply to believer vs non-believer cases, too? If ECPA is to take it to the Saints, who do they appeal to? Andrew Amue’s church? A larger denomination? Christians as a whole? What about Matt. 18:15-17 which says;

“If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.,
on 24 Jun 2008 at 4:12 pm2Sam

I think the ECPA should take it to Andrew Amue’s church. And the church has the responsibility then to practice the Matthew 18 principles of church discipline. But even if the church is small and has nothing set up for such discipline, doesn’t Scripture tell the ECPA it’s better to be defrauded then bring it to the secular courts? Those are my thoughts.
on 24 Jun 2008 at 5:57 pm3Tim

hmmm … good ol’ Sam, stirring the pot … what if it the crime involved was theft? Sam, what if somebody went into the church office and took an armload of books (the good ones) and admitted in public that they stole the books? The person probably wouldn’t be sued but would it be proper to notify or get the involvement of the police? What I’m wondering is this - when is it appropriate to involve duly appointed authorities?
on 24 Jun 2008 at 6:19 pm4Sam

Tim, I’d just stick with the text. It’s regarding lawsuits and since that was the issue at hand, that’s why I think 1 Cor 6 applies. As to criminal law, I think there is enough biblical warrant that shows whether you are a Christian or a non-Christian, there is governmental justice that is sanctioned by God (Romans 13).
on 25 Jun 2008 at 9:53 pm5Me

I like what you wrote. It makes me re-think on issues of patent, copyright, trademark and licensing in a different way being on the other side (as a person who is trying to protect myself and making sure no one is stealing my ideas). You’re right, Christians have totally bought into the philosophy of the world when it comes to these matters, esp. in areas where Christian literature can be freely shared so people can benefit, however, there is a balance too. (Too lengthy to expound here on this section). If books are the author’s life line, and they gave permission to distribute it for free, how would that author make money?

Also, I don’t think Piper’s ministry lets you donate however amount you can afford to buy their books, and resources now. You have to pay for the price they set, and I don’t think his conferences are “free/or pay what you can afford” anymore. Last I remembered, I paid a lot to get into his conference even when I stated I couldn’t afford the entire amount, they told me they wouldn’t take me if I didn’t have the funds for it. I was surprised, but I also understood, so I attended a session.
on 03 Jul 2008 at 9:13 pm6Ariah Fine

Sorry, random question…

Any chance you’ve got some old tapes of John Piper at a Passion conference back in the early 90’s?

I’m trying to track down a couple sermons that were instrumental in my faith. I think they were titled:
Did Christ Die for Us or for God?
and
God is Most Glorified in Us, When we are most satisfied in Him.

Just combing the blogosphere trying to find those tapes.
(and no, they aren’t available at desiringgod.org)
on 04 Jul 2008 at 7:07 am7TimK

Ariah - check out this one:

http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=212082035256

SDG! -tim
on 04 Jul 2008 at 7:13 am8Ariah Fine

OH MY GOSH YOUR MY HERO!

Tim, thank you so much for finding that!
Now, if I can only find the second one. I hope you didn’t just google it and come across that, I’d feel like an idiot.

Thank you again!