[sword-devel] Copyright Scripture distribution

[James Gross]

I totally agree with your analysis of the situation.  I know that I will not 
send off any correspondance without first spending some long, hard prayer 
sessions on my knees with Christ.

Your comment on our Eurocentrism (ethnocentricism/linguacentricism: 
Concentration on Western European languages.) has definitely struck a cord 
in my heart.  That is why I previously asked if anyone knew of a Turkish 
distro of Linux or Turkish fonts.  I have a real burden for the Turkish 
people as well as the Arabic speaking people.  Is anyone working on a 
Turkish new testament for Sword?  I would love to turn some of my Turkish 
friends onto Sword, but their English isn't as good as their Turkish is.

God bless,
Jim



----Original Message Follows----
From: Michael Paul Johnson <mpj@ebible.org>
Reply-To: sword-devel@crosswire.org
To: sword-devel@crosswire.org
Subject: Re: [sword-devel] Copyright Scripture distribution
Date: Fri, 10 Dec 1999 07:29:28 -0700

At 10:30 AM 12/10/99 +0000, Paul Gear wrote:
>Joel Mawhorter wrote:
>
> > ...
> > Anyone want to start a "Free the Bible" campaign?
> > ...
>
>Ooh!  Do, do, let's!
>
>(For those of you who never read Enid Blyton as a child, the above means i
>think
>this is a good idea.  :-)
>
>Here's what we should free it from:
>- commercialism: Making money at the expense of wider distribution.

You would truly think I was insane if I disagreed with you, here. I do
recommend wisdom in the approach used, though. In all ways, our conduct and
words must be above reproach, Biblical, and in love. We can't fight this
battle on our own in our own ways and expect to win. We must do it God's
way and in His power.

>- ethnocentricism/linguacentricism: Concentration on Western European
>languages.

The greatest need, of course, is in the minority language groups that have
NO Bible (thousands of them), but it is not wrong to provide Bibles to
Western Europeans that may be more readable or more accurate.

>- egotism/parochialism/translation theory centricism (?): "My translation 
>is
>better than yours" syndrome.

Think about this one. Would you not think I was either insane or
incompetent as a Bible translator if I didn't think my Bible translation
was better at least in some way and possibly several ways? What I don't
like is faith-stressing disparaging remarks about other translations. I'd
be happy to tell you what is good about the World English Bible, for
example, but I really don't want to talk much about deficiencies, real or
imagined, in other translations.

>I'd be happy to host a web page on my less-than-high-bandwidth site.  :-)

Go for it.

>1 Cor 9:18 for the theme verse?  :-)

... a very familiar one to me. Don't forget the context, though: Paul
wasn't fighting the hirelings who actually preached the Gospel, but
rejoicing that Christ was preached.


_______

Michael Paul Johnson
mpj@eBible.org    http://ebible.org/mpj

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