[sword-devel] GNU and OS ideologies and indulgences

[Jerry Hastings]

At 10:36 PM 12/9/2001 -0600, Jerry Kreps wrote:

> > Free-gratis is good for people who ``can't afford'' a Bible
>
>I am curious as to who cannot afford a Bible but can afford a
>computer?  It seems to me that one of the Sword's (plus Bible modules
>& Bibletime) biggest advantages is that it can be downloaded into
>areas where a printed version of the Bible might not be able to go.
>And, as an Open Source app, it can be freely copied and spread, which
>is to say nothing of its value as a study aid to God's Word.

Right! It is great to be able to supply ministers and students who have 
limited funds with gratis Bibles so they can use their limited funds on 
other things for the glory of God. (Perhaps others are providing them with 
the computers to use it on.) And it is very nice to be part of getting the 
Scriptures into places where it is forbidden. But there is something more. 
What began with men like Tyndale and Luther and technology like the 
Gutenberg press, is still developing today. Without the Reformation what is 
done here today would only have been allowed for the "anointed". Most of us 
today probably don't anoint kings and priests. And those that do, probably 
see any anointing as having a lot less scope than it did before the 
Reformation. And we don't buy and sell  indulgences. Or do we? It has been 
said, by one of the pioneers of making free Bible etexts and study etexts, 
that the granting and accepting of permissions in the Church, for money or 
gratis, is a modern equivalent of indulgences. Taking what God freely gave 
and then demanding others get permission before they can use it in the way 
they wish. The best thing about SWORD may be that so much can be done with 
it without anyone needing to ask permission to do it. No one connected to 
SWORD even has to know about these things that may be being done.

1 John 2:20 YOU have an anointing from the Holy One, and YOU know the truth.

Jerry