[sword-devel] Possible Solution to copyright problems

[John Gardner]

As in all things there is a balance between that which is unrighteous and
righteous.  It takes discernment.  There are no formulae.

John Bunyan made money from his writings.  Spurgeon's material was sold.  If
you look at almost any author widely known for godliness when they wrote
they often sold they're writings not just at cost but also to feed
themselves.  They didn't price things in such a way that it gouged folks but
not at cost either.  Sometimes they did sell at cost and sometimes gave away
for free.

I do not believe that scripture teaches or expects the laborer to labor for
nothing.  It isn't Godly, nor practical to have laborers working for
nothing.  Paul did do this for a very particular reason and so did George
Mueller but the exhortation is that the "Laborer is worthy of his hire".
"Don't muzzle the ox that threshes out the corn".

If someone desires to give something for free then bless them but neither
condemn them for not doing so.

Now if a company is exploiting, that is wrong and needs condemnation.

Sometimes I fear we as believers have too much of a "something-for-nothing"
attitude (As a side note the gospel is completely free, because we have
nothing to pay as Bonar said, "It is with our sins that we go to God,
because we have nothing else to call our own") as the proverbs teach.  The
sluggard desires but has not.  The sluggard doesn't want to work for what he
desires. He wants everything on "a silver platter".

Sometimes, in holy righteousness we should refuse that which costs us
nothing.

Perhaps I am still in need of instruction but I personnally don't see much
that is biblical in Mr. Stallman's movement.  It appears more like socialism
to me but I know that I don't know everything.  I don't condemn open-source,
I take it as a love offering, in a sense.  What I do condemn is the idea
that proprietary is bad, making money is bad, etc.

We need to know our God!




> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-sword-devel@crosswire.org
> [mailto:owner-sword-devel@crosswire.org]On Behalf Of Don A. Elbourne Jr.
> Sent: Tuesday, September 10, 2002 6:51 AM
> To: sword-devel@crosswire.org
> Subject: Re: [sword-devel] Possible Solution to copyright problems
>
>
> I might be wrong in this, but I don't believe the publishers of the most
> popular bible translations have been approached with the possibility of
> marketing their products through Sword. I believe they have only been
> contacted with requests to give their product away for free. If I
> understand
> correctly, they have denied these requests. - because they are low-down
> money-grubbing, good-for-nothing, miserly evil hordes bent on sucking as
> much filthy lucre out of the poor Christian community as they
> possibly can.
> (in case you need a hint, that last phrase was sarcasm)
>
> by grace alone,
>
> Don A. Elbourne Jr.
> http://elbourne.org
>
>