Who owns God’s message?
From A collection of short essays. Project references reflect the source essay; see our current status.
Now let’s consider whose word message it is. If God spoke it, wouldn’t he own it? What if an skilled interpreter or translator converted it to a different language? Wouldn’t it still be God’s message, and not that of the interpreter or translator?
But the modern commercial Bible world doesn’t work like that. The Bible is sold, even in the internet age when each online copy can be distributed for a very, very small fraction of a cent. Don’t you think that it’s past time for our Bibles to be freed from the chains of commercialism?
Have you ever tried to put a good Bible translation onto your church website? Sure, try the 1901 ASV which is now out of copyright. That’ll help your readers to know that you’re a modern, thinking church. (Not.) But most modern translations have copyright restrictions that will prevent you from using them (other than just a small number of verses). Some prominent English Bible translations are even owned and/or marketed by secular for-profit businesses.
Is it double-dipping if an organisation takes donations for Bible work and then copyrights that sponsored work and sells it? Do you think those organisations tell their donors how many software developers they employed in order to encrypt their files and to develop complex log-in procedures to prevent others from accessing their digital Bibles? Does this suggest anything about who they really consider to be the owner of so-called ‘God’s Word’?
Did Paul really claim that he didn’t peddle God’s message for profit like others (2 Cor 2:17)? Did Peter really chide the man who thought he could buy God’s gift with money (Acts 8:20)? Did Jesus really mean it when he told his interns to freely give to others because God had already freely blessed them (Mat 10:7-8)?
Why is the Western church becoming less and less influential, and less relevant to modern young people? Could it be that the internet age (with the negligible cost of distribution) is the impetus that the global church needs to start making Bibles and Bible resources (commentaries, maps, lexicons, encyclopedias, artwork, etc, etc.) available to everyone without monopolistic charges?
See https://Freely-Given.org and https://Copy.Church and https://SellingJesus.org for more information.
Robert Hunt, May 2023.