Monday, March 7, 2011

Who Owns The Bible--THE OWNERS MANUAL?


WHO OWNS THE THE BIBLE?

"No one really knows how many copies of the Bible have been printed, sold, or distributed. The Bible Society’s attempt to calculate the number printed between 1816 and 1975 produced the figure of 2,458,000,000. A more recent survey, for the years up to 1992, put it closer to 6,000,000,000 in more than 2,000 languages and dialects. Whatever the precise figure, the Bible is by far the "bestselling" book of all time."



Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding. (Proverbs 23:23 MKJV)



Was the Bible meant to be sold?  Was it God's intention that it become the bestseller of all time?

Now there was no blacksmith found throughout all the land of Israel: for the Philistines said, “We have done this lest the Hebrews make swords or spears: so the Israelites had to go down to the Philistines, to sharpen every man his pitchfork, and his plow, and his sickle, and his pickaxe”.   So it came to pass in the day of battle, that there was neither sword nor spear found in the hand of any of the people that were with Saul and Jonathan.  (1Samuel 13:19-20, 22)

Do you see it? Israel had to go down to their enemies to get their tools sharpened and were not allowed to have blacksmiths that could make their weapons of war. What if the secular publishers of the Christian Bible decided to withhold printing any more, say because the government levied as hefty tax on the cost of high quality ‘bible’ paper to help save the environment? The new ads may say—“Give A Tree for Jesus!" Or "Trade Your Carbon Credit to Win 27 more People to Christ?”


WHO OWNS THE COPYRIGHT TO THE BIBLE?

In most of the world the Authorized Version has passed out of copyright and is freely reproduced. In the United Kingdom, the British Crown restricts production of the Authorized Version per transitional exemptions from the Copyright Act 1775 (which implemented this clause) in the Copyright, Designs and patents Act 1988 (Schedule 1, section 13(1)), which expire in 2039. Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press, HarperCollins and the Queen's Printers have the right to produce their own version of the Authorized Version.

As far as I know, outside of the British claim, there were no copyright laws when the various books of the Bible were written, but each publisher who pays for a new translation or adds any notes, maps, etc. to the version he publishes can copyright the new content of his version, so most Bibles you pick up will have legitimate copyrights. I am not sure what the copyright laws were in Britain in 1611 when the first version of the King James was published, or if a 400 year old copyright could be enforced, but the text of the KJV can be freely copied most places without legal problems. In the USA, a standard copyright was 75 years (when I was taught in school) but could be renewed (extended) by the original producer of the material or a person or company that procured that right from the producer.

By the way, a copyright is a legal restriction on duplicating someone else's work to protect the right of the original producer of a work to get fair pay for his work. Producing a new translation of a document like the Bible takes thousands of man-hours which costs a lot of money, so the publishers have a legitimate right to restrict the free copying and distribution of that work because their one goal is to make money selling Bibles. While some would work on such a project without pay, in our economy it is not very practical to expect enough scholars, editors, etc. to participate, probably investing hundreds or thousands of personal hours, without some compensation.

This is a major reason that the translation, printing, publishing and distribution of the most important thing in the Universe—God’s Word—must be the responsibility of the evangelical church for free distribution in every person’s native tongue.

Look what we have given away--

• The Cost Control and Distribution of the Bible around the World.
• The Church's responsibility to translate and circulate the Word of God for all language groups. 


And this Gospel of the Kingdom shall be published in all the Earth for a testimony to all the nations, and then will come the end of this Age. (Matthew 24:14 DLT)


Do we have a problem here?

The Bible belongs to God and how do you copyright Him?

It was given to the Church for the revealing of His Mystery of Christ IN YOU.


This mystery has been kept in the dark for a long time, but now it's out in the open. God wanted everyone, not just Jews, to know this rich and glorious secret inside and out, regardless of their background, regardless of their religious standing. The mystery in a nutshell is just this: Christ is in you, therefore you can look forward to sharing in God's glory. It's that simple. That is the substance of our Message. (Colossians 1:26-27 MSG)


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