Gospel ownership

Do we as Christians own anything that is "developed" out of the Word of God ? Or should we as freely give as we have freely received ? By developed, I propose to mean software, radio programs, research, sermons etc. I myself struggle sometimes with that as I see products that could make a huge difference in the knowledge of a particular subject to Christians but it is protected by "copyright". Is there something called copyright in the Christian sense ? Should it be voluntary support instead of "chaining", copyrighting ? Just a thought and understood that one may have to use resources outside of the Christian ideals and thought with a cost. :-?

I can remember when, as a new christian, I heard about one "christian" record company that was suing another for thousands over "worship" copyrights. I put those words in inverted commas because I am not sure that a company that takes someone to court over such a matter is christian.I can understnad acopyright on a piece of work (literature or music) to protect its integrety. I have seen cases where someone has copyrighted a book but it was stated that the copyright was to prevent people from altering the work or selling it for profit, but otherwise it could be freely copied. I have no problem with that. But selling revelations from God is a different matter. Yes fine cover your own expenses if need be but banning people from freely copying work and passing it on is surely motivated by a desire to protectet one's profits.The inernet is a great demonstration of people's motives. Before the internet you could say "I have a great teaching that will bless the body of Christ but you must buy my book, I am only selling it for so high a price because of publishing expenses etc" but now with the internet if you have somthing to share you can put it out there for a wide audience at very little expense. Yet many people only use their websites to promote their own books which you must still pay for, yet the teaching is a must for all! those that really did want to share their messages with a wide audience a jumped at the chance. this site is a great example, keep up the good work greg.I saw a ministry lately offer some of its tape sets as mp3s on a single cd. Perhaps 20 or thirty messages or so, but they were charging as much (or very nearly as much) for the single cd as they were for the whole tape set. forgive me if I am being too cynical but I don't think that that is right.Having said all that, I wouldn't infringe the copyright laws and copy worship CDs or the like, but I do feel that it is a shame that God's people want to sell the fruit of the gifts which god has freely given them.the way of the world is buying and selling, as much as possible our way should be giving and recieving. © stuart (all rights reserved)

My 2 cents.They way things are and the way things should be.Stewardship seems like such an easy issue to my understanding. How it ever got so bogged down in "should's" and "ought's" is beyond me.It just seem's such a natural, logical thing to give. For a Christian who has been on the recieving end of something he never earned, deserved, in fact when he deserved the opposite of what he has recieved....The only and truly greatest gift that has ever in the history of the world been given and is still being offered! It's puzzling to me. Why is so difficult to get 50 people to contribute just $5.00 a month to support this wonderful site? Worse than that, that it has to be even asked for? Sure, people need to know if there is a need, but shouldn't we be the one's asking? Looking back on the book of Act's it seems that the people spontanously decided to give all that they had for the common good, don't recall anybody being coaxed into it.Sorry if I went off on a tangent there.I realize that it is not always that simple, in fact I feel I have my own hands tied and am continually frustrated that I am unable to give more to so many worthy ministries...Having a family...enough said.Ideally, ministries should be begging off contributions.."Stop, we don't need all this money!" :-D The ministries, pastors, teachers, employees all who are doing God's work (and, yes with His Book) should be self sustaining. As a matter of fact, they should be the highest wage earners on the planet in my opinion. Of course in this scenario, it wouldn't make that much of difference that they became 'money rich' because they wouldn't keep it anyways, it would end up going right back into advancing the kingdom.Then there is the way things are.

My instinct is to say "if the Spirit inspired it you can't charge for it, and if He didn't I don't want it". However, we are bidden to submit to law for love's sake so this is how I have tried to handle things.There are a few of my 'creations' on this site and some others. I hold copyright on these things to guarantee accessibility for all. If I relinquish my copyright to another I could find myself in a situation where I could be forbidden to use or authorise the use of my own material. I hold my copyright not to restrict the publication but to ensure it.I am more than happy for any to copy and publish any of my materials as long as they do so in the same spirit. To that end I like to know where my 'babies' are and I make the restriction that another must not charge for the 'ministry'. If they need to make a charge for the 'media' that should be kept to a minimum but the 'ministry' must remain 'freely received, freely given'. We have tried to steer potential users into safe waters by using this copyright notice.If it is of use to any as a model or example please feel free to use it or adapt it as appropriate. You will be pleased to know it is not copyrighted. :-D "Each of the speakers listed in the site holds copyright on all spoken and written materials contained in this site but has given their permission for them to be freely copied and distributed. Please note however that all resources should be copied in their entirety and that editing is not permitted. All of our MP3s, CDs, PDFs and any other resources may be reproduced in any manner for personal use or distribution but must not be posted on other websites for download from the internet without written permission. Other methods of distribution are allowed provided it is without charge other than for the media itself and its immediate production cost. Such copies must include this copyright notice."

If I relinquish my copyright to another I could find myself in a situation where I could be forbidden to use or authorise the use of my own material. I hold my copyright not to restrict the publication but to ensure it.Good point!

I have known of several ministries that copyright their work and then print right underneath it "copying is encouraged."