In order to get a separate copyright, the new work must be at least 10% different than the original work. Therefore, the butchered and twisted wording is an awkward attempt to get a new Bible published so that it can start making somebody some $$$$.
Going back to the verse in 2 Peter quoted above, the Greek word that is translated to merchandise is emporeuomai: to travel in, to traffic, by impl. to trade (Strong's Concordance) I've often thought of the modern Christian bookstore as an emporium of itching ear "resources."
Zoom out a level here, and let's talk about copyright in general and how this is being used by TPTB (The Powers That Be) to control everything on our planet. Copyright law is used to control the patents that make proprietary medicine so expensive, as well as medical devices. Copyright law is used to control ideas and information in all forms of media, with Disney renewing copyright on Mickey Mouse in perpetuity, for example. Copyright law is used in our food chain, with Monsanto patenting their GMO corn and fining neighboring farmers for cross-pollination. Food, medicine, thought, is there any big area of human necessity I'm leaving out? It seems that this copyright/patent issue is a major tool of control for some mighty powerful people. It's also a way that information goes down the memory hole.
Consider this quote from Paul J. Heald at the University of Illinois as interviewed in this Atlantic article, A Hole in Our Collective Memory: How Copyright Made Mid-Century Books Disappear:
Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. (I Cor 2:12)
One thing I have noticed is that the preachers that emphasize giving away their materials for free because of this verse above, are usually cut out of a different cloth than those that follow in lockstep with "Cloned Christianity". Contrast that attitude with the evangelical industrial complex that is making huge amounts of money with all their Bible versions and companion "resources". Here is a link to a Bloomberg article describing the tremendous revenue that this industry brings in.
And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not. (2 Peter 2:3)
With this verse in mind, consider this excerpt from The New Yorker article, "The Good Book Business" by Daniel Radosh:
“I almost liken it to what happened in radio,” Wayne Hastings, the publisher of Nelson’s Bible division, said. “Look at satellite radio—what is that, a hundred and seventy-eight stations? And it’s all niched. We’re doing the same thing in Bibles.” In this process, style is nearly as important as content. Bible publishers depend heavily on focus groups, surveys, and trend-spotting firms. For cover designs, they subscribe to fashion-industry color reports. Tim Jordan, a Bible marketing manager at B. and H. Publishing Group, an arm of the Southern Baptist Convention, said, “It doesn’t have to be ‘a King James Bible in black bonded leather, and we might offer it to you in burgundy.’ In years past, that might have been O.K., but the game has changed.
There are also commercial incentives. The King James Version is in the public domain, but if a company wants to publish a study Bible or a devotional Bible using a modern translation, it will have to pay royalties to the owner of that translation."
Much more could be said about this and I encourage you to look at the article to see why the teen "Biblezine" volumes were created: So that teen girls could carry their Bibles to school without being embarrassed. (Ashamed of the Gospel are we?) That must be part and parcel of some kind of new teaching I haven't heard yet. Filing it away under "itching ears"...
Going back to the verse in 2 Peter quoted above, the Greek word that is translated to merchandise is emporeuomai: to travel in, to traffic, by impl. to trade (Strong's Concordance) I've often thought of the modern Christian bookstore as an emporium of itching ear "resources."
Zoom out a level here, and let's talk about copyright in general and how this is being used by TPTB (The Powers That Be) to control everything on our planet. Copyright law is used to control the patents that make proprietary medicine so expensive, as well as medical devices. Copyright law is used to control ideas and information in all forms of media, with Disney renewing copyright on Mickey Mouse in perpetuity, for example. Copyright law is used in our food chain, with Monsanto patenting their GMO corn and fining neighboring farmers for cross-pollination. Food, medicine, thought, is there any big area of human necessity I'm leaving out? It seems that this copyright/patent issue is a major tool of control for some mighty powerful people. It's also a way that information goes down the memory hole.
Consider this quote from Paul J. Heald at the University of Illinois as interviewed in this Atlantic article, A Hole in Our Collective Memory: How Copyright Made Mid-Century Books Disappear:
"Copyright correlates significantly with the disappearance of works rather than with their availability,"To be clear, I'm not saying someone can't get saved from one of these Bibles, but I see many problems with them that is stunting Christian growth.
"Copyright correlates significantly with the disappearance of works rather than with their availability,"
ReplyDeleteThis is certainly true. Trying to track down scholarly works in the footnotes or bibliographies of other more recent scholarly works you'll find the majority of them are out of print yet still under copyright, and thus, impossible to get a copy of.
There is in fact a certain translation of Ephrem the Syrian's Commentary on the Diatessaron I was very interested in a few years ago. Nobody had it. I finally found Oxford had it for sale on their website. So I ordered it, for $80. (Ridiculously high.) And about a month went by and I never received it. So I contacted customer service: "Sorry, we couldn't track down a copy. We will cancel the order." Although I do see now there are some used copies available on Amazon, but eh, I've lost interest already.
Interesting story. I need to write out my other 11 reasons, which I wrote down somewhere and need to find lol!
DeleteI wonder how Ephraim would feel about someone copy-writing a translation of his words? I'm pretty sure a lot of the Amazon book stuff is really laundering drug money, especially when you see ridiculously high prices.