Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.

MATTHEW 10:8
  • Don’t copyright the Bible.
  • Don’t copyright teaching of the Bible.
  • Don’t charge people to pray for them, teach them the Bible, preach to them, attend church, get biblical counsel from you, or take part in ordinances of the church.
  • Don’t make churches (or anyone) pay you money to sing a song you wrote which they use to worship God on the Lord’s Day.
  • Don’t restrict people from printing your biblical teaching, song lyrics, or translating them into other tongues.
  • Don’t require attribution for your work for the Lord and His church.
  • If there’s a gray area, consider “erring” on the side of generosity. Consult your local pastor for specific counsel.
  • If you create teaching, selling it subverts your sincerity.
  • If minute details of how this could play out AFTER following the above obvious principles are still confusing, don’t let that keep you from seeing the above rules as valid.

That’s where I’d start off the top of my head. Many detailed questions have been addressed on a few sites though too.

A piece of wood I engraved a Bible verse onto is not a spiritual thing in the same sense as Biblical teaching printed on paper. We have to be able to distinguish this type of thing without making that the sticking point.

And frankly if you want to sell a book you wrote for $1000 and you made it available to others to print and compete with you on printing costs? More power to you. But no one will do that. That’s WHY they copyright it. To guarantee profits and limit availability.

For more, listen to my latest sermon on this, Ox Muzzling Musings (1 Timothy 5:17-18), and visit thedoreanprinciple.org.