Do We Plagiarise

Are you in a Twirl  in regards to Plagiarism/Copyright 

 

What is Plagiarism… Going by some people’s understanding,  if we share or even e-mail a message or story or a saying,  picture, poem, verse or idea  if it  does not give a reference to who wrote it, we will be  committing plagiarism even if we don’t claim we are the Author, this is not correct. 

It’s not just because someone thinks we have plagiarized,  we need to have signed it with our name or claimed in some way  that it is ours but if we have done this and it is also Copyrighted,  we may  be fined if taken to court and found guilty but many are not  Copyrighted and so can be used freely.

We can’t answer for others but we never claim unless they are that the  stories or messages, poems, ideas that we Post are ours  and we correct those who think they are, this  is also stated clearly in our About. But  we  don’t always mention when they are own compositions, so that they can be used freely without the need to contact us and this is why we don’t Copyright anything, we Trust God, we also don’t receive personal gain financially and we  believe like everyone else we are answerable to God in what we share. But some do use what they earn to reinvest so they have the resources to spread the Gospel further as Paul did this with his tent-making. 

We do  correct error and rebuke or warn  those who sin without repentance  according to God’s word, but not by our own fleshy understanding or others,  we do so in accordance to  God’s guidelines  in the Scriptures and  in Love and for Love but that is not Saccharin sweet  worldly love, if needed we will get the whip out like Jesus did not literally but we will be firm and to the point.

What happens when a Christian shares without citing the Christian who wrote it breaking Copyright , does that Christian then take them to court even though God tells us not to do this but that we are to privately resolve our differences and  forgive others or  should  we as Christians who claim what we write is inspired by God not freely share  but instead  do as the worldly dictate but then we do realize sometimes it’s needed to publish.

 Thankfully  some Copyright does not apply if what is used is not for financial gain but the material must not be claimed as our own or that is Plagiarism, as Christians we need to obey the rules of the land if they do not conflict with God’s guidelines.

Does God give us Scripture in reference to plagiarism/ Copyright ? some claim Revelation 22:18-19 is talking about this but God was referring to changes being made to deceive,  do we share messages to deceive others like false teachers  or do we confirm everything with Scripture or do we Trust in our own understanding, logic, wisdom and reasoning or someone else’s,  do we ask for God’s wisdom and seek Jesus Christ our only Teacher through the empowering of The Holy Spirit to teach us all things and do we have the mind of Christ and  know what He knows. 1 Corinthians 2: 9-16

On this Blog ( see our About )  we have shared many stories collected over the years through e-mails  there was no reference on most to where they originated but if there was we used it, we are still looking for some.

Because Checking on the Internet  was very time-consuming and many times proved fruitless,  it showed that some of the stories  had also been used by others, and quiet a few times by different people but they too mostly had no reference as to who  originally wrote them and  some cited different Authors for the same message or Story . So can all these  Christian men and woman  be accused  of having broken Copyright in their sharing Jesus Christ with others, if we  go by the rules of the land and they were copyrighted by others, yes they can with some Copyright laws but not with all. What does God say….

Mathew 10: 7-8   And as ye go, preach, saying, The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.

So is God telling us  that we can’t earn an income from sharing the Gospel, no we have that freedom just as Paul tells us  in 1 Corinthians 9 

We really believe what we have shared is God’s inspiration and not just our own understanding so we need to be willing to share it freely as it was given to us, this is what God asks us to do with all the gifts He has given us, we each make our own choices.

The world tells us  we are to seek after  recognition and financial gain, we are not saying these are prohibited but for many it is their only focus… God tells us as Christians they must not be our focus. Yes we are to encourage and uplift others but not to glorify ourselves or make money our god.

 We can’t answer for anyone else but  for us we now choose as Paul did a  greater reward by not seeking to gain  financially for ourselves or to seek for personal fame and glory  from sharing God’s Truth and we  trust  God to provide for our needs, God’s work done in God’s way never lacks God’s supply.

Christian Love from both of us – Anne