Author's Preface
1. Accepting Or Uniting
   
2. Who Is A Christian?
   
3. "Why Don't You Leave The Church of Christ?"
   
4. The Iniquity Of The Fathers
   
5. Our Judicial System
   
6. "You Are My People Now"
   
7. Serving "Otherwise Than As Prescribed"
   
8. Does Baptize Really Mean To Immerse
   
9. Our Relationship Through Baptism
   
10. Those Gospel Meetings
    
11. A Prelude To Worship
    
12. Worshipping In Spirit And Truth
    
13. The Forbidden Prayer
    
14. "I Didn't Hear Nobody Pray"
    
15. Communion Prayers
    
16. Communion With Bread, Wine, And Money
    
17. Thursday Is The Lord's Day Too!
    
18. Not Forsaking The Assembly
    
19. Acts 20:7 One More Time
    
20. Our Father Who Art Where?
    
21. Does Nature Reveal God's Love
    
22. Copyrighted: All Rights Reserved
    
23. Don't Pour Water On Them
    
24. The Remaining Restriction For Women
    
25. Some Questions About Revelation
    
26. Must One Fully Repent Before Baptism?
    
27. Nicodemus In Context
    
28. Our Respected Myths Of Religion
    
29. Hook's Points: A Potpourri
    

When I published my first book, I gave little thought to the obtaining of a copyright for it. As I continued to write and publish, various friends advised me on the reasons and procedures for copyrighting. For a time I entertained the idea, but then I abandoned it.

The copyright notice would tend to give a prestige to my book, I thought. It lends some sophistication, and that held appeal for me as an unsure and unknown scribe. But who looks for the pedigree of a book before reading it?

A copyright demands that you not use my stuff, whether it be a lesson, a book, or a song of praise, without my permission. I may sue! And when permission is given to use it, give me the credit!

This leads me to question my purpose for writing. My intense desire to give redirection to my people moved me to publish my thoughts even though I knew I would meet the resistance of many brothers and sisters. Now that my material is in print, do I wish to restrict and control its use? Surely not. When people tell me they have reproduced a lesson of mine for use in a class or to distribute, I am very pleased. In fact, I am flattered. The more it is read, the better. That helps to accomplish my purpose.

I considered the point that, if they are not copyrighted, opponents may use my teachings against me by misquoting, changing my meanings, and quoting out of context. But a regulation of law cannot stop that. Or, should God have copyrighted the Bible to avoid such misuse?

If I do not reserve all rights to my material, someone may plagiarize it, using it without giving me the credit. It is true that we "borrow" the thoughts of others, but should I be concerned about who propagates what I teach? If I am concerned that the message be spread, why should I be jealous of whoever teaches it? Am I trying to make a name for myself? I'll admit that it swells my pride a bit to be quoted, but I see my thoughts repeated by others in print without giving me credit. So what? My purpose is being fulfilled.

If I do not forbid the duplication of my material, someone may reprint and sell my product. Now we are getting down to the core of the matter! Money! I want to make money from my teachings. My books are going to make the bestseller list, and I am going to make a bundle!

This takes me back to my motivation: do I write to help others or to make money, or both? Books of a secular nature are written to make money. No problem. Is spiritual guidance for sale? Now we are lancing one of the pus pockets of religion-making a way of gain of spiritual things!

Do I not sell books? Yes. Being retired on Social Security, I cannot publish and distribute them free as I would prefer doing. But, being enabled by many concerned people who want the message of freedom in Christ to go out, we have distributed over 22,000 free copies of Free In Christ. We have relinquished the profits from those books. A lesser number of my other books has been given to persons who could not afford them. My nominal prices enable my operation but by no means pay for my labor; yet I do sell books. True to his promise, God has taken care of my needs.

Didn't Paul write, "The Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel" (1 Cor. 9:14)? Yes, but Paul took his message without charge to those who needed it. He did not say, "Pay me and I will share spiritual things with you." He proclaimed his message without charge, being enabled by his own tentmaking and the help of other disciples. Then those who received the gospel could enable him to proclaim it to others.

David missed out on a gold mine by his failure to copyright his psalms. Perhaps Jesus would not have had to rely on John to provide for his mother if he had reserved all rights to his Sermon on the Mount. And by copyrighting and selling copies of his epistles Paul might have been able to give up tentmaking.

But what were their motives? Are mine as pure as theirs?

The law recognizes my ownership of anything that I create whether it is copyrighted or patented or not. The copyright only identifies my property prior to the time it might be contested.

Well, even though this little essay may not be too convincing, we who copyright and retail the spiritual blessings that we would impart have some soulsearching to do.