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submitted 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) by capuccino@lemmy.world to c/til@lemmy.world

I was into a rabbit hole questioning me about God's existence, debating myself and looking for different opinions of different people, when, sadly, I found that the bible is copyrighted.

You can find the licenses nearly at the bottom. https://www.biblegateway.com/verse/es/Hebreos%2011%3A6

It's was sad, because it make me stop questioning me about the existence of god, everything started because I said to me "if god exists, then faith is useless, we need the inexistence of god to have faith", but that, makes me feel less faith

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[-] SnotFlickerman 6 points 4 days ago

Look into the Gideons. I don't agree with all their philosophy obviously, but they're like the Open Source/Open Knowledge group of the Christian faith.

One of their main things is that they think since the Bible is the word of God, and people deserve to be saved, that it's their job to ensure everyone gets a fair shake at access to a Bible without having to pay for it. You used to always be able to find a Bible in a hotel thanks to them, and they're often at public gatherings handing out copies as well.

I'm not religious, and I don't agree with much of what they believe, but I do think that is an appropriate way to view the situation, that it should be freely available to all instead of essentially locked behind a paywall.

[-] tal@lemmy.today 3 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

It sounds like they don't have their own translation.

https://www.quora.com/Which-translation-of-the-Bible-does-the-Gideons-International-distribute

Which translation of the Bible does the Gideons International distribute?

Depending on the language, the most currently accepted translation in the language of the print. As a Gideon since 1994, I have distributed thousands of free New Testament versions and placed hundreds of hotel Bibles. Until recently, the New King James Bible (NKJV) was the most common version in English. It is acceptable to 55% of English speakers, the next highest is the NIV with 19%.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_King_James_Version

Copyright: The Holy Bible, New King James Version® Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.

Gideons International, an organization that places Bibles in hotels and hospitals, at one stage used the NKJV translation along with the KJV, offering the KJV as the default translation and offering the NKJV when an organization asked for a Bible in newer English to be used. After HarperCollins' acquisition of Thomas Nelson, however, the Gideons have chosen to start using the English Standard Version (ESV) instead of the NKJV.[10][11]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_Standard_Version

Copyright: The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®) © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved.

[-] SnotFlickerman 4 points 4 days ago

Yeah my point was less about the copyright aspect and more about the free distribution aspect. It's definitely sad that they don't have their own free-and-open-for-all version but oh well.

this post was submitted on 20 Oct 2025
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