Things You Probably Didn't Know About Logos Bible Software
“Because the company distributes Christian content, uses a Greek word as its name, and its parent company is called Faithlife, many users assume they’re supporting a Christian initiative when they buy its resources. But there are four things you should know about Logos” - SellingJesus
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Those who think that authors ought not be compensated for their work need to remember how Plimoth Colony almost came to an end--with socialism. Yes, there is a point where legitimate royalties amount to money-grubbing, but if we want people to spend serious time to think through deep theological questions, they've got to be paid.
Regarding Piper, let's not forget how he actually works. He doesn't say "don't charge royalties when someone buys my book." What he did was to decide that he'd gotten sufficient compensation of pastor at Bethlehem Baptist, and at the end of each year, he and his associates had a party where they would allocate those royalties to various ministries. Free online documents are then an outgrowth of "the ministry has enough to operate."
Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.
I use Logos all the time. It is open 95+% of the time on my computer. I am a Pro subscriber. I probably use less than 10% of the capability of Logos but I like it. I have bought some resources over the years though I have no idea how much because it is 20+ years. I am fine to pay what amounts to about 9 bucks a month for something that I use as much as I do. I also have Bibleworks which is also open and for some things is easier to use.
With stuff like this, as the old saying goes, it is a free country. If you don’t like someone’s business model, feel free not to participate.
Regarding Piper, let’s not forget how he actually works.
Yes, my point was that he doesn’t need to make money from it because the church has absorbed the cost of his writing. And they are willing to freely make things available. But I don’t think it is a party. I think the royalties are disbursed by the deacons. Another caveat is that the PDFs made available for free have already been typeset and published so there is no real additional cost to providing them for free.
I am wondering if they understand the entire economic model? The church isn't doing it for free. Members of the church are paying tithes and offerings out of their income. That goes into the church, which while not necessarily for profit, is paying individuals (staff, pastors....) a wage to do the work.
I guess you'd have to ask them if they really understand what they're proposing. My guess is that they do, but I'm not in any way affiliated with the organization, so I can't really speak for them. What I've heard before on this subject is an appeal to radically reshape the way churches and parachurch orgs operate. The basic idea, as I understand it, is that God's people should support God's work (and by extension God's workers), so that churches can provide goods and services to the public free of charge.
I went back and found the podcast I heard with Conley Owens of https://thedoreanprinciple.org/ who, I think, holds a similar view to the one in the OP. His discussion with Jeremy Howard was the first time I heard this idea.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/0qK5S6E4Hd2KYXkz4UwHgU?si=wqDs6sjuQ7u_TtBOfLWbtw
EDIT: I just checked the "About" page at Selling Jesus and found that Conely Owens listed. I'm also familiar with Andrew Case and his wife's free Hebrew lessons on YouTube, https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCkKmeTinUEU27syZPKrzWQQ
Whatever one may think about their ideas, they are consistent and offer all their own biblical materials free of charge
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