Should there be a fee on knowledge about God

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I have a dealema I have a free PDF file of a book its writings about how to contact God in judaism.

The price of the hardcopy book is too expensive for me around 200 euro I feel that it is in the common good to read this so I can have knowledge of God and I don’t think there should be any price put on knowledge of God and how to contact him at such a riduclous price for a 300-400 page book when I can get a pdf copy free of charge

As Augustine says ( De Libero Arbitrio i, 5) “that which is not just seems to be no law at all”: wherefore the force of a law depends on the extent of its justice. Now in human affairs a thing is said to be just, from being right, according to the rule of reason. But the first rule of reason is the law of nature, as is clear from what has been stated above. Consequently every human law has just so much of the nature of law, as it is derived from the law of nature. But if in any point it deflects from the law of nature, it is no longer a law but a perversion of law. . . .

now also I feel that this information

We were freely given the Word of God .;we are commanded to .”freely give”

The bible is God’s Word:inspired and rendered mostly by prophets…even the history portions. No part of prophecy or prophetic gift is ever to be for hire or sale. The Word is very clear.

Any information on God should be freely given, I feel this is a moral right please if you have any arguments against this please quote some law or logic/reason bible verse or doctor of the church.

thanks
 
My first thought on this was “could be the definition of 'first world problem” but I’d like to ask the question “what book is this, who is selling it?”
 
It is right and just that man be compensated for his expenses and labour in bringing this knowledge to others. His time and labour spent in writing the book, the cost of having the book edited and proof read, the cost of having the book printed and the cost to have it published and in stores etc for others to buy. Man has a right to be compensated for his labour and just expenses - especially if these contribute to or supply his wages/earnings.
 
hekhalot literature in translation is the book.
its a summary of holy men and there experiences and how to ascend to God
 
should there be a charge in giving knowledge to people when God gives freely to us all knowledge especially knowledge of how to contact him.
 
John121 said:
hekhalot literature in translation is the book.
its a summary of holy men and there experiences and how to ascend to God
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Yes but who is selling the book itself, is it a new book or a ‘collectable’?

To exaggerate for effect, would a first edition of the KJV (or Catholic equivalent) have to be free by your argument?
 
if a person incurs expense in doing so - yes, as I explained in my earlier post. The person is not charging for the knowledge. The person is charging for the expenses they incured in transmitting this knowledge.
 
answer to your question about a bible first edition be free I would say yes Gods word was a free gift now if its a physical book then of course a charge for the materials but if its digital no charge should be made as it costs ones own electricity in ones own computer to copy it which was already Gods word in the first place.

I feel the same for any Holy man having a experience with God he should not profit from the experience by his writings one should distrubte freely as much as possible not incuring any debth to himself but not profiting from key information relating to all humans relationship with God.
 
Example:-
I write a book on this subject. It costs me to buy a typewritter, paper (paper and pen or pencil, ) to write the book.

I spend 300 hours writing this book.

(I do not earn money to live on during this time. This writing is the avenue I have in which to earn my living. During this time I still have bills to pay and need to live.)

I have to pay an editor and a proof reader to read my draft-book. They expect to be paid for their time and expertise in making changes to my writings where necessary.

I have to pay for a company to print my book and bound it so I may sell it. This company expects to be paid to do this.

I have to engage a publishing house to sell and distribute my book, so finally it ends up in bookstores where hopefully people will buy it.

So to get to this stage, I have incurred say $10,000 to do all the above.

Surely I’m entitled to recoup my expenses in getting my book to this stage where others will benefit from my writing?

The same applies to anyone publishing or reprinting an edition of the Bible for example. Yes, it is the word of God, which He has freely given to us. But I’ve incurred expenses in bringing Gods’ Word to you .

Or do you expect me to starve and potentially incur debts which I cannot pay and go bankrupt, so that others may read the Word of God - which if I hadnt done all this as my writings would not be available - they may not have come to know God, and certainly would not have benefitted from my writings.

End of example.
 
John121 said:
if its a physical book then of course a charge for the materials
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It’s about time the Vatican library started setting out stalls in Piazza San Pietro so as to give away its collection for free, apart for a charge for the materials, of course.

Meanwhile, given the print run of ‘your’ book, what do you expect the profit (allowing for the time of the author, at minimum wage, perhaps?) would be?
 
I feel in my case were I can’t afford the price of these Holy writings and can get them for free its morally right and does not incur any damage to the writers as it does not cost them any money to distribute the book to me at all !
 
John121 said:
I feel in my case were I can’t afford the price of these Holy writings and can get them for free its morally right and does not incur any damage to the writers as it does not cost them any money to distribute the book to me at all !
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They have distributed it to you, you have a free pdf.

Or are you saying that everybody should get a free copy as well?
 
I too can’t afford various books I would love to have. Can’t afford it ? I don’t buy it.

If there is a legal pdf file of the same online to read, then I will read it online.

So problem solved.
 
The site that has the PDF file is called Zlibrary and I’m not sure are the entitled to distrubte the file I looked up was it illegal and could not find anything !
 
They have millions of books and they seem to have there own copyright laws.
 
John121 said:
Zlibrary
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On that website I found - “All books are scanned and copyed by a non copyrighted notice.”

Sounds odd to me. Not a legalese worded statement.

I personally would not be downloading from there. You should find out what the copyright laws are in your country to start with. The laws of the country where this site is situated also has effect as does international copyright law.

Perhaps you could find the book on other websites that state the copyright status on the book, and where you can read online without downloading it.
Internet archive
Project Gutenberg
Edited to add:-
Open Library
 
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you went into the wrong Zlibrary, put in zlibrary single sign on.

I can’t find any information other then they state in term and conditions if there is a copywriter violation to report it.
 
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