First Peter Released, and Some Miscellaneous Comments
My Commentary on First Peter has been completed. I thank those of you who have persevered daily with me as we studied through the text of this epistle. The full commentary is now available in PDF for free download, and in paperback form for purchase.
PDF File (8.5 x 11 = 183 pages). Our other downloadable materials are available HERE and HERE.
Paperback (6 x 9 = 302 pages). Our other printed materials are available HERE. As always, we forgo all royalties for our books in order to minimize your costs. You only pay for production and shipping.
Under our copyright policy, you are permitted to print, copy, and distribute unlimited copies of our publications for any ministry purpose, such as for your church, study group, or personal outreach.
But please cite the source, and do not alter the content or present the materials as your own. I mention this because there seems to be an ongoing problem with plagiarism. My guess is that most of these people just want to feel like they are doing something constructive for the Lord. They are unable to produce original work, but at the same time they do not wish to appear redundant, and so they borrow heavily without citing the source.
However, for a believer to deliberately hide the source and to take the credit for someone else's work is more than an academic or legal problem, but a spiritual one as well. Although I will rejoice even if Christ is preached by another person from a self-serving motive (Philippians 1:18), this does not mean that the person is innocent. Strive to maintain your integrity before the Lord and your credibility before men. Yes, it requires less work to exploit someone else's labor to make yourself look good, but this motive displeases the Lord, and you will end up looking very bad if you are found out.
A special warning goes to those who are students. At the beginning of the school year, many high schools and universities distribute student manuals that define plagiarism and outline the policies regarding academic misconduct. Students should observe the stated guidelines. Here I will just mention that a paraphrase — even a loose paraphrase — does not make the product your own work. Sometimes the student is just careless or lazy, but this does not excuse him, and his professor might not give him the benefit of the doubt. Some professors even use special software programs to analyze the work submitted by their students for possible cases of plagiarism. Several papers have been traced back to our materials precisely by this method.
Moreover, I urge those who use our materials to consider the welfare of their readers — if our materials are good enough to be plagiarized, then perhaps they are also good enough to be read as they are. Citing the source will help people locate these materials. Give them a chance to read what you have read.
Our copyright policy is very generous, and we practice what we preach (1 Cor. 6:7), so it is guaranteed that we will not pursue legal actions or even openly expose and embarrass any non-excommunicated professing Christian who uses our materials dishonestly. We will rejoice as long as Christ is preached and our materials are not somehow used to exploit or deceive readers. Because immunity is thus virtually guaranteed, I expect the problem of plagiarism (or something worse) to continue. Nevertheless, keep in mind there is immunity only from me, the copyright holder, but not necessarily from observant readers and suspicious professors. In any case, I thought that I should mention the issue at least this one time. It is unlikely that I will bring it up again.
Now, more than a month ago, I mentioned some changes that are coming to this site. They are now in effect. In short, from now on I will work on major projects independently from this site, so that only other types of materials will appear here, such as sermons, short articles, devotionals, concise commentary on select passages, and "scraps" of various kinds.
This also means that there will no longer be daily updates. However, I still recommend that you check on this site regularly. For some, it might be more convenient to use a RSS feed reader. Or, you may use our email subscription to receive updates — this service is not perfect, and there is a delay (you receive the email about 24 hours after it appears on the site), but it is generally reliable.
Also, if you are new to this ministry, you should know that most of our materials are not on this site (www.vincentcheung.com), but are on the PDF files distributed at www.rmiweb.org. Please take a look and see if there is anything there that interests you.
Thanks for your readership and support.
September 09 2006 | Uncategorized