by Rita Davidson
It was brought to my attention again… about the online sources of “free Catholic books.”
Back when we were a publisher of Catholic books these sites, mainly google…concerned me. As a former publisher myself, it was hard to go through the trouble of purchasing a rare book at (sometimes enormous cost), then taking care to scan it (I never damaged a book in the process) and repairing often damaged fonts and getting it ready for reprinting. Then only to find that google has scanned the book (with a high speed scanner and thrown away the book after) and provided it free online.
The first issue I had with this, is why would ‘secular’ people provide free CATHOLIC books? It seems a great thought at first doesn’t it? Bear with my thinking aloud here for a moment…
My FIRST problem with these “free books” (and for now let’s forget about secular; lets just talk about Catholic books) it takes away from the publishers who PRINT them (like we used to). I know first hand how much a publisher goes through to get a book in print. Catholic Publishers NEED the support of Catholic readers. That means YOU! 🙂
SECOND, GOOGLE ! Why would google CARE to scan Catholic books? Google the anti-God, pro-abortion organization? Because Google will scan all these old books and once our faith becomes illegal…. (look how far we’ve come already people) guess where all these books will go? BOOM GONE! (It’s like a new version of book burning...it’s just book scanning then throwing out the copies)! Ugh…
THIRDLY, we all LOVE free right? But when you get these free Catholic books it trains us to be lazy and EXPECT FREE saying “I can’t afford this now” How many times I hear people say, “I’d love to get your book, but I can’t afford it right now.” They don’t see buying Catholic books as necessary to save their souls. It comes LAST on their list. But do they really not have the money? Take a look at their budget and see if you can squeeze out $27. What about those Starbucks coffees ? Or maybe it’s the extra trips to the grocery store because of poor planning for errands? Maybe its the house insurance your overpaying because you didn’t follow up with your insurance company for a better quote or maybe you need to find a new company to quote you?
We need to be a clever as serpents today….Don’t let the devil make you “Think” you don’t have the money for a book that may save your soul. He is only distracting you from expenses you THINK you NEED. Support your Catholic faith by purchasing Catholic books from Catholic publishers. This should be number ONE in your life.
FOURTH; Two things are taken away when a country loses its freedom.
1. Money….money allows us free reign to purchase the needs of life, (they removed our penny in Canada already…)
2. BOOKS Why else did Hitler burn books? Because books spread the faith, books contain Catholic truth and undermine the new world from letting their agenda’s be implemented. When power goes out how useful are those ebooks to you? A paper book by the candle light will work every-time. Why is Kindle so popular…started by who else…Amazon (another anti-life gigantic place we all shop at…)
FIFTH; downloading these Catholic books gives you the security you have read them. But how much of your downloaded books do you actually READ? Do you have hard drives stuffed with free downloads? Do you really take the time to read them all? “Ohhhh I’ll get to that one tomorrow….” we say. The devil loves to distract us with a busy life and when we don’t have a book sitting beside our bed to remind us to ‘read’ how far are we going to get with our spiritual reading? The devil is a prowling lion seeking who he can devour…
SIXTH, COPYRIGHT infringement! You would hope that most people understand that writing a book is hard work and protected under author copyright. But another trend I’m seeing from these ‘free catholic books’ sites is they are uploading CURRENT Catholic books. Not old books from Benzinger 80 years ago…but current in print books from authors that are still alive and getting support from their writing. This my friends is STEALING. And if you are supporting these free sites and downloading those sites, you are AIDING and abetting this stealing.
So my friends there you have it. My rant on what Free Books really means…. and I hope it will jog your thinking a little before you run off to download the next FREE copy of a great book….
With love for truth in all things,
Rita xxo
Rita is a Catholic wife, and mother of seven, with three autistic boys. Author, of “Immodesty, Satan’s Virtue” (2001) and speaker, she has a PASSION for making #realcatholicmodesty understood. She is a licensed Hairdresser, and Make Up Pro, Certified Christian Image Stylist. With a degree in Natural Health she enjoys essential oils & Jamberry Nail Wraps. She enjoys making people smile and sharing God’s love with anyone who will listen. After overcoming a stroke, disabilities, they lost everything in a devastating house fire that made them homeless for six months. She is determined to lead souls back to Christ by finding the #realcatholicbeauty in their lives by carrying their cross with JOY!
©Copyright 2017 Rita Davidson & Little Flowers Family Press All Rights Reserved.
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