Yeah, that is not remotely funny Josh. First of all, plagiarizing two other heretics only reveals the depths of your own depravity. The fact that you may have plagiarized other people plagiarizing Stanley and Driscoll kind of misses the point. These are not "phrases you hear in every sermon" and in fact, I had never heard them until now. Of course, I do not listen to apostate preachers. The Driscoll quote doesn't even make sense. These are the types of sound bites that false teachers like Andy Stanley live on. I do not know who this alleged preacher of forty years is but his opinion is irrelevant. Plagiarism is theft, period. Mind you, no one is saying you cannot use things that others have preached, but you have to give them credit and not make it look like you were the one saying it.
"Permission and collaboration. Because they have a heart to help, almost every pastor tells other pastors to use anything from his sermons that'll help them. "If my bullet fits in your gun, shoot it!": I've heard Adrian Rodgers, JD Greear, Craig Groeschel, Chris Hodges, Bob Russell, Rick Warren, etc all say things like this. Further, I don't think non-pastors realize how frequently pastors collaborate to help each other because of their hearts to help (see Joby Martin talk about this HERE). Personally, I've given away my notes every week for years mostly to church-planters who are leading churches without any staff help and don't have 20hrs / week for sermon prep. I'm HAPPY to do this, because of differing industry standards. A church-sermon is not an academia-dissertation or a book/journalism-publication. I freely give away my notes to other pastors, because pastors aren't preaching to make themselves look good, sound smart, or sell something proprietary." - Josh Howerton
Not sure why the analogy is a violent one. Preaching is not shooting people, although false teachers are likely to kill many of their listeners for eternity. Again, it is not about using something that might be helpful it is about giving proper credit for it. The sin of plagiarism is LYING that you have written something you have not. Stealing is not "collaboration." All the time people ask if they can use something I have written and my answer is always the same. The words are God's just give me credit for writing them. That is only asking the bare minimum. As for the giving away of his sermon notes, why do so many pastors not have time for sermon prep? Because they are not getting anything from the Holy Spirit! A pastor's sermon should be coming from God after prayer and research, not studying cliff notes of a message God may have given a different preacher for a different congregation. The point is not that it is or is not a piece of academia. The point is you are LYING and STEALING.
'"But that's stealing!" If I gave them permission to use anything from my notes that would help them, that's not stealing. It is stealing in book, journalism, and academia publications because those things are zero-sum situations whose goal is revenue. Author X says something in a book, that's the only place you can get that info, and is selling that book for income. So, if Author Y also says it, that takes away Author X's book sales and income. There's no permission. It's zero-sum. It's for-profit. Sermons are different. Pastor X using something from my sermons, A) has my permission, B) it diminishes me in no way, and C) actually serves to advance my original purpose in writing the sermon - to help AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE and grow the kingdom.' - Josh Howerton
It is as if Josh knows what he is doing is so wrong, so he is trying to address all of the correct scrutiny he will receive. Notice the shift he tries to pull off. We are not talking about him giving his work to others but rather his stealing the work from others. Did he ask Andy Stanley or Mark Driscoll if he could steal their words? Obviously not. His rationale here is morally bankrupt. It does not have to personally profit someone immediately. There is a cumulative effect. If a preacher today builds a following and a reputation by stealing work from other preachers, he can eventually cash in on that. It absolutely diminishes the person you are stealing from because they do not get any credit for their work. By the way, if you expressly give permission for someone to use your words and not give you credit, that is your right as the creator of the words. That does not mean that you then have the right to steal someone else's words just because you have some perceived common goal.
'"But that's lying! They're passing off your content as if it's their own!" I chuckle at this for two reasons: 1) It's only a lie if a preacher actually lies and specifically takes credit for something he knows he didn't create, and 2) because it is understood that TEACHERS aggregate whatever content best helps their students. Guys, stop and think for a second: Pastors are TEACHERS. In schools, 0% of people assume every sentence their teacher says is their teacher's 100% original thought and they never heard it from anyone else. Nobody hears a teacher finish teaching a lesson and says, "You need to resign IMMEDIATELY because you didn't cite the mathematician's name who discovered the equation for the circumference of a circle and saying it without attribution deceived students into thinking that was your original thought!" Nobody hears a grammar teacher say, "I before E except after C" and says, "Fire him, he didn't attribute!" No one sees a physics teacher do an experiment and calls for his dismissal because he didn't mention where he first saw that object lesson. Why? Because when teachers teach, people ASSUME they're pulling from whatever research / info sources they can to BEST HELP THE STUDENTS, which is the goal. Because "there's nothing new under the sun" (Ecc 1:9) and we've all been preaching the same Bible for 2,000 years, it's a given that pastors draw from one another - illustrations, points, sayings, structure, etc - whatever BEST HELPS the people they're teaching.' - Josh Howerton
This is getting clumsy. Josh Howerton plagiarized other people but all he wants to keep talking about is how he gives his work to others to use freely. So, Josh, it is in fact a LIE if YOU preached something that belonged to someone else and you acted like it was yours! That is the entire point! I do not know of any teacher that would openly plagiarize! You have to be kidding me! Is it so hard to just say, so and so said, and then say the statement as opposed to lying and pretending you wrote it? Lying to your students by the way, is never helpful to them. The examples he gives are laughable. Teachers teaching content, concepts and theories do not have to cite the original source. If they use a direct quote however and pretend it was their original thought? That would be LYING and CHEATING. By the way, using Ecclesiastes to support your lying and cheating? Also, not a good look Josh.
"Ok, I guess it's not plagiarism, but why NOT just attribute everything anyway!?" First off, I do think it's wise to mention it or at least nod to an outside source especially in situations like.
