When computers were first introduced to the world I thought they were the coolest things. I still remember working on a computer in my seventh-grade class. It was a Commodore 64 and the black screen with the green print still sticks in my mind.
Better still, my best friend’s parents bought him a computer when we were in high school. It was the dawn of AOL and my parents could never have afforded the $2.00 a minute or so cost that came with internet access at that time.
But technology has come a long way and people have invented new and creative ways to use this technology. One of these is Bible study. A library of multi-volume resources are at a person’s fingertips and the excuse that there are not enough commentaries, dictionaries, exegetical works, etc., owned will no longer suffice.
There are five benefits of using software for Bible study that I hope will encourage everyone to either seriously consider exploring their options of software or jump right in and start using it immediately.
NOTE: clicking on each Giphy will take you to the site where you can view it in full-screen.
Better still, my best friend’s parents bought him a computer when we were in high school. It was the dawn of AOL and my parents could never have afforded the $2.00 a minute or so cost that came with internet access at that time.
But technology has come a long way and people have invented new and creative ways to use this technology. One of these is Bible study. A library of multi-volume resources are at a person’s fingertips and the excuse that there are not enough commentaries, dictionaries, exegetical works, etc., owned will no longer suffice.
There are five benefits of using software for Bible study that I hope will encourage everyone to either seriously consider exploring their options of software or jump right in and start using it immediately.
NOTE: clicking on each Giphy will take you to the site where you can view it in full-screen.
- Bible software saves time.. It's no secret that if you're scratching your head trying to figure out where you saw that particular verse concerning that particular topic that all software practically has the capability of doing a search and coming up with what you're looking for, as per example using Logos software.
- Bible software allows for quick analysis. Sometimes you want to see how your word is used throughout the Bible or how many times its used in a particular book. Many Bible software programs come with tools to allow you to view graphs or charts of this very thing.
- Bible software keeps everything clutter free. Software allows a user to create panes and tabs to keep everything tidy. You can view a Bible, commentary, map or other items simultaneously. There's no more need to spread a half dozen books on the table in front of you.
- Bible software can aid in the learning of the original languages. This is where some of the software reall shines! I use Logos and they have a Greek and Hebrew tutor built right in. While this is meant to only learn the basics and not grammar and syntax, it certainly goes a long way in helping you to read the original text.
- Bible software means a better over all study experience. Instead of searching for books in your library or trying to remember where in a book you saw a particular sentence about a verse, Bible software keeps track of everything, including your highlights and notes. One of the greatest things about Bible software is the ability to take notes and then attach them to a particular verse so that you don't forget where you "saw" that life-changing comment. Logos is useful in this area. They have a feature called 'Clippings' that allows the user to clip a piece of text and create a file from that.
Bible software is one of the greatest technological advances for study. Many seminaries partner with Bible software companies and give big discounts for the software. And while most lay people won't go to seminary there are still a lot of great free software packages that can enhance your study of Scripture. I encourage you to begin to explore all of the software available for your use.
