Christian Book Notes

It is no secret to those who know me that I am not a huge Bible software fan though I do use various tools for my study. It is also no secret (now) that Logos has completely changed my mind on the (almost) necessity of Bible software as an aid in studying Scripture. I am super excited to announce that Logos has finally unveiled their latest version, Logos 4.

I have been blessed to have been using the beta for the past couple months and words cannot really describe how far Bible computer software has come in the last five years.  There is so many new features that it would be dang near impossible to write a decent review of everything.  Allow me to say, though, that LOGOS 4 is as simple as downloading to your computer and using.  It is so easy to use that anyone wanting to study the Bible with greater care will appreciate all of the information available at your fingertips.  Still, the most intellectual PhD will find much value in what LOGOS 4 has to offer.

Below are some screen shots of LOGOS 4.

Newspaper appearance on the home page.  Note (bottom right corner) there are five pages to your home page.

Study the Greek and Hebrew with a click of the mouse.

Easily tile your workspace to have up to five resources on your screen at once!

You can take a guided tour of the Bible lands and never have to flip to the “book of maps” at the end of your Bible.

Upload to your iPhone!

The bottom line for LOGOS 4 is that the developers in Washington state have outdone themselves.  If you already use LOGOS, then you absolutely must upgrade to 4.  If you do not already use LOGOS, then you need to see what you are missing.  There is a discount for existing LOGOS users when you upgrade.

“I don’t have time to read the Bible right now.” Sadly, this statement is often heard in churches and in conversations among believers. Even worse, we say this ourselves–I know that I have said this. Without trying to sound like the beginning of an infomercial, I want to tell you about a product that is going to take away pretty much every excuse you have for not having daily intake of God’s Word.

Features of The Original GoBible

GoBible is exactly what the name says it is. It is a Bible for people on the go. You can purchase three different translations–KJV (narrated by Alexander Scourby (1913-1985)), NKJV (narrated by Stephen Johnston), or NIV (narrated by Mac McLean). In all three cases, the narrators

Verse Indexing

The Original GoBible is indexed at the verse level which, in my opinion is one of the most amazing aspects of this produce. The main menu is set up to allow the user to choose the Old or the New Testament. Once you choose which testament, you then choose your book. When you are in your book, you choose your chapter. For the most part, every CD or MP3 audio Bible I have had stops right there. No so with the Original GoBible! Once you are in the chapter, you can then select whatever verse you are wanting! That is worth the price of the Original GoBible right there!

Story Index

You can choose from over 225 of the more popular stories within the Bible by choosing the Story Index from the main menu and then select the Old or New Testament. From there, you can choose any of the most popular stories found in the Bible. The creation of the world, the fall of man, Samson, David and Goliath, the birth of Jesus, Water turned into wine, etc. In the event that a story is told more than once, like the birth of Jesus for instance, they have each telling of the story from the different books. The stories are indexed in biblical chronological order.

Special Features

The following features are located in the main menu under the Special Features button.

First, there is a topic index. This is a small version of a topical index. The Original GoBible includes around 30 different topics and circumstances that someone may find themselves. Here, the listener will be able to access verses related to emotions like grief and doubt as well as other topics like heaven and the love of God. By clicking on a topic, you will be presented with a list of Scripture passages from which to select. You can listen to all or listen to a few.

Second, there is a listing of different holidays on the American calendar throughout the year. These include Christmas, Thanksgiving, Valentine’s Day, and Mother’s and Father’s Day. Also included are some major life changing events. These include events like military deployment, baptisms, weddings, graduations, and funerals.

Third, you can read through the Bible in a year with your GoBible. This is divided into 52 weeks and then subdivided in to 7 days per week. Each day has a reading from the OT and the NT.

Finally, what brings all of this together is the ability to bookmark up to 36 different passages. This is especially useful when reading through the Bible in a year or simply just reading through the Bible as I am. All you need to do is press the bookmark button and your passage is saved. Next time you go to listen to your Bible, you just need to go into your bookmark and click on the passage where you left off.

Inconveniences of the GoBible

I have labeled this section inconveniences because the following critiques are simply some things that I would like to see changed and in no way do they make the GoBible less than an excellent and most recommended tool.

The first thing is that the stories are in chronological order making it somewhat difficult to get to a story in the middle of the Old Testament. The stories are in canonical order as they appear in the Bible. Perhaps a separate alphabetical listing would be of help.

Second, for some reason, the voice (I have the NIV with Max Mclean) sounds as though the narrator is in a can. I own the CD set of the Listener’s Bible and in comparing the two (the GoBible and the CD’s) it seems that their is a slight difference in the quality. This would not be noticeable, I think, except for the fact that I have listened to the same audio CD’s for over 6 years now.

Third, placing the GoBible in the belt clip makes it a bit more difficult to use the navigation buttons. It is harder to push play and to bookmark a section, but I think that will change the more I use it and break in the leather of the case.

Finally, the choice of translations is currently limited to just the KJV, NKJV, and NIV. While you can download more translations at the website, these are the only three available for the GoBible.

Qualities of the GoBible

What’s not to like? I have been listening to my GoBible every day since I received it. I have found it to be a calming influence when I am walking around doing mindless tasks. It has helped me to stay in the Word during one of busiest seasons of my life.

The fact that the entire Bible is already uploaded to its own MP3 player makes the Original GoBible a steal at only $99. There is over 70 hours of “reading” and well over 3 GB (probably pushing 4 with all of the added features) of material. To purchase an MP3 Bible and an MP3 player to upload the files onto will certainly cost you more than that! Having a Bible at the ready no matter what you are doing is beyond priceless. There is no more uploading files. You simply turn it on and start listening.

Because it runs on one AAA battery, there is no charging and hoping that you get a full charge before you need it. You simply put in a battery and start using your GoBible. There is no more being away from your charger and getting aggravated that you can’t use your device. You simply pull out another AAA battery and pop it in and start listening.

Recommendation

The GoBible has quickly become one of my favorite tools for Bible intake. In no way does it replace reading the Bible, but it certainly helps to have it playing in your ear during the day. Its sleek, compact design with all of the features listed above makes the Go Bible an excellent gift for any professing Christian.  You can purchase the GoBible at Amazon.

Confession

I have a confession to make. One year ago, I hated the concept of digital print media and swore I would never “cave-in” to the latest “trend” in books; i.e., Logos. My how times have changed! Over the course of this past year, I have come to see the upside and the stewardship that is Logos Bible Software. I have moved up from the Logos Scholars Library to the Logos Scholar’s Library: Gold and continue to be blown away by what an excellent resource I have at my fingertips.

Installation

The installation is very easy. However, remaining true to form, I found a way to make it difficult! Actually, the problem was not me or the software as much as it was the age of my computer. I tried to download the Gold edition from a DVD only to get stuck at about the 10 minute mark. I literally spent 2 hours on the phone with customer service going through every trouble shooting method they could think of only to be told that we I probably need the CD’s instead of the DVD.

Nevertheless, this is to your advantage for a couple of reasons. First, if your computer or laptop is more than a couple of years old, purchase the CD’s. They are the same cost as the DVD’s but will load much faster on an older computer than the DVD because of its multiple layers.

Second, customer service at Logos is truly second to none. In both instances (read my review on Scholar’s Library), they were patient and kind and extremely helpful. We got to joking around about the problem and was even able to share testimonies with one another while waiting for the program to run its checks.

Usability

I do not get into the technical jargon when it comes to the interfaces and what-not of a computer software program. I only want to know one thing. Can I simply download and begin using or do I need, as we called it in the military, a block of instruction?

I have found Logos to be one of the easiest Bible software programs to use without first sitting through a bunch of training videos. As soon as the software was downloaded to my computer, I was able to begin checking everything out with no problems. That is very important to me since I truly do not have the time to meticulously learn all of the features.

Now, I realize that a block of instruction will only help the user to become familiar with all the various components and features of Logos, but not everyone has time to sit through tutorial videos let alone attend a class on how to use a particular Bible software program. However, because I am writing a review, I “researched” the tutorials and found them to be extremely beneficial. You do not have to sit for hours on end to learn how to use this software. There are a ton of videos you can watch on an as needed basis in order to increase your information and decrease the time it takes to get that information.

Perhaps one of the greatest features is the ability to search your entire library for one subject, hit return, and see which of your books mention that subject. Imagine the time saved from going to your library or the Internet and looking up all the books!

Content

Ok, the main thrust of the Logos Scholar’s Library: Gold is that it is truly the most cost efficient way to build a quality library quickly. The Gold edition contains more than 700 titles—which includes sets of books so that a commentary set may contain 12 of those titles. Allow me to share the importance of this. I currently own about 2,000 books in my personal library. I have moved four times in the past four years. Obviously, my library was not always at 2,000—it has grown considerably in these past four years. Every time my family has moved, the first thing that had to be done was to pack up the books because they take up the most boxes and space. At one point, I had over 100 boxes of various sizes of books moving into a third floor apartment!

With that picture in your mind, imagine being able to carry 700 books in something as small as a compact disc but no bigger than a CPU. Next, think of how many bookshelves 700 books take up. I will give you a hint–think one decent sized wall. It is obvious to see how having digitized books can only help. This is not too mention how much your back will thank you let alone how much your spouse will thank you for giving her part of the house back!

Another nice feature is the ability to study the original languages and do some solid exegetical work before looking through all of those commentaries and other resources. For many, this is the most important function when it comes to making a choice regarding Bible software. Logos can easily stand toe-to-toe with any other software when it comes to diagramming and studying the original languages.

If you are going to work on a sermon, simply type in a passage and you bring up commentaries (turned to the exact pages you need), parallel passages, key words found in the passage, sermons from SermonCentral.com and even power point presentations (if any exist). You can also get a list of hymns and worship music that are based from the passage as well as a list of all of the topics that can be discussed. In other words, this could be your one-stop shop for your sermon preparation.

Counting the Cost

At a price of $1,379.95, this product will clearly set you back a nice chunk of money. But, before you freak out over the sticker price, you need to keep in mind a few things. First, Logos offers payment plans for their more expensive products. They are able to work with everyone to make their product as affordable as possible. Perhaps, you can’t afford to start with Gold, but you really want to work with the original languages. You can purchase their original languages library and begin to build your very own library from there.

Second, Logos offers generous discounts to any degree seeking student, faculty or staff member as well as various other discounts throughout the year. Also, Logos is offering Going to Seminary readers a generous 25% discount on any of the base packages by using the coupon code GOINGTOSEMINARY. This, in addition to the payment plan, brings the total for Gold, their absolute largest package, to just under $1,035.00—that is only $36.00 more than their silver library!

Third, the inclusion of just two commentary series, the New American Commentary and the New International Greek New Testament Commentary, practically pays for itself. What is more, you still have over 650 other resources! The bottom line is you are receiving over $11,700 worth of print books for about 90% of the price!

Finally, I have found that because I now have duplicated copies (in print and Logos), I am able to sell (or give away) my print editions. This also helps to offset the cost of software. Some books I want to keep in print and therefore I do. However, my resource books, like commentaries, sell nicely and have would have already made a couple of the monthly payments for me.

BibleWorks8 (BW8) is the latest in the Bible Works computer software series. Building upon the huge successes and renovations made to BW7, this new edition has much to offer while at the same time remaining constant in most of its functionality.

Much of what I have written in regards to functionality can be found in my review for BW7 found here. In this review, I would like to focus on what is new and believe me, there is a lot that is new.

What is New

First, there are over 190 different translations now available on the Bible compared to 115 in BW7. This makes BW8 more useful in the missionary setting especially overseas.

Second, there are new analysis tabs giving more information about the current verse. You can now find the most common word in current section (or pericope), chapter, and book. In addition, you can quickly find the full context of the verse you are studying by clicking on the Browse Tab.

Third, there is a cross-reference window that will shows the related verses. It is as simple as passing your mouse over the text. Here you can compare cross-references for any Bible version as well as build your own file of cross-references.

Fourth, the phrase matching tool enables you to see all verses that contain similar phrases. The related verses tool allows you to find all the verses containing some of the same words found in the current verse.

Fifth, BW8 offers an extra set of Greek sentence diagrams in addition to the Leedy Greek NT sentence diagrams. William MacDonald’s “Textual Transcriptions” helps to see a slightly different array of the sentence structures.

One final addition I would like to discuss is what they are calling ERMIE: External Resources Manager. What this cool little function does is to collect and organize your resources (PDF files, word .doc, websites, etc.) into one location that can be shared with other users. This will certainly be a feature that will come in most helpful in stream-lining one’s exegetical work and study.

There is so much more that has been added, but space does not allow me to go into detail here. If you would like an exhaustive list of what is new please go to the What’s New in BibleWorks8 page.

What has Been Lost

Unfortunately, some things are lost in making the move from BW7 to BW8. Their websites gives the reason why this is the case.

Many of the databases contained in BibleWorks are licensed from the copyright holders of those databases. On rare occasions we are unable to reach a mutually-satisfactory agreement with the licensor and items must be removed from BibleWorks or turned into extra-cost modules. We are sorry for the inconvenience this may cause.

Completely lost is A.T. Robertson’s Word Pictures, Mark Futato’s Basic Hebrew for Bible Study and the German Lutherbibel 1984. These three are no longer available from BibleWorks.

With all of the additions to BW8, some databases were in effect squeezed out. These are A Concise Greek-English Dictionary of the New Testament by Barclay M. Newman, Jr., A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament by Bruce M. Metzger, and a Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint by Lust-Eynikel-Hauspie. However, according to the BibleWorks website, if you were a registered user upgrading from BW7 to BW8, they will send you a set of activation codes for Metzger, Newman, Lust-Eynikel-Hauspie, and Lutherbibel 1984.

Recommendation

While some have been greatly upset with the loss of Robertson’s Word Pictures, I do not see this as such a problem that one would not want to upgrade to BW8. After all, you can still access Robertson’s Word Pictures on the Internet at Crosswalk.com.

BibleWorks8 will remain one of the two premier choices (see LOGOS) for any biblical scholar or exegete. Here is a list of upgrade costs for BW8 (DVD or CD):

• From BW7–$149.00
• From BW6–$175.00
• From BW5 and older–$349.00

I have recently reviewed both the Logos Scholar’s Library and BibleWorks7 (BW7) and have heard many say that they prefer one software system over the other for various reasons. After having reviewed both of them, I thought it would be good to offer a comparison of what I have found and open it up for discussion amongst the readers here at Said.

There is nothing technical about this; I am simply offering what I found to be the strengths and/or weaknesses to the two programs as well as a comparison of the add-ons each offers. In many ways, this was a lot like comparing apples to oranges because each program is geared for a different person. Unless otherwise noted, I am comparing the two products as base products.

Cost: For a base price of $629.95 ($440.95 for students), you receive over $6,000 in print resources with Logos. For $349.00 ($250.00 if you take advantage of a group discount), you receive the best exegetical tool money can buy in BW7.
Advantage: Logos

Resources: Logos has digitized thousands of dollars worth of print books consisting of millions of pages that fit nicely onto your laptop. BW7 has made language, diagram, and exegetical work so quick and easy that one is able to wrestle with the text itself longer before reading what others have said about it.
Advantage: Depends

Bible Study: Logos has similar functions in terms of exegesis and bible study tools that BW7 has. Logos certainly has more study tools about the bible than BW7. However, I personally believe that if one is studying the Bible, he or she should wrestle more with the text rather than seek another’s understanding of what the Bible is saying. BW7 is much more equipped for intense Bible study than Logos.
Advantage: BW7

Add-Ins: Logos is always adding new products to their ever expanding library. They also run sales from time to time and offer what they call pre-pub sales in which you can purchase new titles for a much cheaper price than what the product will regularly run. BW7 only offers a handful of add-ins because their subject matter is much smaller than what Logos is.

If you compare the add-ins that they have in common, the base price is cheaper at BW7. If you factor in the 30% discount, if you qualify, on Logos, then they are almost dead even. Head-to-head, I would give the advantage to BW7, but because of the wider audience that Logos appeals to, and thus the quantitatively more add-ins overall, I would have to say:
Advantage: Logos

Usability: At first, BW7 is difficult to use and Logos is pretty much ready to go. However, there is a learning curve to both. This again boils down to what you want and are looking for in Bible Software. I would give the early advantage to Logos and the learned advantage to BW7.
Advantage: Even.

Conclusion

I realize this is not as detailed as many were looking for, but this only serves as an introduction to both programs. As I said earlier, in many ways, this was comparing apples to oranges because Logos has a completely different overall market than BW7. I would think if you were going into missions or were the pastor of a small church, then I would recommend Logos because of the digitized print feature. You can build your library in a very cost effective manner.

However, if are a serious student of the Bible, and the languages are appealing to you, then I would recommend BW7 over Logos. BW7 is more than worth the investment if you are looking to work with the original languages as you prepare your sermons and lessons. There is so much more that can be done at an exegetical level with BW7 that you are truly able to wrestle with the Word of God much more.

Depending on what you are looking for, both of these bible software programs are loaded with features that are appealing. If you can swing the cost, you might be best served to own both. I do not think that you can say one is better than the other without qualifying that statement with a “for ____.” The only thing that ultimately matters is what features you are looking for in bible software.

What do you think? If you use one what do you find so nice about it? If you use both, how would you rank them?

BibleWorks7 (BW7) is a computer software program designed for in depth study of the Bible itself. The “getting started” page begins, “BibleWorks is one of the most powerful and easiest-to-use Bible concordance and morphological analysis programs available.” They are not attempting to sell the product; they are serious about this claim. This program comes complete with 15 different Hebrew and Aramaic texts, 19 Greek texts, 38 different translations of the Bible, and just about every other major language that the Bible has been translated into. It also includes numerous lexicons and reference works while additional modules may be purchased later on an as needed basis. Read more…

Logos Bible Software is designed with the Bible student in mind.  It does not matter if you are seminary trained or not.  Anyone can use this software as they seek to study the Bible and mine it for its gold.  Shoot, you don’t even have to be a Greek or Hebrew scholar with this software to better understand the Word of God in its original languages.

While I am familiar with some of Logos’ software, I will be writing this review from a very non-technical perspective and sharing what I have found as I learned how to operate the system and use it to my advantage.  Read more…

You have attended Dr. Whitney’s “seminar” on how to organize your books and you are thinking to yourself, “Man, I wish I had a secretary who can copy my title page and file my books for me the way Dr. Whitney showed me.  Well,” you go on, “I might as well start cataloguing my books as I go.  I might not have the time to get them as well organized as Dr. Whitney, but I can at least get started in that direction.”

That is the conversation I had with myself and others after Dr. Whitney took some of us into his office and showed us the wall-to-wall file cabinets full of files with book titles and news clippings in them organized by topic.  I loved how he had it set up and I loved that he had a running record of all the books in his library.  I also knew that I had over 2,000 books in my own personal library and that I was in seminary full time, working full time, fathering three children full time and being a husband full time.  In other words, this was not going to happen any time soon.  There was also the issue of getting my secretary wife to organize my books, though she has threatened to put them in Dewey decimal order!

Introduction

If you have had this thought and have been unable to get your library catalogued the way you wanted, then I have some excellent news!  Collectorz.com has a computer program that will catalogue your books quick, fast, and in a hurry as my drill sergeants used to say.  Book Collector is designed with ease and quickness in mind.  Read more…