Category Archives: Bible Study

Times have changed, and so have the tools available for Bible study

Posted on February 6, 2010 | 1 comment

Have you ever had to use a concordance to find that Bible verse you wanted to reference? Then, you looked for it but couldn’t find it because your reconstruction of the verse as you recalled it didn’t match the word order or the ‘words’ themselves in the concordance index? Unless you are like my wife who has a nearly photographic memory (she can tell you what I wore at Christmas time in 2002), the answer is yes. Finding your way around the Bible at times can be difficult, and finding a certain verse can be like finding a needle in a hay stack. Enter electronic Bibles and Bible study software.

In today’s era of technological advancement, Bible study and word or verse searching can be done at lightning fast speed. Even if you enter words out of the correct order or you can’t even remember more than one, it’s likely you’ll still find what you are looking for when using software. Although I still read and reference paper-based books, and have no intentions of giving up printed Bibles, I no longer own a printed concordance. In fact, my primary reference tools are digital and the ones I use daily reside right on my computer in my favorite Bible software, Accordance. Accordance is made for the Mac, but it can be run on a Windows platform with a free emulator. And on my iPod touch, I use Bible Reader, by Olivetree, available in several mobile platforms such as Palm Pilot, Blackberry and others. With these applications, I always find what I need and I find it fast.

I have heard some people say that using a computer to study the Bible is cheating. But that is hardly true. If doing things the old-fashioned way means being more spiritual, let’s all go back to clay or stone tablets. Or how about unrolling a scroll at church service to follow along during the message. Or…well, I think you get the point. Perhaps the naysayers are under the impression that you enter a verse and the computer does all the work for you, even generates a sermon. The truth is, Bible study on the computer does nothing more than accelerate the process you would normally employ to study with print books. You still need to think, follow a line of thought, research, read and, we hope, hear from the Lord.  The machine simply makes your tools so accessible that flipping through hundreds of pages for research is no longer necessary. In one word, convenience.

Bible study software for me has not replaced the joy and intimacy of holding and writing in my print Bible, and it never will. I also still love to sit back with a good book in hand. And let’s face it, for extended reading the backlit screen of any electronic reader (other than say, the Kindle or similar device) is rather unfriendly to the eyes. But for shorter sprints of reading and reference work, computer-based Bible study is the way to go. Anyone who owns a computer and enjoys digging into the Scriptures wont regret the digital approach, it can’t be beat

From the new believer to the seasoned saint, there is a world of reference works available at your finger tips. Potentially, you could do such things as simultaneously compare multiple translations of the Bible (NIV, KJV, NASB etc.), look up a word’s definition in English, or consult the biblical languages (Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic). You could reference commentary or get statistical information, such as how many times the word ‘love’ is used in 1, 2 and 3 John. By the way, the answer to that is 42 times. See the screen shot below from my word search in Accordance that took all of about 0.2 seconds. The hits are highlighted in bold red. Click on it to enlarge.


In print, you would have to physically read all three books of 1, 2 and 3 John, and take note of each occurrence. With software, it takes less than a second. If you have maps, you can find any location named in the entire Bible, or even read a dictionary’s article on it. The screen shot here is from my Accordance atlas in which I located Ephesus instantly by just selecting the word in Acts 18:19 and then clicking on the atlas icon. Again, locating this in paper format would require at least a couple of minutes, if not more. Click the image to enlarge it.

The possibilities are endless. Personally, I love to study the Bible and absolutely am thrilled to be able to do it in the way that software allows me to. Any tool that helps you to cover more ground – especially such precious grounds as Scripture – more thoroughly, should be employed.

For ultra portability, I use Bible Reader by Olivetree. It offers its reader for free, along with a few Bible translations and other resources. But they also sell an extensive selection of basic to even the most advanced form of Bible study tools. Having Bible Reader on my iPod is indispensable while away from my Mac and can’t access Accordance. I can do simple to complex word searches, reference commentary, view maps and practice reading the original Greek. Twenty years ago we would have had to carry around a bunch of books. Well, times have changed, and so has the form of tools for Bible study. Whether you go the digital route or not, I just hope you’ll study the Bible. But if you are reading this post it’s likely you own a personal computer of some kind, so why not give the electronic way a try? Imagine, the world of the Bible at your fingertips…what more could you ask for? To see more about approaching Bible study, see “Pad, Pen and Prayer; Slowing Down for Bible Study.“

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Posted in Bible Study, Ministry and Church Life, Technology

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Seminary or Cemetery?

Posted on February 5, 2010 | 4 comments

Academically inspired death

A pastoral thought to my fellow servant leaders in ministry. In the past I have often heard (and even poked fun myself), the play on words between seminary and cemetery. This is as if to say that seminaries are nothing more than breeding ground for dead orthodoxy, whose occupants cannot be but lifeless theologians. But can we fairly criticize anyone for committing ones life to deeper study of Scripture, and more effective ministry? Unfortunately, we belittle them while simultaneously contradicting ourselves and becoming hypocritical in our practice. Before you become pharisaical and seek to stone me for my words, read on.

I can understand why we might have an aversion towards the academic world. After all, many liberal theologians, and indeed secular institutions, have done great damage to the hearts and minds of countless believers. With the undue emphasis in some denominations on formal education, and their criteria for ministry, even some of the first-church Apostles would be disqualified for ministry. This couldn’t be more erroneous.

But let’s not throw out the baby with the bathwater. For here is an enigma that I feel compelled to bring up. Although we often ridicule those in the academic field of theology, whether tongue-in-cheek or veraciously, time and time again we turn to their written works. Resources such as dictionaries, commentaries, lexicons, atlases, archeological journals and so on, become our friends and helpers to aid us in our study. So while we criticize the approach of today’s theologians and their predecessors, we at the same time by our actions acknowledge their work and the benefit they have brought to the body of Christ. Their diligent efforts of study in a specialized area of Christianity occupy the majority of real estate on our bookshelves, and for some of us, in our Bible software.

So then, are we not being unfair, and dare I say, hypocritical if we let them do the hard work for us, while we reap the rewards of their labor and then call them theological corpses? To help shed some light on what I mean, take a look at this truncated list of theologically educated saints who, through their speaking and writing ministries, have helped myriads of believers “grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ” (2 Pet 3:18). It is likely that you also turn frequently to these for Biblical insights:

• H.A. Ironside • William MacDonald • John F. Walvoord • Roy B. Zuck • D. A. Carson • R. Kent Hughes • James Montgomery Boice • Griffith Thomas • M. R. DeHaan • Irving Jensen • Warran Wiersbe • J. Vernon McGee

These are just a handful from my shelf, for this blog would be unnecessarily long otherwise. And the list is miles-long in the history of Christendom.

Now, we don’t have to agree with everything coming out of seminaries. Surely, I don’t! But personally, I am grateful to the Lord and to his servants who continue to make it possible to access invaluable information that would have otherwise taken me a lifetime to gather. In the end, we Bible students, and especially Bible teachers, are better for it.

I view seminarians, those who are genuine brothers and sisters in Christ, differently now. They are a part of the body without whom we pastors, teachers and leaders, would be hard-pressed to function well. Do I think that seminary is required for ministry? Definitely not! But can it help us in our service to God and his people? Well, just take a look at some of the fruit residing on your bookshelves. Mine is full of men and women God has used to bless me, to enrich my walk with Christ, and to help equip me for the ministry to which I have been called.

In closing, this might be a good time to recognize the roles some seminaries and their students have played in the church as an invaluable part of the body. And instead of despising them, to thank God that he has put them in the body. I think Paul sums up the godly attitude we seek after, “The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you,’ nor again the head to the feet, ‘I have no need of you.'” (1 Cor 12:21)

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Posted in Bible Study, Ministry and Church Life, Theology, Thought for today

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Mind Mapping

Posted on February 4, 2010 | 2 comments

For those of you who have never heard of  NovaMind Express Mind Mapping Software, it is a great way to take and create notes efficiently. I’ve been using the technique for several months now, and I find it rather liberating for certain tasks, rather than following a linear approach to note taking and generating outlines for teaching purposes. Mind mapping is a clean, nimble and aesthetically attractive way to recall your material and even to make presentations if you like.

This morning, in response to a request by a dear sister from our midweek Bible Study, I sent a few mind maps to her so she could see what she had missed in a previous study two weeks ago, as well as review yesterday evening’s lesson. While it was fresh on my mind, I thought I would post a couple here as well. By no means am I an expert in this practice, and these maps in particular mostly will be meaningful only to me, since they were not made for presentation but rather to aid me in memory recall. And only I know the purpose behind the triggers along the map, but still they will give you an idea of the technique and some of them are indeed self explanatory. I hope you’ll find mind mapping as helpful as I have and useful in your study and/or organization of just about anything you do in ministry or daily life. I made the below samples using NovaMind and you can click  to check out their site and download a free trial. This application is my favorite of the bunch!

Right now we’re in James on Wednesdays, and much of the content present in these is in question form. This is because I run the group as an interactive study where others need to come prepared, think and participate. By the way, mind maps are read clockwise, so you begin at the upper right at 1:00 o’clock and follow the branches around to, in these examples, the 10:00 o’clock position. So here they are, click on them to enlarge. 

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Posted in Bible Study, Technology

Jesus on the Great Commission

Posted on January 30, 2010 | 2 comments

Here is an interesting nugget on the subject of discipleship. To not get rusty after all my blood, sweat and tears invested in learning Biblical Greek through my seminary study, I’ve been trying to use it daily in my devotional time as well as sermon preparation.

This morning I was following a discussion on leadership and mentoring, which is another way of saying ‘discipling’ in biblical language. This, of course, landed me at the Great Commission in Matt 28:18-20. What I found particularly interesting there is the fact that the only word of Jesus recorded explicitly in the imperative (i.e. impertative means to command or order to do something) form of the Greek was ‘matheteusate’, which literally means to “disciple”. Following this as the direct object (the part of the phrase that receives the action rather than does the action) is ‘all nations’,  written as ‘panta ta ethne’ in the Greek.

We often cite this verse to mobilize our churched people into the field of evangelism and missions. While there is nothing incorrect about this application, ‘GO’ is not the actual emphasis of the great commission. To ‘make disciples’ is the command. The words ‘go’, ‘baptize’ and ‘teach’ are participles in the Greek, which would be like saying ‘while going and baptizing and teaching’. These are all an implicit part of the great commission, but they are merely part of the greater focus and actual command of making disciples as Jesus gave it.

Let me explain why this challenges my approach to ministry. Often, we place the emphasis encouraging people to ‘go’ to the field for missions. Always, we make sure that believers are ‘baptized’ after trusting in Jesus. Sometimes, this takes an all-too-legalistic application as part of a creed or requirement for membership into certain denominations. And few reading this post will argue against the importance of teaching others what Jesus did and said. However, my execution of making disciples has fallen far short of what I believe Jesus to have said in Matthew 28:18-20.

Discipleship in light of Jesus’ definition as a Jewish rabbi in New Testament times is to be our goal. A disciple in Jesus’ day was a student who learned closely from his teacher – both by example – and by instruction. Much time was spent together between instructor and disciple. There was a hands on approach too, an apprenticeship if you will. In all, there was a careful nurturing in order to bring the disciple to a specific destination in knowledge and application so as to form his or her character. In other words, we can go, baptize, and teach, without ever truly making a disciple as Jesus intended. For those elements don’t make a disciple. Knowing Christ, walking with him and picking up ones cross to follow him, living by faith and loving Jesus. These describe what I see in the New Testament disciples.

While I have focused often on evangelism, and weekly on teaching, I have fallen pretty far short of Jesus’ definition, and need to reconsider how I am making disciples. Surely my pulpit time goes but a limited distance on the road to Emmaus.  May the Lord, the master disciple maker himself, teach us to make disciples, lest we be guilty instead of fulfilling the ‘Great Omission’.

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