Happiness

Oh, happiness
There is grace
Enough for us and the whole human race...
-David Crowder Band

In Christian circles we throw the word "joy" around a lot. Joy to the world, the Lord has come. Joy unspeakable and full of glory, full of glory, full of glory. I've got the joy joy joy joy down in my heart. (Where?) "The joy of the Lord is your strength," the Word says. Joy is something that is in the core of you as a human being when you've invited God to be in charge of your life. It's the thing that is missing when you leave Him out of your life. You can even have joy when you aren't actually happy at all! I've seen this happen many times at funerals when you know the person who died is at home with Jesus. Joy is not at all the same thing as happiness.

But what about happiness? Do we have any reason to be happy? Of course we do! How about being saved from eternal separation from God? How about God reconciling us to Himself? How about "grace?" Grace is simply the word we use to describe God's reason for making it possible for human beings to avoid the Hell we deserve and obtain the Heaven we do not deserve. So: if you've accepted Jesus into your heart, you get to go to Heaven, and you didn't do a single thing to deserve it... it's a free gift from God. Doesn't that make you happy?

I don't believe in atheists II

Several years ago, I blogged that I don't believe in the existence of atheists. I still hold to my theory, partly because of the reasons I mentioned in that blog post, but since then I've obtained evidence to back me up from the Bible. Observe:

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
(Romans 1:18-23 ESV)

Did you catch that? The Bible says that everybody knows there is a God. It's obvious, based on the evidence of God's creation - the creation points to a creator. But did you notice the sinister plot that's mentioned? It says that the unrighteous know the truth, but try to suppress it (which is a fool's errand, since according to this Scripture, deep down everybody knows the truth anyway). Don't try to pull this Scripture on one of them, of course, because their folly runs so deep that they certainly won't listen to the clear truth of God's Word, but I have a little bit of logic you could try.

Let's think about science for a moment. Science tells us that everything has a start and a finish. I, for example, was born one day (this occurred nine to ten months after I was conceived), and one day, if the pattern of all of recorded history holds, I can expect to die. Animals are born and die. Science even tells us that planets and stars have a beginning and an ending. Science is all about trying to find a cause and effect for things, because science tells us that everything has a beginning, and everything has a cause.

Now, let's rewind backwards. Let's rewind WAY backwards. I don't care how far you go... go back to the very beginning. Let's say the "Big Bang" theory is correct and the entire cosmos started from a catastrophic explosion. Science tells us that the explosion has a cause. What was the cause? Tell you what, I won't go the obvious route... let's go with space aliens. Let's say they used technology to seed the cosmos, which didn't exist before.

What caused the space aliens?

You can see that this logic is going to go on and on forever, and become more and more outrageous and convoluted, until eventually you give up and come to a brick wall. Everything has a cause, but one thing is the cause of everything. Something started it all in the first place, and that thing did not have a cause. It existed outside of the rules of cause and effect. In fact, it created cause and effect. That thing, whatever form it takes, is the definition of "god."

This argument does not prove the identity of the God of the Bible by any means, but I think the rules of logic point, as clearly as the laws of nature mentioned in the Scripture from Romans, at the existence of God. If someone calls himself or herself an atheist, I would like to submit that either he has not thought his beliefs through to their logical conclusion, or that he is deliberately concealing what he already knows, deep down, to be true.

There IS a God. It's only logical.

All I Need?

Last night at Winter Jam I heard a band play a song called "All I Need." As they were singing that God is all they need, I thought.. really? Is God REALLY all you need? If you were standing out on the street outside this building and you had nothing but God... no money, no food, no clothes, no nothing... would you REALLY be okay?

Last week I heard about something unique that's going on online. A humanitarian organization in New York City bought prepaid cell phones for three homeless men and set them up to use Twitter - the idea is that they can tweet about what's going on in their lives and raise awareness of what homelessness is like. You can read their tweets here if you like. These three guys count things as victories that I, and you too if you have a place to sleep at night, don't think twice about. If you've never done a dance of joy to learn that you managed to be selected to get to sleep on a bed, or if you've never had to know which shelters are "safe" to sleep in and which ones might not be, or if a hot meal has never been a highlight of your week, then reading some of the things they tweet might be a bit of a shock. And every once in a while, one of these guys mentions his faith in God! I don't know if they are Christian believers or not, but assuming some or all of them are, they've got God, but they have some other quite pressing needs. "All they need?" Not exactly!

Do you ever pray? I hope you do. When you pray, do you ask for things? Most people do, and that is of course a valid reason to pray. When I pray, I ask for wisdom raising my kids and wisdom in my marriage, or I ask for health if I'm sick, or I ask for favorable results in a financial situation, or whatever. I ask God for stuff. I need that stuff. I may already have more than those homeless guys... I've got a house, a job, meals, even a car. I have a terrific church and a beautiful wife. I've got two great kids. I even have luxuries like cable TV, a video game console, and Internet right in my house. And yet, I still have needs. Is God "all I need?" Apparently not!

King Solomon had everything a person could ever want. He was celebrated for his wisdom, and he was also fabulously rich. He had homes, servants, food, drink, sex... anything he wanted, he could have, immediately. And yet he wrote over and over in the book of Ecclesiastes that it was all like a puff of smoke that is there and then it's gone. Solomon concluded that the only thing we can do in this life that matters is to "fear God and keep his commandments".

And I think there we've approached the crux of the matter. Solomon needed nothing. He had everything... and yet he found that there was something he did not yet have: a proper relationship with God. You can't buy that. It can't be given to you as a gift from another person. You can't inherit it or be born with it. And yet, we all need it desperately.

God is not all that you need. But you know what? God is all that you need that you can't get for yourself. You can live your whole life apart from God if you so choose, and if you do, it's possible that you will live for many healthy years. You may have a wonderful family and love them all very much. You may be financially stable, or even well-off. Your career might be stellar, and then you might retire and live many years in comfort. But no matter what you manage to accomplish for yourself in this life, it's not enough. There's something you need that you can't earn and you can't buy. That thing is only obtained one way: through Jesus. In the process of chasing after things that look good in this life, don't miss out on the one thing that you truly do need!

You Rule!

photo © 2010 Anita Hart | more info (via: Wylio)I came across the passage tonight in Isaiah:

Behold, a king will reign in righteousness,
        and princes will rule in justice.
     Each will be like a hiding place from the wind,
        a shelter from the storm,
    like streams of water in a dry place,
        like the shade of a great rock in a weary land.
     Then the eyes of those who see will not be closed,
        and the ears of those who hear will give attention.
     The heart of the hasty will understand and know,
        and the tongue of the stammerers will hasten to speak distinctly.
     The fool will no more be called noble,
        nor the scoundrel said to be honorable.
     For the fool speaks folly,
        and his heart is busy with iniquity,
    to practice ungodliness,
        to utter error concerning the LORD,
    to leave the craving of the hungry unsatisfied,
        and to deprive the thirsty of drink.
     As for the scoundrel—his devices are evil;
        he plans wicked schemes
    to ruin the poor with lying words,
        even when the plea of the needy is right.
     But he who is noble plans noble things,
        and on noble things he stands.
 (Isaiah 32:1-8 ESV)

In prophecy, often you find that passages have two applications: an immediate application, and a Messianic application. I think this passage actually has at least three different applications, but one really caught my attention, and it's the one I want to focus on, but first I'll mention the other two.

The king, in all cases, is God. The identity of the princes, though, is sort of up for grabs. The immediate application to Isaiah's time was to rulers over Israel; Godly political leaders (in our time as well as theirs) have a positive effect on the nation they rule. In New Testament times, this could be applied to pastors of churches; they provide the spiritual leadership that a Godly king might have provided in ancient times. A pastor who seeks God with all his heart will see amazing things happening in his congregation.

But the application that really jumped out at me tonight was that each one of us, every Christian, is one of those princes. Although we may not "rule" in a political sense in the spot where we live, each of us has a powerful influence over those around us. If we use that influence "in justice" (let God work through us), certain things will automatically begin to happen around us:

• We will be seen as a safe place to run, "shelter from the storm." People know they can trust a Godly man or woman. They know they can depend on us. Peace follows us, because we follow after peace.
• People will be thirsty for what we've got. In Exodus the people got water in the desert from a rock; 1 Corinthians tells us that the rock was a symbol of Christ.
• We will be like a shady spot to a tired person. The best place to rest is in the presence of God's people. In fact, being in a state of spiritual rest is one of the primary focuses of the Christian life.
• We will begin to bring clarity to the situations around us. God's wisdom will make things clear to even people who have a hard time grasping the obvious. Jesus Himself did this effortlessly at the age of twelve.
• People will begin to be seen for who and what they are: those with evil intentions will be exposed, and those with noble intentions will receive the honor due them. The perfect example of this is in the book of Esther.

These things are all really aspects of Christ Himself; as we reflect Him (and as He reflects God the Father), the attributes of God become our attributes as well. We begin to influence the world in amazing, supernatural ways. Jesus wrapped it all up in two metaphors: "salt" and "light." Light to expose the good and bad of the world around us, and salt to influence it and make it better.

Spiritually take charge of the world around you today. Do not allow it to influence you; begin to influence it. "Rule it in justice," God's justice, and see the incredible things that God will cause to happen!

A Good Read: Hide It ...Bible series, part 6 of 6

How about that... you've made it to the last part of my series about the Bible! You've learned how many Bibles are too many, why there are many different English translations of the Bible, a thing or two about a pile of the most popular English translations, some stuff about those fancy new Bibles with the crazy covers, and some stuff about Bible software. Or at least you learned my take on all of those things! But now lets get down to some nitty gritty. Let's get back to that whole "The best Bible is a red Bible" joke. Let's forget about the physical book for a second and talk about actually consuming the Word.

For a couple of months last summer, a church I pass on the way to my own church had this quote on its sign: "Buy the truth, and sell it not." I recognized the quote right away, although I did have to look it up to be able to tell you exactly where to find it (Proverbs 23:23). I know that it means to work to get wisdom, and once you've got it, keep it; don't forget the wisdom you learn, because it is valuable. But every time I passed that church sign, I wondered what the average non-Bible-literate person might have thought that it meant. For that matter, one trip I asked my own family what they thought it meant, and they pretty much came up dry. Out of context and as a sound byte, the proverb is very nearly meaningless. It's something that you have to pause, and ponder, and take some time out to try to understand. (Kind of a silly thing to put on a church sign, if you ask me, but they didn't ask my opinion!)

I think modern Christians, at least in this country, have sometimes gotten the idea that they have a pretty good grasp of what the Bible says, when in fact they have obtained only a superficial familiarity with and understanding of the Bible. The Bible is a long, complex book. Parts of it are interrelated (the prophetic books and the historical books, for example), and sometimes it seemingly repeats itself (the four Gospels, or the books of Kings and Chronicles). Authors of books that were written later in time often refer to or even quote parts that were written before their time, and the context of a Bible verse is of critical importance to its meaning. It's a real disservice to the Bible that we so often take it one verse at a time, pulling a verse out of a promise box or daily devotions book, and never even attempt to understand the big picture. My quest to read the Bible in a year (which has turned into a quest to read the Bible in two years) has resulted in a real appreciation for the continuity of the Bible. It contains a grand story of God's love for His chosen people, and their (often rebellious) response to His love. There is a continuity that runs throughout, and if you've never read the whole thing, you're coming in halfway through the movie. You're not going to understand everything that goes on.

Another serious deficiency in the understanding that many Christians have of the Bible is that they mostly are familiar with the New Testament. The New Testament is wonderful and important, don't get me wrong... but there's more to the Bible than that. Do an experiment for me: get a Bible (an all-66-books Bible, not a New Testament) and find Matthew 1:1. Stick your finger in there and close the Bible. Now, tell me... is there more Bible before Matthew 1:1, or after Matthew 1:1? The answer is that there is much more Old Testament than New Testament. If the only thing you know from the Bible is Matthew through Revalation plus Psalm 23 and a couple of random snippets from Isaiah and Proverbs, you are severely shortchanging yourself. You don't really know the Bible.

Why should you even bother to know about the Old Testament? Come on, I know you're thinking it. Well, there's a very good reason: Jesus Himself said it was important.

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished." (Matthew 5:17-18 ESV)

Jesus Himself said that the Old Testament was important; that's reason enough to take a look at it. But even if He hadn't specifically said that, there are good reasons to have a familiarity with it.

The Jewish people of Jesus' day knew about the Scriptures. The writers of the New Testament knew the Scriptures, and quoted from them. When you read one of these places where a New Testament writer quotes the Old Testament, you not only need to know the context of the verse in the New Testament, but you really need to know the context of the verse from the Old Testament as well. Each will illuminate the other, and sometimes knowing the context of the original passage will let you see things in the New Testament passage that you might not have realized otherwise. For an example that I ran across in my reading, see this post on "I believed, and so I spoke." In that particular case, Paul almost quoted the verse as sort of a shorthand, assuming that the reader would know what he meant by it. The phrase "May the force be with you" carries, in our culture, a whole world of meaning along with it. It makes you think of the characters and stories in the Star Wars movies, and it might also carry a pop culture irony with it, depending on how it is used. "I believed, and so I spoke" presumably was familiar enough to Paul's expected readers that he didn't feel the need to elaborate; it was self-explanatory. But unless you are as familiar with Psalm 116 as the Christians of ancient Corinth were, it's not self-explanatory to you! So in order to really understand that passage in the New Testament, you have to also understand the quoted passage in the Old Testament.

Another fallacy I see in our attitude toward the Bible is thinking that reading the Bible is the key to becoming better Christians. Reading the Bible is certainly critical, and it is the first step, but it's only the first step of many. In order to truly gain understanding of the Word, it requires study. You have to immerse yourself in what it has to say. Good tools, such as in-Bible cross-references, Study Bible notes, commentaries, Bible software, and so on can help you make great strides toward a fuller understanding of the Word. Paul advised Timothy to "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth." (2 Timothy 2:15 ESV) "Do your best" implies zeal, effort, diligence. If there's not any work involved... if you're just breezing through the Bible so you can say you did... then your gain from reading it will be minimal. Reading alone is not the key. Being serious about knowing the truth of God's word is.

But you know what? Bible study has an element of work in it, but with the right tools and a clear understanding of what you're trying to understand, Bible study can be incredibly fun. It can become addicting. Do you know why? Because you begin to love the Word of God. It becomes part of your intellectual makeup. You want to know more, understand more. You want to see all of the connections. When you fall in love with someone, you can spend hours just studying their eyes. When you fall in love with the Word, you can spend hours studying its teachings, and it feels like minutes. Why don't you try it? Look up your favorite Scripture passage at MyStudyBible.com and check out the "Bible Study Notes" window. If you see a small letter next to a word, put your mouse over it and see what related Scripture references come up. Follow a rabbit trail or two and see what you learn!

I've had a great time writing these six blog posts. I never knew I had so much to say about the Bible, and if you read all the way through all six posts, i sincerely thank you for hanging around. You're the person I wrote this for! If any part of them inspires you to open a Bible (or start up some software, or open a Web page, or install a phone app...) when you wouldn't have otherwise, then I'm thrilled that I was part of it. No matter what color your Bible is, the best Bible is always a "read" Bible... read yours today!

Softer Bibles ...Bible series, part 5 of 6

photo © 2005 Borja Fernandez | more info (via: Wylio)In part 1 of this series I mentioned the first Bible software I ever saw in operation. It was on about a dozen diskettes like the one you see pictured at right; a 5¼" square sleeve with a flimsy disc inside which was capable of holding 720kb of information (for comparison, most of the MP3 songs on my hard drive right now are ten times that size). A search of the Bible text, which was spread across many disks, involved starting the query, listening to the diskette drive thrash around for a while, then when the computer prompted you, taking out one diskette and inserting the next one... for every one of the diskettes. At the time, personal computer hard drives were a bit of a novelty. The software was a bit of a novelty at the time, too; I could look up the words in Strong's Concordance faster than I could look them up using the software. But it was a start!

Fast forward a couple of years. I was at some event, a Christian rock concert or something, and I picked up a demo disk of some software called "Gospel Godspeed." The disk had, I believe, just the four Gospels and not the whole Bible on it, but it was on a single floppy, and the search was lightning fast. The materials that came with the software indicated that the reason for the speed of the search and for the amount of data that would fit on the single floppy was a proprietary compression/indexing method that had been created by the developer. I thought it was incredible! I never ran across the full version, but to my surprise, it appears to still be available. Who would've thought that a piece of Bible software could last 20+ years? If you're under the age of about twenty, click the "Screens of GodSpeed in use and animated demo" link on that page and get a taste of what MS-DOS applications looked like, back before you were born!

The first serious piece of Bible software I ever owned was called QuickVerse. It arrived on the newer 3½" diskettes (a WHOLE BUNCH of them!), and you could buy multiple translations to add in. By this time hard drives were commonplace, which meant that not only could you have the whole Bible available at once, but you could have multiple translations open at once. One of my favorite things to do with QuickVerse was to divide the screen into four quadrants and open a different translation in each one, and link the four parts of the screen so that when you went to another verse or passage in one window, the other windows would change accordingly. Instant parallel Bible!

QuickVerse 2011 - Essentials Edition

This may sound commonplace today, but when I first bought QuickVerse, it was an MS-DOS application, and this seemed positively amazing. You could also unlink the quadrants and display different passages, or open a notes screen in one and take notes, including links to other verses. (I spent some time trying to create a notes file which linked parallel passages from different parts of the Bible; I completed the links between identical events in the Gospels, and did some work in the Old Testament, but I never really completed it. The project died a premature death when the disk file got corrupted somehow, but I learned a lot doing it!)

QuickVerse was good software. I used it for a long time, and even purchased the NIV translation and several other add-ons (I honestly don't remember how many translations were available or how many I had, but I do remember there were several to choose from.) I spent many hours looking up Strong's definitions, doing word studies, and generally having a great time with QuickVerse. Later on a book format called STEP was developed, and Bible-related books in STEP format are still there to be found out on the Internet. I stuck with QuickVerse into the era of CD-ROMs; I still have my CDs of an old version. QuickVerse is still going strong today, with multiple editions available. I haven't used the latest incarnations, but it served me well for many years.

The next Bible software that I came across was much cheaper than QuickVerse. It was free! e-Sword is world-class Bible software at below-the-bargain-basement pricing. Rick Meyers, the software's author (and, incidentally, father of Christian Rock artist Krystal Meyers), gives it away for free for no other reason than that he wants to share the Word with others. e-Sword is amazing software; I've recommended it to many people. There are 20+ translations available for free, and 15+ more available for purchase at a nominal fee; you can view and search Hebrew and Greek definitions, Bible (and otherwise) dictionaries, commentaries, and your own user-generated notes. There are even devotionals and maps to download! The software is easy to use, and if you don't have Bible software and aren't ready to invest in a retail package, give e-Sword a download. It might be everything you need and more that you ever dreamed of, or it might even whet your appetite for something more! e-Sword provides the basics of Bible study software. It's not fancy, but it works well and as advertised.

Essential Bible Study Library
(powered by Libronix)

The first couple of copies of the ESV Bible that I bought had postcards in them for a free Bible software package. This software was called Libronix, and was related to a Bible package I had heard of but never tried called Logos. Libronix/Logos provides some pretty amazing tools; you can search for words or topics, or you can generate instant word studies and exegetical guides, or you can pull up several pages of information related to whatever passage you are studying. Within seconds you can literally generate as much information as would have taken a Bible School student a whole day to find 20 years ago. The quality and quantity of information is astounding. A far cry from spending 45 minutes swapping floppy disks to find all the times the King James Version uses the word "love"! The postcards still come free with some new ESV Bible purchases (although I didn't get one when I bought my ESV Study Bible), and the software CD itself comes with some other Bible purchases (The NKJV Study Bible, for example). There are other inexpensive entry-level packages that feature Libronix (like the Essential Bible Study Library, pictured at left); the Logos software packages are fairly high-end and expensive, but that's because they are positively packed with resources. It's great software to check out!

Glo: Interactive Bible Software

Almost a year and a half ago, I heard about some new Bible software coming out called, simply, "Glo." I looked into the software, and became so interested that I actually blogged about it before it was even released! Since then I have had a chance to try out the software, and it is genuinely revolutionary. That old post has some demo videos embedded that will truly knock your socks off, and the actual experience is just as exciting (and, dare I say it, FUN!) as the videos would lead you to expect. Since its release it has seen frequent updates, which is always nice to see (look back at the Godspeed part of this post for an example of what happens when Bible software is left alone without being updated!) It's even being ported to the Mac and to tablet devices like the iPad. If I had a computer capable of running it, Glo would be the main Bible software on my desktop... unfortunately, it requires a dual-core processor to run smoothly, and my home machine doesn't have that kind of horsepower (it's an older model; if you've bought yours in the past few years, it probably can handle it). I have a copy of it sitting on my bookshelf collecting dust until I get a new computer!

While I was writing this blog post, I installed e-Sword to refresh my memory of what it's like, but besides that I don't actually have any Bible software installed. Why is that? Because online Bible software has just become so darn awesome! Here are a few of my favorite online Bible sites:

BibleGateway.com - this is my go-to Bible site, particularly for viewing multiple translations (I mentioned it in my post about Bible translations last week, in fact). With 25+ translations in English, it's very easy to use for translation comparisons. It's also very link-friendly, so if you want to tweet a Scripture verse or passage, or email a friend a link, or post on Facebook... Bible Gateway is very easy to use. They are currently beta-testing the new version of their site; find that beta version here.

Blue Letter Bible - this oddly-named site is also oddly-designed, but once you get used to the weird "K-C-L-I-V-D" buttons, you will discover some fairly deep information. I use it all the time for Greek/Hebrew tools... it's my favorite place online for drilling down to the Strong's definition, and then spreading back out to find all of the places where that word is used in the original texts.

BibleStudyTools.com - another great multi-translation site. I used to use this one from time to time, but I find most of what I need on Bible Gateway or Blue Letter Bible, so it's not high in my bookmark priority list. But it's absolutely a great site to try out.

The makers of Logos and e-Sword actually have their own online Bible sites. Take a look at Bible.Logos.com or e-Sword LIVE to see what they've got!

Several years ago, the publishers of the ESV Bible began to make the full contents of their study Bibles available online. The first one I remember being that way was the ESV Literary Study Bible; there was a limited preview period, then you could pay a small fee to have your access continue indefinitely (their shopping cart has been broken for some time, so presumably the online access purchase option wasn't terribly popular). The Literary Study Bible doesn't particularly have a lot of study notes; it's primarily oriented toward book and section introductions, and lets the text mostly speak for itself. Because it's more about reading straight through than pinpointing a particular verse, I don't find digital access very useful (I own a paper copy), but you might. It's free to try out, anyway.

The next online study Bible I heard of was the ESV Study Bible. It was published simultaneously in bookstores and online, and if you bought a physical copy you also got a code you could use to access the online copy, which contains all of the same materials that are in the one on your bookshelf. The original site has been upgraded and now the ESV Study Bible Online lives at ESVonline.org. (I actually wish they would roll the Literary Study Bible site into this one too; it might give new life to that LSB material to have it on an upgraded platform.)

About four months ago I was at my local Christian bookstore looking for a demo copy of the HCSB Study Bible when I saw a sticker on one of them that said something along the lines of "Visit MyStudyBible.com!" I wrote the site name down and looked it up when I got home, and to my surprise, the site contains, and will always contain absolutely free, all of the material from the HCSB Study Bible! ESVonline.org and MyStudyBible.com have a lot in common, and they're both terrific study Bibles, so I would highly recommend both sites. I blogged about MyStudyBible.com here.

But what about when you're not at your computer? Well, there are tons of Bible apps out there for your cell phone, and there are online sites that have mobile versions, but I'll just mention the app that I consider the cream of the crop: YouVersion.

Their mobile offerings include apps for iPhone and iPad, Blackberry, Android, Palm, and even Java and Symbian. Any translation that is available on their Web site is also available over the air via the apps, and some of the translations are downloadable for offline use. And if your phone isn't up to apps, you can use m.YouVersion.com for a phone-formatted version of the Web site. YouVersion is completely free - it is a ministry of LifeChurch.tv church, and a lot of the work on the apps is actually done by volunteers. That doesn't mean that the apps are bad at all, but it does mean that depending on the availability of developers for the platform, some of the apps may have different feature sets than others. The church is deeply committed to YouVersion, and there are several full-time staff members there who are dedicated to it alone. Take a look at the YouVersion blog to see how excited they are about it!

Are digital Bibles making paper Bibles obsolete? Are online Bibles edging out Bible software? Is mobile the way of the future? Well, I'd say that computerized Bibles have made Bible study much quicker and easier, and mobile Bible offerings have made it much easier to read the Bible wherever you are, but I think there is still a place for physical Bibles, and for computer Bibles, and for mobile. To me, the mobile offerings are about convenience, while computer Bible study tools (online or installed software) are best for fast but still in-depth study, and physical Bibles are best just for the sheer joy of reading. I think each is a different experience, just like listening to the Bible on an audio CD is different from reading it yourself. But it's all the Word of God, and I think it's great to have many ways to access it! It's wonderful to live in a time in history when there are so many ways to hide the Word in your heart. Hide it today!


If you're interested in purchasing some Bible software, ChristianBook.com's Bible software store is a good place to start looking!

Boutique Bibles ...Bible series, part 4 of 6

In 2003, the book you see at left appeared on Christian bookstore shelves. It looks like a magazine for teenage girls, doesn't it? Inside, according to the cover, you will find a quiz called "Are You Dating a Godly Guy?" An article on "Beauty Secrets," one called "Guys Speak Out On Tons of Important Issues," "How To Get Along With Your Mom," and "200+ Blab Q&A's." You will find those things inside, but you will also find the entire New Century Version translation of the New Testament! This was the first "BibleZine" in a continuing series which includes 'Zines for teen girls (Revolve), teen boys (Refuel), women (Becoming), men (Align), and several more for children, Baby Boomers, whoever. The idea is to provide people with a New Testament in a format that feels familiar and non-threatening. To see a selection of them, check out this list of BibleZines at ChristianBook.com.

Should a Bible look like a magazine? I remember back when this first edition of Revolve came out, there was some controversy over whether it was really appropriate to present the Bible this way. I can't say I've ever had any desire to buy one, but I will say this: if it takes wrapping the Word of God up like Cosmo to get you interested, but once you get into the Word you stay there, bring it on. Bring on the Woman's Day clones, if that's what gets your attention. God can speak to you through the Bible, whether it looks like a leather-bound book, or a paperback novel, or a huge hardback book that covers your whole coffee table, or a glossy magazine.

Once upon a time, if you wanted to buy a Bible, to borrow an old quip from the auto industry: "You could have any color you wanted, as long as it was black." At some point that began to change; people realized that paperback books were much cheaper per unit than traditional leather Bibles, making them perfect for outreach. People started liking the idea of having a red leather Bible, or a brown or green leather Bible, instead of just black. Some Bibles, such as the classic Amplified Bible with its distinctive red cover or the classic pea-green Living Bible, seemed to have a specific style all their own. And in recent years, things have changed even more, with Bibles every color of the rainbow, embossed with patterns or pictures, and sometimes, in the case of a few Bibles I've seen for kids, with the cover in 3D! If you dig it, it's probably out there. Want to see a few examples?



There are Bibles for men, women, mothers, fathers, brides, grooms, surfers, hipsters, teenagers, and children. There are Bibles for teachers, physicians, nurses, police officers, firemen, and members of each branch of the armed forces. There are Bibles with real leather covers, simulated leather covers, metal covers, rubber covers, paperbacks and hardbacks. There are Bibles every color under the sun. There are comic book Bibles and Manga Bibles. I once saw a "green-letter Bible" with the words of Christ in green for some unfathomable reason, and recently I've seen several Bibles that are completely waterproof, pages and all. This year Crossway is releasing an illuminated edition of the four Gospels with hand-painted illustrations and illuminations. If you can't find a Bible that you just superficially like the looks of, you're just not looking hard enough!

Many of these Bibles are simply regular Bibles with fancy covers, but sometimes there's more to the story. There may be more than one translation printed side by side (we talked about parallel Bibles last time). There are several editions of the Bible that are arranged "chronologically," interspersing the various sections of the Bible in the order that the events occurred. Many Bibles include cross-references right next to the text; you can learn an awful lot just spending fifteen minutes following those cross-references. Most Bibles have a concordance, either word-based or topic-based. But other Bibles go further; the Life Application Study Bible, for example, has notes and articles throughout, helping readers to focus on how the Scriptures apply to their daily lives. The Apologetics Study Bible for Students is filled with articles designed to arm students in high school and college to defend their faith in intellectual debates. The ESV Literary Study Bible is designed to help readers understand the Bible as the book it is, with stories, characters, plots, poems, wise proverbs, letters, and other literary forms. Bibles like this are wonderful for devotional times and light study.

Then there are the hard-core Study Bibles. Every translation seems to have at least one; these Bibles contain detailed articles, maps, photographs/illustrations, and detailed in-text study notes. Reading one of these Bibles is sort of like reading the Bible with a knowledgeable Bible scholar sitting next to you, filling you in on the details and pointing out amazing connections with other parts of Scripture. I can't recommend this kind of Bible highly enough; I spent last year reading the first half of two of them, side by side, and it was like a Seminary class in the Old Testament. I included links to one from almost every translation in my Bible Translations post, or you can take a look at this list of Study Bibles at ChristianBook.com and see if there's one you like. The ones I'm reading are the ESV Study Bible and the NIV Study Bible.

Even if you're the kind of person who simply doesn't like to read, we've got you covered. Bibles on CD are easy to come by, and I've even seen some Bibles on DVD! It's incredible what's out there! Seriously, there's no reason to not get interested in the Bible. Find one that looks stylish, that smells good, that matches your occupation, that matches your hobby. But whatever you do, find one. Find a Bible that makes you want to hold it in your hands. Find one that compels you to open it up and read it, frequently if possible. The ChristianBook.com Bible store is a good place to start. Proverbs 4:22 says that the words of wisdom contained within are "life to those who find them;" find some life today!