Bible Study Geek

I grew up reading the King James Bible (KJV) with all the thees, thous and begets. At the time, it turned my brain to mush. Although the “foreign” words became familiar, I felt a huge challenge just grasping what the words were, forget the meaning. Somewhere along the way my parents picked up the New American Standard Version, but I found it just as much of a challenge. At one point I threw up my hands and didn’t open a bible for awhile. If I couldn’t understand it, why bother reading it?

When God finally dumped us into the church we would call Home for years, I found the New International Version. aaah, finally a bible for the academically challenged. I didn’t care that Rich’s one seminary professor call it the “Nearly Inspired Version”. I wanted to read God’s word and have it make sense. The Bible finally made sense to me for the first time in my life. Rich, being a NASB man, still jokes occasionally about nearly inspired versions. I don’t mind. I believe God can speak through donkeys, but I digress…

Although the NIV is great to read for devotions, it’s not a good “let’s dig in and do real bible study” Bible. I recognize this. I also know my personality isn’t suited for hours of study over musty books with too small print. I don’t mind reading about something I’m interested in, but research? Ouch. That’s a different story. My husband on the other hand, could be a professional researcher and swoon at the opportunity.

Seven or eight years ago Rich bought Logos Bible Software. When we first got it, Rich would disappear for hours. I’d call him for dinner and nobody would come. After the first couple times, I went looking, only to find him engrossed in some obscure Greek word with 5 electronic books open and a Word doc typing things. That was all well and good. I was pleased he dove into God’s word with such fervor. After all research isn’t my idea of a good time. Besides he’s the head of the house and my go to guy for Bible questions, he needs the answers. Then, he started showing me some of the cool features and tools…

It’s one thing to read the Bible, it’s another to dig and find nuggets that make fine gold pale in comparison. And then, there is just something so cool about putting your mouse pointer over a word in Scripture and have the original language word and definition pop up in a box overhead. My heart flutters.

“Hello. My name is Janel and I’m a Bible study geek.”

When Logos updated their plain Jane software to the new Libronix a few years ago, both Rich and I cried – literally. We have over 300 books and they were all in the new format. We hated the new software. Searching was cumbersome. The simple things I did suddenly weren’t simple anymore. My Bible study world fell apart. (Are you crying for me yet??)

While our family “did time” in Fargo, North Dakota, I got involved in a Precept Inductive Bible Study group. That was cool, but a lot of work. By the time I left Fargo I had enough training to know how to do it, but not enough to be really comfortable to do it without some hand holding and lots of encouragement. I couldn’t find a Precept group around here, so I haven’t done much more with it.

Although I’ve been reading a lot, I haven’t done much real Bible study personally as of late. I was looking for something in particular two nights ago and Googled it. Low and behold, I found something sweeter than bliss. Apparently Logos came out with a version 3 of Libronix AND it has Precept notations build in. You can see the video here.

I confess, after the last update I was skeptical. When I rebuilt my computer 8 months ago, I didn’t bother to reinstall Libronix. If I needed a verse, I just hopped over to BibleGateway.com. Well, I downloaded version 3 and… Oh. My. Goodness. God is soooo good! I can hardly wait to dig in again.

As believers, God instructs us to study his word. Computer software has helped me do that without pulling out my hair. I can’t recommend it enough. Libronix software is free, but the books will cost you an arm & a leg. E-sword is a free Bible study software program too, but it has books that you can download for free. It appears they have a pretty good selection. I haven’t used it, but I know some who have and love it. Try it, you might like it.

“Hello. My name is Janel and I’m a Bible study geek.”