Read a tweet last night that was actually a link to a forum post at the Accordance Bible Software forums. The question in the tweet and forum post was how has Bible study software helped to improve your preaching.

Portability

The first response is one I wholeheartedly agree with. The key word was “Portability” by which he meant that using a laptop and software enabled him to port his entire library around. I would add things like the iPad or iPhone (or any other mobile device) which lets me use that fifteen minutes as I am waiting for a meal or for someone to meet me somewhere. When previously that fifteen minutes might just let me read my bible or one book, now I can search my whole library for a word, find a sermon illustration, or get some information about a passage I am preaching.

Connection

The second post makes another great point that I agree with. We’ve always been able to connect one passage to another via things like concordances, margin notes in our study Bibles, or just our memory. But with Bible software these connections are more accessible and therefore more likely to be found. The person posting gave an example of the word “ridicule” in Luke 14:28-30, the passage counting the cost and not wanting to be ridiculed for not doing so when building a tower. He said that the same word is used to describe Jesus’ treatment in passages about the crucifixion (the soldiers, the religious leaders while on the cross). The connection brings up the idea of ridicule and counting the cost. Did Jesus fail to count the cost when he came to earth and did things that led to his crucifixion? The answer of course is yes he did but felt it worth the cost to redeem our souls. GREAT POINT!

Time and Efficiency

A third way cited was the speed of Bible study software. It saves a lot of time in all three stages of preparation. It saves time in study as I don’t have to search a stack of books manually. They are there ready to go at my finger tips. The time saved allows me to go deeper. In the sermon writing phase, it saves me time in finding good illustrations, in copying and pasting texts or notes into the sermon, and if you use your Bible software to actually write your sermons you don’t have to switch between two applications.

Enjoyment

The final point is my own. I am a tech geek and I love technology. For that reason I am more likely to play around with something if it has to do with technology. Put Bible study software on my computer or mobile device and I am more likely to do things like read my Bible more regularly and longer.

User of Logos Bible Software will usually swear by it as one of the best digital Bible study programs available. Logos has been aggressive in getting their large library of available digital Bible study and general Christian content onto many platforms (PC, Mac, iPad, iPod Touch and iPhone with a possible Android app coming too). They have previously had an online Library at Library.logos.com. Now they are working on a limited version of their Logos Bible Software for the cloud at Biblia.com.

Biblia.com is still in beta. Two of the best features are not yet functional. So that means at present it is useful for Bible and Commentary reading as well as search. But a version of their online library will hopefully be coming. And if they can get the Passage and Word Study Guides up and running too, that would make this a great solution for when you cannot access your Logos BIble Software. For those who are not owners of a Logos package you can read the Bible and a pair of basic commentaries – really just one but a book for the NT and one for the OT.

There are two pains (see above – left for Bible and right for Commentary). Along the far left is the Home key and tabs for Library (not functioning in beta10), Search (functional) and a tab with icons of people, which I assume will be for social interaction of some kind. From Home type in a reference and two links show up below the box (see below). One will search the entire library and the other will search just the open books.

At the top of the two pains are drop down boxes (see above) which are used to select which resource you want to display in that pain (if you sign in with your Logos account you will see much more content).

If you want to share what you are studying click on the Share button above the pane. A popup showing a hypertext link to that spot will be in the box. You could just copy it and paste it into something or you can click on the various buttons to share the verse with that service (Facebook, Google Buzz, Twitter or Email).

I am excited about what Biblia can become. Try it out as they develop this great resource, especially if you are a Logos user.

If you use more than one Bible software application, then you likely own multiple copies of the same book on different platforms. Now that there are more than computers involved (iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, Android), the problem is worse.

I love the Holman Christian Standard Bible. I preach from it and use it in my study. I also love the English Standard Version. My favorite commentary is the New American Commentary and the Expositor’s Bible Commentary. I own as few as two copies and as many as five or six copies of each.

This is a real problem. I want to study the HCSB and the ESV in all of my various programs. To do so I would have to purchase them both in the various platforms. I have four Bible apps on my iPhone and iPad. I have three computer software packages on both of my desktops and my notebook. That means that including all four apps and the three application I have 7 copies of those two translations. And this does not even include the Kindle, iBooks, and even PDF versions I have.

There needs to be a new way to buy digital copies of books. I have howled about this issue before wishing the Bible software companies would deal with the issue. There used to be a program called STEP which was an attempt at a universal format for digital Bible publishers to share. Many got on board but modern technology left it behind and now we are back to the pre-STEP days with no publishers wanting to fix the problem. They like re-charging us for the same content because they each get a cut of my hard earned money. It is time for these companies to come together. Technical reasons keep them from using the same book format. But they could share a database of who has rights to what content if they wanted to.

Here is my proposal. Digital publishers could sell books to users and the various software makers could give a copy of that book to users if they can prove they already own the content. So, Holman could give me a digital receipt for my copy of HCSB that is tied to my identity to keep me from sharing it with friends. Then the various Bible software makers could check to make sure I own the HCSB and if I do, they could unlock it in their application. The money I could save in buying only one copy of HCSB would help me greatly. Publishers would like it as they would now have control over their books. And software companies would not have to find a universal file format to share; they could be as proprietary as they want.

One objection I could see is that less money would be flowing into the Bible software makers pockets. They won’t get a cut of my seven copies of the HCSB. But if I not longer have to keep re-purchasing the content, I would not mind paying for quality software as much. That free upgrade would now be a paid upgrade and I would be willing to pay it since I don’t’ have to pay for the HCSB again. And, buyers will still be buying books and they could do so through the software makers getting a cut of the profits from the publisher as they do now.

This week the Atlantic noticed something that readers of my blog have known for quite some time. The iPad is a great tool for Bible study. According to the site, Olive Tree cracked the top 100 highest grossing book applications for the first time. They are citing Drew Heninger, CEO of Olive Tree.

The huge selection of Bible apps actually has one affect that likely waters down the overall figures. Since there is likely only going to be a few apps that will sell popular books from NY Times best selling authors, those sails will rise. The latest Dan Brown or John Grisham can be bough from two or three at the most. But the Bible can be had in more than a dozen different iPad apps. This dilutes their impact. If you could combine all of the Bible app sales and rank them against all the sales of each of the other titles in all their various outlets like Kindle, iBooks, etc., I would bet the Bible dwarfs most books. But despite the dilution, the Bible is  breaking into the top 100.

The Atlantic is trying to say this somehow gives us a hint at who iPad users are. I doubt that. But it does show that the most popular book in human history is popular even as an eBook too!

TouchBible Loaded is another Bible reader app for the Apple iPad. It has some nice feature, but unfortunately it falls down in one big one.

The interface is simple with the ability to pinch to zoom, scrolling within a chapter, and advancing or going back a chapter at a time using swiping or the arrow keys.

Of course you can search using basic search functionality in the OT or NT only and searching by word, any words or exact phrases.

It is a little limited in content with only the NET, KJV, WEB, BBE, ASV, YLT, Darby, and Webster.

Some of the nicer features included is the ability to have parallel translations and adding notes and highlighted.

Below is my video review and then the Pros and Cons of the app after that:

Pros:

• Simple
• Has parallel version mode
• Can add notes, bookmarks, highlights
• Pinch to zoom
• Night mode
• Dial-a-verse which loads on random verse each time starts
• Paragraph and verse per line mode

Cons:

• Slow to respond
• Few translations
• Help, Reading plan for daily bible reading, maps are Internet only features

The TouchBible Loaded that I reviewed in this video is $4.99 in the app store. There is also a free version and version for the iPod Touch/iPhone.

Christian Computing Magazine is out for this month. In it I did a review of the four Bible Study apps from Logos, PocketBible from Laridian, OliveTree’s Bible Reader, and MantisBible. Check it out at CCMag.com. Also they are giving away $500 Apple Gift card this month. So there’s another reason to go get the issue.

In the WORDSearch blog this morning was a post highlighting an interesting new feature in the new version of WS9. It is called a WORDgraph.

Logos has a similar feature. WORDgraph tells you how many instances of a specific  word you will find each book of the Bible. But instead of just a list of numbers next to the book of the Bible, you will see that it is presented in a very interesting graph.

Go check it out. It is an interesting read.

Holy Bible HD is another simple Bible reader app that has some very nice features.

When you open the app you will see the beautiful splash screen that goes away quickly on the iPad due to the device’s speed. It opens in a simple reader mode but can be used in dual pane mode, as you see below.

The app has some of the nice features that I believe all apps should include like note taking, highlighting, low light mode, and bookmarking. To get around in the Bible you can scroll through a chapter, move back and forth a chapter at a time using the arrows in the upper right, or you can tap the icon that looks like a Bible with its ribbon hanging out in the upper left. From there you can scroll through the list of books and chapters. You also choose your versions there using the Version Selector.

With the version selector open, you can add a second pain by selecting a version in the second scrolling list. The available versions are mostly public domain works or foreign language.

If you want to add translations, choose the Manage Bibles item. At the top of the window is the list of what you already have installed. Below that are available translations to download and install for free. You won’t find modern translations like the NIV, NASB, ESV, or HCSB. The developer says that they are too expensive to include in a free app and that is understandable.

Finally, to follow a daily Bible reading, open the window using the same icon in the upper left that you use to jump to another book or translation. The calendar icon reveals the Daily Reading window. There you can choose from the list of plans and then keep track of your progress.

If you don’t want to move around using the book and chapter scrolling wheel, then tap the location button which lets you type in a reference to instantly jump there. It is  in the upper left next to the Book/Chapter icon.

On the bottom left are icons to control your bookmarks, view the history of where you have been in the Bible, add or edit chapter notes, search the Bible or control the automatic scrolling mode. More on auto scrolling in a moment.

Bookmarks can be organized into folders. To add a bookmark simple tap and hold the verse number till the popup window appears. That menu lets you do a number of other things too, including copying the verse to the clipboard for pasting into another app. You can also add highlights of different colors and see what verses you have already highlighted.

There is a history button that shows you the list of where you have been in the app. Tap the passage and it takes you there.

To add a note, tap on the pencil icon. Notes are attached to chapters, not verses. You can then email the notes. This could be a handy way to get notes off the iPad and into a desktop app; just email them to yourself. To view a list of all your notes, from the editor, tap the notes list icon in the upper right end of the toolbar.

To search the app, hit the search icon on the toolbar. It has searching in exact mode which finds exact matches or what is called “close” for when you have a good idea of what you want to find but cannot remember the exact word or phrase. That “fuzzy searching” is a nice feature that some desktop apps don’t handle well.

Holy Bible HD has one really cool feature for reading the Bible. It is called the auto scrolling mode. Tap the down arrow button and the content starts scrolling. You can control the speed via the settings menu button on the lower right hand side.

Speaking of the settings, there are a number of nice customizations you can do to the app. They include changing the font and paragraph modes. You can also change the colors of the font and background. This is how you get low light mode. Simple change the background to a dark color and the font to a light one like white. I wish it was a one tap process but at least it is there.

Bible Reader HD is another simple reader app that is not designed for serious Bible reading. It lacks modern translations but it is also free in the app store. Don’t expect modern translations in the future either. The developer says they are not coming. But for the simple reader apps, it has a lot to offer and should be given serious consideration by users who want a free reader app and don’t need anything but public domain translations.

holiwrit for the Apple iPad is another very simple Bible reader app that does one thing nicely. It allows you to read the New English Translation of the Bible. It is not intended for users who need or want more out of a Bible app. The app store description even says, “Are you a pastor? A theologian? A Master of Divinity? This app is not for you.”

As you can see the interface is simple. It only works in Portrait mode. The navigation uses back and forward arrows at the bottom left and right to jump back or forward one chapter in the current book of the Bible. To jump further than a chapter at a time, pull down the Bible screen as if you were going to scroll down and it reveals the Table of Contents which then locks into place with two rows – one for books and one for chapters. There is a small button on the upper left corner to open or close the TOC as well. You will see from the video below that the tabs scroll smoothly and very quickly so it doesn’t take long to go from the beginning to the end of the Bible.

holiwrit allows you to copy and paste verses, which is nice. But it does not have notes, bookmarks or highlighting. And you cannot change to a low light mode either.

One final complaint – the name! I don’t like the lowercase name and I keep wanting to type and say “holiwrite” – with an “e” on the end making it write. You will notice in the video I even spelled it wrong in the opening title. Sorry to the developer for that. That is an incredibly nit picky kind of complaint that likely reveals more about me than the app.

holiwrit costs $3.99 or you can try out the Gospels only version for Free.

My review of Bible Reader apps for the iPad are now up and ready to go. It is in this month’s issue of Christian Computing Magazine. If you are looking for the link to the Bible Study page that was in the opening paragraph, sorry but that link was invalid. It is actually the Bible Study tab in the upper right or click here.

I am not yet finished with all the video reviews, but I will be working on more next week and hopefully finish them soon.