Friday, November 16, 2012

In case you forgot: why I love my BibleWorks 9

This is a facet I listed as one... well, two... of several beloved features of BibleWorks, over at Pyro a version ago. But I want to re-highlight it for you, especially for all you pastors and teachers.

So I'm doing my morning blog-run, and I pass by Sharper Iron. I see that there's an article on the interpretation of Ecclesiastes.

Now, at present I'm neither preaching nor teaching nor studying Ecclesiastes. But some day, I may well do so. What are the odds that I will remember, on that day, that there was an article on interpretation at Sharper Iron? Zero. But if the miraculous happened, then how long would it take me to find the article? Long.

Not with BibleWorks.

With BibleWorks, all I had to do was copy the URL, click-click over to Ecclesiastes 1:1, write "Sharper Iron did an article on the interpretation of Ecclesiastes," select part of that text, hit Ctrl+K to bring up the link popup, hit Ctrl+V to paste the URL, hit Enter — and that note is saved to that verse forever.


Brothers, how often does that happen with you? Answer: all the time. You think of an illustration of a verse, you have an observation on a verse or passage, you read a blog or hear a sermon or lecture shedding light — and you're struck by that wistful despair. You know, "That's great... I sure hope I remember that... but I know I won't."

BibleWorks solves that. It's fast and it's terrific. Honestly, my notes would be worth a good chunk of change. They're filled with links to journal articles, books, online resources; personal observations; quotations from authorities. And they'll be mine until the Lord returns or I die, appearing whenever I mouse-over the verse, instantly.

I've helped put BW in the hands of two other pastors that I can remember. If you're a church-member and your pastor doesn't have it, start now getting together a fund to buy it for your pastor for Christmas. He'll love it, and you'll profit. I just can't say enough good about it.

But I'll keep trying!

9 comments:

BFR said...

It's too bad that they do not make a real native OSX Mac version. Fusion and dual-boot is still anachronistic PCdom, and WINE libraries slow down performance.

Frank said...

I use BW on my Mac with their custom wrapped WINE libraries. There have been no issues for what I do as a pastor. Is it slower than using VM or native on Windows; yes, but it is negligible. BW is working with WINE to solve all issues for MAC users.

Now, I would love a true native OSX program from BW (maybe they are working behind the scenes). However, the MAC Preview Program works just fine. Check it out at http://www.bibleworks.com/content/mac.html.

Frank said...

I use BW on my Mac with their custom wrapped WINE libraries. There have been no issues for what I do as a pastor. Is it slower than using VM or native on Windows; yes, but it is negligible. BW is working with WINE to solve all issues for MAC users.

Now, I would love a true native OSX program from BW (maybe they are working behind the scenes). However, the MAC Preview Program works just fine. Check it out at http://www.bibleworks.com/content/mac.html.

Scott Shaffer said...

Dan,

Have you tried any of the WordSearch modules that are compatible with Bibleworks? I notice they now have a number of single volume commentaries available. Seems that if this trend continues I wouldn't need to have both Bibleworks and Logos.
https://www.wordsearchbible.com/products/bible_works?page=2

Zorro! said...

Dan - and other knowledgeable readers...
I am just a typical layman, no training beyond church except learning how to read and listen and be critical.

I was wondering if anyone has become very familiar with eSword, and the multitude of free resources you can get through it, besides the things that cost some money.

I have found it to be an amazing tool. It also has the ability to create your own commentary that follows whatever verse is active in the reader (so you can effectively do the same thing you described in this article). You can create topical notes as well - and even journals. It is easy to search for specific Greek words and Hebrew words (or Greek words in the LXX) - all the while I have no training in Greek or Hebrew - just the random words I look closer into for better understanding. (Like Logos...Koinonia...etc.)

The sheer amount of dictionaries, commentaries and translations available are amazing.

It also supports many digital books - classic references like Calvin's Institutes, Bunyan's Pilgrims Progress, Alleine's "A Sure Guide to Heaven" and such as these. (I recently downloaded the Biblical Illustrator (1849) and have found that immensely helpful!).

Best of all, it is free - and would benefit from any encouragement for it's development. Its capabilities will probably never be too small for my personal, non-pastoral use, and I suspect any layman out there would agree.

I have looked into Logos software, the free versions, and the free things they do offer, and I like it - I am not so familiar with it though, but I do not see what advantage it has - except it probably has many more possible references - but there seems to be a significant financial investment associated with it.

So - the question would be: what significant advantages does BibleWorks and Logos have over eSword? (which is found at (http://www.e-sword.net/))

DJP said...

Sr. Zorro:

If you searched this site, you'd likely find a number of refs to e-Sword. I haven't used it for years, but loved it when I did. It didn't have a verse by verse note system like BW, so I can't comment.

Google compare e-sword bibleworks logos, limit the search to the last year, and you'll find some material that I hope helps.

Zorro! said...

谢谢你!

DJP said...

不客气,不用谢.

DJP said...

Or, you know, whatever.