Online Bible Study Software?

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Athan

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Hello everyone.
I am just beggining to set up a dedicated Bible Study PC - an old desktop with the hard drive freshly cleared - and was wondering if anyone could recommend both FREE Bible Study software, and just generally voice their opinions on what they personally consider to be the best software/software combinations for a dedicated study PC?

Thanks in advance.
 
Sam_777 said:
Hi Athan,

May GOD bless you in your study journey…

I would recommend the free Linux operating system, try the latest one “Fedora 15 with GNOME 3”, it’s really a fast, secure, and elegant operating system, not to mention that it’s virus free environment and has a lot of free applications, here are some screen shots:

Site: fedoraproject.org/

http://fedoraproject.org/static/images/banners/f15_banner_foreground.png

http://www.gnome.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/overview-420x236.png

http://www.gnome.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/app_list-420x236.png
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I had a look at the link but it seems to be an operating system and has nothing to do with online Bible studies or am I missing something? Where do I find the Bible studies on that?
 
thistle said:
I had a look at the link but it seems to be an operating system and has nothing to do with online Bible studies or am I missing something? Where do I find the Bible studies on that?
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She/He said:
“a dedicated Bible Study PC - an old desktop with the hard drive freshly cleared”

So I took care of what I’m specialized in, and maybe you can help her/him in the Bible study guide…

PS., I have found this free Linux based Bible study guide, so install it after installing Fedora 15:

Site: xiphos.org





 
Sam:

Thank you very much for your kind wishes, and also for the information - it looks great!

Can you tell me, though, how I actually put an operating system on a blank drive? Do I need to put it on a disk first and then download it to the hard drive?
 
Athan said:
how I actually put an operating system on a blank drive? Do I need to put it on a disk first and then download it to the hard drive?
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If you have a CDROM (writable) then download the 32-bit ISO version through this link:
fedoraproject.org/en/get-fedora-options

And if you have a DVD (writable) then download 32-bit ISO version through this link:
fedoraproject.org/en/get-fedora-options#formats

After you download it, you need to burn the ISO format to a CDROM or a DVD, if you have an XP then you need a third party utility to do the burning, but if you can manage to find a Windows 7 machine then it’s built-in.
 
If you use a windows pc, you could try e-sword, its free, but if you have some spare cash you could purchase Logos 4, that’s what I use, it is an amazing program and although it was created by Evangelical protestants, it is very Catholic friendly and has many great Catholic resources!!

Esword
Logos 4

🙂
 
Jerome81 said:
If you use a windows pc, you could try e-sword, its free, but if you have some spare cash you could purchase Logos 4, that’s what I use, it is an amazing program and although it was created by Evangelical protestants, it is very Catholic friendly and has many great Catholic resources!!

Esword
Logos 4

🙂
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I am always somewhat reluctant to use any non-Catholic Bible study.
For example, does it teach that the Eucharist is the Real Presence or just symbolic.
 
thistle said:
I am always somewhat reluctant to use any non-Catholic Bible study.
For example, does it teach that the Eucharist is the Real Presence or just symbolic.
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Thistle,
Logos looks like an excellent tool. It is probably the leading PC / MAC based study tool. They even have a iPhone / iPod Touch program that allows you to read your books on your mobile device. No notes or highlighting yet available on the iPhone / iTouch.

Regards your question about Catholic Bible study. Well, it all depends on the software that you purchase from Logos. They sell everything in bundles. The least expensive is about $150 with the next package being $265. You get an amazing amount of material for this. It is well worht it. However, the specific Catholic material is then extra. The NAB is available and the NABRE is coming soon. You will not find the Navarre Bible commentary, Orchard Commentary, Haydock or Ignatius. They are looking at providing the Old Catholic Encyclopedia. There are other Catholic resources. Take a look on their site - search for Catholic. not sure that any of these resources would be my primary choice.

I use OliveTree on my itouch and iPad. They are developing a PC based version - so probably expect that sometime in 2011. They have the NABRE and some great Bible materials - Strongs, Maps, etc. But little additional that is Catholic (they have some early Church Fathers and Augustine). Laridian has an iPhone / iTouch and PC version. Buy the resource once, use it on all your platforms. But again the Catholic element is limited. The NAB (not the NABRE) is about it.

So, wherever you go, if you want specifically Catholic, then you are looking to harcopy books.

Good luck in your search.

Hal.
 
Prince_Hal said:
Thistle,
Logos looks like an excellent tool. It is probably the leading PC / MAC based study tool. They even have a iPhone / iPod Touch program that allows you to read your books on your mobile device. No notes or highlighting yet available on the iPhone / iTouch.

Regards your question about Catholic Bible study. Well, it all depends on the software that you purchase from Logos. They sell everything in bundles. The least expensive is about $150 with the next package being $265. You get an amazing amount of material for this. It is well worht it. However, the specific Catholic material is then extra. The NAB is available and the NABRE is coming soon. You will not find the Navarre Bible commentary, Orchard Commentary, Haydock or Ignatius. They are looking at providing the Old Catholic Encyclopedia. There are other Catholic resources. Take a look on their site - search for Catholic. not sure that any of these resources would be my primary choice.

I use OliveTree on my itouch and iPad. They are developing a PC based version - so probably expect that sometime in 2011. They have the NABRE and some great Bible materials - Strongs, Maps, etc. But little additional that is Catholic (they have some early Church Fathers and Augustine). Laridian has an iPhone / iTouch and PC version. Buy the resource once, use it on all your platforms. But again the Catholic element is limited. The NAB (not the NABRE) is about it.

So, wherever you go, if you want specifically Catholic, then you are looking to harcopy books.

Good luck in your search.

Hal.
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Thanks very much for the info. I’ll have a look at them.

Regarding your second last sentence why would a Catholic not want a specifically Catholic Bible Study? Why would a Catholic want a Protestant Bible Study when they are so much in error regarding the teachings of Christ.
 
thistle said:
Thanks very much for the info. I’ll have a look at them.

Regarding your second last sentence why would a Catholic not want a specifically Catholic Bible Study? Why would a Catholic want a Protestant Bible Study when they are so much in error regarding the teachings of Christ.
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Hi Thistle, although Logos is developed by Protestants, you can buy your own resources for it, I have the RSVCE Ignatius Bible, the 38 volume Church Fathers set etc, They are adding new Catholic products all time they just recently added the Vatican II Documents and have employed a new Catholic product manager!

Logos is amazing, I believe it’s what steve ray uses. There is a good Catholic program called '‘The Faith Database’ check it out here

Hope you find a program that suits 🙂
 
I use e-sword, available at www.e-sword.net.

It does come with the KJV built in and most if not all of the devotional and study materials that are available through the module download page are Protestant in nature, though the Douay Bible WITH Deuterocanonicals is available for download, for free, as well as a Vulgate. Just be aware of the nature of the extra study material if you download it - one of the free commentaries is actually a Puritan work from the 1500’s that at one point states that the Papacy is the Beast 666.

You can also download a Hebrew OT text as well as several versions of the NT Greek (Westcott-Hort (critical text), Textus Receptus, and Majority Text are available, iirc.)

You may be able to get third-party plugins elsewhere.
 
thistle said:
Thanks very much for the info. I’ll have a look at them.

Regarding your second last sentence why would a Catholic not want a specifically Catholic Bible Study? Why would a Catholic want a Protestant Bible Study when they are so much in error regarding the teachings of Christ.
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Apologies if I was confused in my wording. Let me clarify. You would want a good Catholic bible study or commentary. Other than the NABRE or NAB, Logos, Olivetree and Laridian do not offer one. Amazon Kindle offers Scott Hahn’s Ignatius Catholic Study Bible. as the previous poster quite rightly say, you can get Catholic bibles and other materials on Logos, but not a study bible: Orchard, Haydock, Navarre, (the Catechism). All of these will need to be in Hardcopy (though you can get an e-text of Haydock and possibly the Catechism). But for a good commentary, it is mainly Hardcopy.

But absolutely, other commentaries are going to be weighted towards the doctrines of that religious group).

God bless, Hal
 
x1980x said:
I use e-sword, available at www.e-sword.net.

You may be able to get third-party plugins elsewhere.
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BibleSupport.com has most of the third party resources for e-Sword that can be legally distributed. Specifically Catholic resources are not identified as such.

There are several sites that filter e-Sword resources for congruency with Catholic doctrine. As best as I can tell, esnips.com/web/esword-catholic/ is the only one that also vets resources to ensure that they can be legally distributed in the united states.

jonathon
 
thistle said:
I am always somewhat reluctant to use any non-Catholic Bible study.
Click to expand...
The “official” Logos resources for Catholics can be found at
logos.com/catholic.

Back on 30 June, Logos announced their new Catholic Product Manager. (blog.logos.com/2011/06/logos-new-catholic-product-manager-andrew-jones/).
[The cynics think that profit is the driving force. The protesters think that the point is to convert people to/from Catholicism.]

Several third party organizations created CDs of Catholic resources for Logos 3. I don’t know if they have been updated for Logos 4 or not. More depressingly, I deleted my bookmarks for those pages, and a fast Google search doesn’t find them. (I originally found them 1000+ entries into the results of a boolean search on Google.)

jonathon
 
Thanks to everyone for the info. Maybe I’m just techologically challenged but what does something like Logos or the others give me that I can’t get online for free and just bookmark it.
For example, I already have bookmarked the D-R Bible with Haydock Commentary, the Catholic Encyclopedia, The CCC, Code of Canon Law, the Papal Encyclicals going back 900 years, all the writings of the Early Church Fathers, and many other sites.
One click with the mouse and I’m there.
Sorry if I seem somewhat ignorant about the benefits of these softwares
 
thistle said:
Sorry if I seem somewhat ignorant about the benefits of these softwares
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Off-line access, where there is no Internet, like rural areas, travelling, or when you want yourself to be disconnected from this world and be with GOD only…
 
Sam_777 said:
Off-line access, where there is no Internet, like rural areas, travelling, or when you want yourself to be disconnected from this world and be with GOD only…
Click to expand...
In the latter case it makes no difference if I click on a bookmarked site or use the pc off-line.
 
According to their website, Logos is in the process of greatly expanding their Catholic resources. According to their forums pages, a lot of the titles and resources that have been missing like the Catechism are coming too. It’s all pretty expensive, but really cool, if you’re in to really cutting-edge software.
 
Does anyone have experience with the iPieta software for iPad and iPhone? It looks worthwhile and at a very reasonable price.
 
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