Logos Bible Software is celebrating the launch of their new online Bible by giving away 72 ultra-premium print Bibles at a rate of 12 per month for six months. The Bible giveaway is being held at Bible.Logos.com and you can get up to five different entries each month! After you enter, be sure to check out Logos and see how it can revolutionize your Bible study.

Is Logos bible software a necessary part of a successful seminary equation?  I hope that I can get a good answer to that question before I venture off to seminary full-time next year.

I’ve heard a lot about Logos, and I’ve seen it in bookstores every now and then.  I am just not sure how useful it’d actually be.  I’m a tech guy, so I’m definitely on the side of the fence that would promote using technology to glorify God.  But how much of a difference maker would Logos be?

I have yet to write a seminary paper, deliver a sermon, or study for an exam, but I can see how useful and powerful a cross-reference tool could be (those could all happen soon, though!).  For an M.Div. student, I could see the value of being able to view instant translations to the original languages and topically search for biblical and supplemental references.  Aside from spending hours searching and sifting through books and articles at the library and on the web, I don’t see any other similar resource to Logos.  Am I wrong?

I’d love to hear the thoughs of some other seminarians and recently called pastors as to the usefulness of Logos.  In the meantime, I went ahead and applied for a $1000 seminary scholarship from Logos that I stumbled upon while browsing at goingtoseminary.com the other day.  Every seminarian, at the very least, could use a $1000 scholarship!

These verses are starting to make a lot of sense to me…

22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.

25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. 28 In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, 30 because we are members of his body. 31 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. 33 However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband. –Ephesians 5:22-33 (ESV)

Now before you get on my case and say to yourself “here we go with the submission speech”, let me explain.  I think that the most significant verse from this selection is the last one, verse 33.  I posted the whole chunk to provide some context.

Recently, in our household, we have recognized the need wives have for love and the need husbands have for respect.  Thanks to our Love & Respect class at church for this nugget of wisdom!  We have also recognized that men and women are profoundly different in many ways.  These differences can lead to all sorts of complications, many of which are communication problems.  To avoid what is known as the “Crazy Cycle” in our class, we have learned to make sure to accurately understand what we’re trying to communicate to each other.  This is harder than you might think.

We’ve been practicing the principles of this class, and it is truly amazing to be able to step back avoid disastrous arguments.  In the past, our discussions have been known to blow up into nuclear explosions.  Now, we are able to recognize when to get off the crazy cycle before it gets out of control.  Praise God!

Here’s a little example of what I’m talking about.  This past weekend, our neighbors had a graduation party for their daughter.  We were invited to stop over for food and neighborly chatter.  Well, this was the Saturday sandwiched between my birthday and Father’s Day.  My BIG weekend… MY ONLY weekend.  Well, I was playing Tetris Party on our Wii and quite frankly, I was too lazy to go over to chat.  I wanted to sit on my can and play a video game.  So Jill comes back after a little bit and says “we’re having dinner at the neighbors’ tonight… they’ve got a ton of delicious food!”  So I grumbled something back, they went and ate, and I settled for junk for dinner.  Stupid me, it turned out that the food was out-of-this-world good, but that’s not the point of the story.  I should have been a better neighbor and went over there, but that’s not the point either.  Later in the evening, when we were in the car on the way to our Christian small group meeting, I said to Jill “you know, I don’t even know that girl next door… I don’t think I’ve ever spoken to her.”

Jill heard it this way:

“You’re making excuses because you were too lazy to go to our neighbors’ party.”

This is what I meant:

“I feel bad that we’ve lived here nearly 7 years and I never got to know her.”

Amazing.  The same words to me meant something completely different to her.  Like the guy in the video at class  says, “not wrong, just different.”

Let me tell you, this whole notion would be impossible without the help of the Holy Spirit.  Women don’t submit to their husbands (willingly) if they don’t know Jesus.  Society teaches us the opposite these days.  The end result is that men are continually disrespected, and women end up feeling unloved.  Each problem causes the other, and it’s a viscious cycle (the “crazy cycle”).

Imagine if all Christians really understood Ephesians 5… it could change the world!  The Christian divorce rate would likely plummet.  Then we might be noticed as difference makers rather than the alternative.  We’d no longer be seen as hypocrites, or worse, irrelevant.  Let’s take a clue from Paul to learn a little love and respect, and let’s see where it leads.

As I delve deeper and deeper into my understanding of God, I’ve run into more and more theology.  Lately, I often find myself reading articles, essays, and books that are thick with theology.  It seems like the Bible has been examined from a billion perspectives, for equally as many reasons, and is thus explained in a similar number of ways.

Why is it so complicated to understand the God? Does one need to be a scholar to truly understand our creator?

Actually, I contend not.  At least, it shouldn’t have to be that way.  Thankfully, we have the Bible itself, the Word of God, the ultimate authority on which we can rely.  Especially with our modern English translations (thank you ESV), we are able to understand the Bible with little to no supplemental material.  Any extra information we may learn, such as that which provides more contextual awareness, can only strengthen our understanding.

But what of the practical application of the Bible?  How are we to understand how to apply the Bible to our every day lives, nearly 2000 years after it was written?  Can theology really be practical?

Indeed, it is necessary to actually read the Bible in order to understand it…  repeatedly, in fact, and regularly.  We can read all the commentaries we like, but ultimately, we need to establish a framework upon which we can draw our own theological conclusions.

That is not to say that we should disregard others’ theological summaries.  I’m a firm believer in not “reinventing the wheel”.  If someone else has something meaningful to say, let’s hear it!  Chances are good that somewhere, at some time, someone has expressed a greater understanding of God’s Word than I ever will.

My only concern is that somehow, this gap has formed between true believers and those seeking the Truth.  Many folks want deeply to know and understand Jesus, but are somehow sidetracked or misguided.  Often, I believe this is a result of a shallow understanding of the Bible.

Early on in my walk of faith, that was truly the case.  I quite literally had dismissed most of the Old Testament as fantasy, simply because I didn’t understand it (and hadn’t read it).  Only after deliberate and careful examination of the scriptures have I come to realize that the Bible, in its entirety, is the true story of the kingdom of God.

I’d like to find a way to bridge this gap.  I’d like there to be a way to reach out to “seekers” and unbelievers in general, so that we could just show them the Truth in a practical way.  I’d be great to be able to answer their practical questions without a long, drawn out diatribe.  Jesus was able to connect with his audiences in an amazing way, using “word pictures” to deliver his messages.  I believe that’s the model to which we should aspire.  I’d like there to be a way to share with people all of the excellent essays and articles I’ve read without pummeling them with theological jargon… like Jesus did!  I guess I would define what we need as “modern parables”.