Bible Study Software

I’m a relatively new convert to Protestantism (2 years). Having been raised Catholic, I feel I do not have the solid understanding of the Bible that I should. I’m also a geek. So naturally, I have bible study software on my computer. Here’s a brief overview of the applications I’ve tinkered with, and which I recommend.

JSword Bible Desktop
http://www.crosswire.org/jsword/

JSword is a powerful free application that makes Bible study easy. It features parallel bible comparisons, footnotes, dictionaries, devotional readings, and is fully expandable through JSword bible and resource modules. It is available for free under the GNU General Public License.

This is the application I’m currently using, and I’m fairly happy with it. It still has some minor bugs that need to be worked out, but I’m confident that this will eventually parallel e-Sword in features and performance. I highly recommend using this.

E-Sword
http://www.e-sword.net/

E-Sword is a free, closed-source application and probably one of the best applications out there. It has virtually all the features of JSword projects, but is much more refined and stable. It also provides Bible modules containing the Deuterocanonical and Apocryphal books, Strongs concordance, and other nice features one would hope to find in a commercial Bible study application.
The only downside is that it is not open source, and it is restricted to the Microsoft Windows platform. It also lacks the easy module manager of Bible Desktop. Nonetheless, if you use Windows, I highly recommend trying this out.

MacSword
http://www.macsword.com/

This is another free, open-source Sword-based project. It features a very nice Aqua user interface. It is relatively easy to use, but lacks a lot of the more powerful features of Bible Desktop. If you are a Mac user, I recommend checking both Bible Desktop and MacSword to see which you like better. It’s not my favorite application, but it’s worth looking at.

As much as I like to support free and open-source software, one drawback is that many modern bible translations are restricted by copyright and cannot be used in these applications. Given that, I may cave-in and pay for a commercial application. But for now I’m happy with Bible Desktop, and using the hard copies of more modern translations when necessary.

“It’s going to be one of those days”

I managed to drag my arse out of bed at 5:00 AM and go for my morning run, without having to have Dino yell at me to do so.  The run went well, but the morning went by too quickly.  I dropped Dino off at work, and got caught in traffic behind wankers who insisted on driving 10mph below the limit.  I made it to the station just in time to see my train depart.  So I had to take the later train, which means I have to work until 6:00PM, which I don’t like to do.  At one point in my life, I probably would have said “it’s going to be one of those days.”  I don’t do that anymore; it tends to become a self-fulfilling prophecy.  And sure enough, the work-day has been going very well.  A daily meeting that sometimes takes 30 minutes only took 8 minutes today, and the rest of the workday has been going just as smoothly.

I could have let the shitty commute and other issues that have been bothering me continue to eat at me, but instead I buckled down and worked.  And I’ve been able to function well with less caffeine than usual today.

Going Home

Last time I went home was early June for my mother’s funeral. I had to see my family and friends again, in a happier setting. Also, News & Letters was having their annual plenum to work out the perspective for the year. I had planned to fly up, rent a car, go to the Diner, and meet up with my vegan freak friends, then go clubbing, then drive home.

People plan. God laughs.

I had a half-hour layover in Atlanta. WTF was I thinking? I got off the plane and ran to my gate, only to get there just after they had closed. I missed my flight, I missed my dinner and had to have a disgusting burrito at the airport, and – most of all – I missed my friends. The next flight was delayed and I got in at 11:00 PM, in no mood to drive to the suburbs. So I crashed with some friends in the city and rented the car from somewhere else the next day.

I got the car with GPS system – which was an absolute lifesaver since when I lived in Chicagoland, I didn’t drive. But, gosh darn it, I didn’t have any change, and I forgot to set the GPS system to avoid toll roads. So my dad had to come and give me change so I could get off the fucking tollway, and I ended up having to cancel my presentation on Aspect-Oriented Programming.

Dad had someone drop him off at the exit I was stuck on, he jumped in, and we were on our way.  When we first arrived in Lockport, we stopped at the Early Learning Center where Mom worked.  They had planted a tree in her memory.  I took pictures, and we went off to the local Chinese place, since I hadn’t eaten since the previous night and it was going on noon.  (If you’re a vegan living in the middle of suburbia, you know that a Chinese restaurant is an oasis, where it’s very easy to order something that isn’t tainted, unlike many other venues in suburbia.) After lunch, I ran to pick up produce and invite people over for dinner. We had Basic Kale Soup (see Dino’s cookbook, pg. 34) and pasta with homemade tomato sauce and Asian Roasted Potatoes (pg. 70) and sweet potato fries and cole slaw and other stuff and everyone ate until they were stuffed and it was all vegan and just lovely.

I started out early for the plenum, and had my first experience parallel parking in the city. It’s not as bad as everyone says, and I suck at perpendicular parking. It just takes me 5 minutes to get straightened out and close to the curb, but not once did I even touch someone else’s bumper. And yes, Chicago driving is crazy, but South Florida is even more crazierer. Since I learned to drive in South Florida, I can drive anywhere. Not bad given only a year ago I was terrified of driving.

Anyways, at the plenum I got to see people I hadn’t seen in 2 years, back when I looked like the typical Marxist vegan hippie Jesus look-alike. A shave and a haircut does wonders! Many people didn’t recognize me until I opened my mouth, and they were like OMG that’s Steve! and I was like yep! and they were like no way! and I was like no really, it’s me!

One thing I like about News & Letters, apart from the fact that they’re the only group on the left that makes any sense, they don’t give me shit for being vegan. They respect me and make sure I had enough food to eat during lunch. All in all, it was a good plenum, I won’t bore people with the details, but you can read the draft perspectives on the website.

Monday was my un-birthday. We went to my brother’s house and they had a vegan chocolate cake. Most of the time I went around meeting up with as many friends as I could, and it was great. I saw people I hadn’t seen in years.

Tuesday was the flight back, and I felt rested and ready to face work again. It was a happy vacation.

Goals

This is my virtual kick in the pants to keep myself on track.

1. More blogging! I will not let this blog fall into neglect.
2. Learn Spanish. I live in South Florida and I’m a Marxist. The fact that I don’t speak Spanish is just sad.
3. Quitting all the processed crap made by evil corporations that also make dairy and other shit. No more Oreos or Pringles for me kthxbye.
4. Run regularly. Every day at 5:00 AM. Stop being a lazy arse about it.
5. Dedicate at least 1 hour every day to political/philosophical study and at least 1/2 hour to Bible study and prayer.
6. Write regularly. Get back to writing articles for various publications.
7. Get more involved in activism. I’ve been such a bad Marxist and vegan animal rights activist. I need to start going to demos and whatnot.

Davie Rodeo

September 22 marks yet another rodeo event in Davie, FL. Cows are being held in a small, fenced-off piece of land near a major road, where they are subject to the noises of traffic day and night, only to be trucked off and brutally tortured for “entertainment.” If you live in or near Davie, don’t support the rodeo. If you wish to help organize a legal protest, please contact me.

ETA: I just realized that I’m going to be in NYC the day of the Rodeo.  I’ll still help organize any way I can.

Taverna Kyma

I just got back from a free lunch at Taverna Kyma, a Greek restaurant in Boca Raton.  Were it not a free lunch, I’d be majorly pissed instead of just irritated.

Taverna Kyma is owned by the same people who own the famous Taverna Opa in Fort Lauderdale.  When I was last at Taverna Opa, I ate until I was stuffed, and then ate some more.  The food was phenomenal!  So, after hearing such good things about Kyma, I was really looking forward to this lunch.

The bread and hummus came first.  I asked if the bread was free from the usual crap.  The waitress said she didn’t know but could ask, but she did know that the hummus contained butter.  I thought I didn’t hear her correctly, and my reaction was: “What?  Why would they do that?!”

I asked her if I could order something and have it special made without beef and cream sauce.  She said no.  I explain that I’m vegan, and ask her what entrée she would recommend.  She told me none of them could be made vegan, and I should order the salad, sans feta.  There is nothing I find more disappointing than going to a restaurant and being told that all I have to order fucking rabbit-food.  I have nothing against salads, but I can have raw veggies at any time, and they don’t cost $7 a plate when I’m at home – not that I paid for this lunch anyways – some financial planner did in exchange for giving a 5-minute Spiel about finances.  It really wasn’t worth my time or effort to go to this thing.