E-Sword vs. theWORD

[Biblicist]

I've been using BibleWorks for about four years which admittedly is a very expensive product particularly when you add the extra lexicons. Just before I posted I opened BW9 and timed how long it would take it to compile a report on 1Cor 12:1. From the time it took to select 12 lexicons along with the preset 22 Bible versions, the entire process took 18 seconds where I then only had to copy and paste into Word which then gave me a 147 page report. From what I can figure out, I doubt that I have the skillset to use more than maybe 30-40% of the programs capabilities, which is why they run workshops in various countries and cities.

 

[David Cox]

I think that there are a couple of important considerations here. First of all, what are you looking for? A simple Bible viewer program, then e-Sword is sufficient as is many other free and commercial Bible programs. When you really start using the program to do serious Bible study, then you want something that has power. It is like doing simple gardening with a lawn mower, or with a tractor. Both can do the simple jobs, but when you want to do "the heavy lifting", the tractor is better. If you use theWord to do everything, it will do all the simple stuff. Yes it is more complicated than just a pdf file of the Bible. But when you need more power, it is there for you.

 

[Biblicist]

I think that there are a couple of important considerations here. First of all, what are you looking for? A simple Bible viewer program, then e-Sword is sufficient as is many other free and commercial Bible programs. When you really start using the program to do serious Bible study, then you want something that has power. It is like doing simple gardening with a lawn mower, or with a tractor. Both can do the simple jobs, but when you want to do "the heavy lifting", the tractor is better. If you use theWord to do everything, it will do all the simple stuff. Yes it is more complicated than just a pdf file of the Bible. But when you need more power, it is there for you.

Besides Bibleworks, there is also Logos and Concordance where the full compliment of Logos costs somewhere around $20,000, which means that their target market would be limited to a small number. The base module for BibleWorks10 is US$400 which would have a much broader appeal, where Logos and Concordance probably cost about similar. For most people I would agree with you in that the free online versions will fit the bill just nicely and when people begin to undertake either formal or informal studies they can then choose which software package they prefer; though there is a caveat in place here in that most undergraduate courses still might not see the need for a retail package as most people who undertake theological courses seem more interested with pastoral studies than with pure theology, then a free online option might still be all that they need.

One of the frustrations for most novice students of Scripture is that besides having little if any exposure to the retail programs, most of these same people have probably had little exposure to the better contemporary commentaries and lexicons which can make it a bit hard for them to work out which software package will best suit their needs.

 

[David Cox]

I agree with Biblicist's post. In any Bible program, there is a dirth of good conservative commentaries. But that is not necessarily a problem of the Bible Software in itself (Bibleworks, Logos, theWord, etc), but rather in the fact that there is not a whole lot of conservative works out there "in the wild" to begin with. This is because of many factors, none less of which is that there is a pervasive abandoning of Fundamental conservative Christianity in general. People have itching ears, and want shiny, "fun" types of reading instead of solid edifying reading. This gets thrown by into the publishing companies which live or die by sales. They have to cater to what sells. One of the great points of Bible software (all kinds) is they are putting up "low sales" types of works, and reviving, good conservative old works. Whereas a typical publishing company cannot print up 500 copies of a "low demand" book, in electronic form, we can do that, and in many cases, it is public domain or has author permission, and can be put out for free.

I have seen pastors who probably even if they did print up a low number of their own writings, they couldn't sell it very widely, but we put it up in theWord or e-Sword or MySword formats, and it becomes available world wide by our websites.

My theword module repository websites
http://www.twmodules.com/
http://theword-modules.com/
http://www.module-repository.com/
http://www.theword-dictionary-modules.com/
http://www.theword-commentary-modules.com/
Spanish: http://twmodulos.com/

While books come and go, and book publishers come and go, and about the only real lasting remnants are found in public libraries (which are on the path of "going"), these digital electronic copies seem to persist in online repositories and in people's personal libraries that seem to be more of a long life.

I would exhort any pastors or preachers or Bible teachers that have notes or books or tracts that they have written to get in contact with me at davidcoxmex@gmail.com and I can get their works into a tw, e-sword and/or mysword module and posted to the libraries.

Someone also asked about tablets. MySword is a program that runs under Android. For the Mac/Apple products, there are Windows emulators that can be used to run a Windows program on it, and the theWord program is for Windows.