I love Bible study, and bemoan the ever-increasing biblical illiteracy that pervades the modern church.

But the following quote from Søren Kierkegaard from his book, Provocations, made me stop and think a bit. Is he right? Could it be that we do not have too little knowledge, but too much, and the correction is not to learn more, but simply to follow what we already know?

Here is what he says:

The matter is quite simple. The Bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand, we are obligated to act accordingly. Take any words in the New Testament and forget everything except pledging yourself to act accordingly. “My God,” you will say, “If I do that my whole life will be ruined. How would I ever get on in the world?”

Herein lies the real place of Christian scholarship. Christian scholarship is the church’s prodigious invention to defend itself against the Bible, to ensure that we can continue to be good Christians without the Bible coming too close. Oh, priceless scholarship, what would we do without you? Dreadful it is to fall into the hands of the living God. Yes, it is even dreadful to be alone with the New Testament.

What do you think?

When I was in seminary, I was married with three kids, I worked full time, and I attended school more than full time. Not to brag…okay, to brag…but I completed a Th.M. (120 credit hours) in three years. I do not recommend this, and neither does my wife. But at the time, it was what we thought was best for our family.

Of all my classes, Greek and Hebrew were the most difficult and time consuming. In class, we were taught to use books for exegetical papers, diagrammatical analysis, word studies, and everything else related to learning these languages and using them to study Scripture.

Eventually, a pastor friend of mine told me a secret for speeding up my language research. Prior to gaining this arcane knowledge, it was not uncommon for me to spend 20-30 hours per week on just Greek or Hebrew. After I learned the secret, I cut that time in half. This was still more than I spent on any other class, but it was a great improvement.

What is the secret? It’s one word. Or maybe it’s two. Whatever. The secret is this: BibleWorks.

BibleWorks is an all in one, exegetical research program that does almost everything you are taught to do in class, but at the touch of a button rather than with all the book pulling and page turning. Yes, you still have to know how the language works, memorize the vocabulary, understand the grammar, and be able to translate and diagram. If you cannot do this on your own, you will fail all the tests and quizzes. But when it comes to your homework and papers, using the program speeds up the process so you can do the same work in less time. That is invaluable for time-strapped fathers, parents, and students.

And if you’re a pastor who saw the value of exegetical research while in seminary but no longer have the time to do it each week, BibleWorks can help you continue the process of studying the original languages, even if you’re short on time or a bit rusty on all the details of language study.

Next week I’m going to post a list of everything that is in the newest version, BibleWorks 8. It will blow you away.

FTC Disclaimer: I was asked to review this software on my blog in exchange for a copy of BibleWorks 8.

You may remember my rant from last year about Bible Study Software. I wanted something that was quick, powerful, easy to use, and didn’t have built-in expiration dates. I recommended a few programs in that post, but over the past year have found myself using only one of them: BibleWorks.

I first discovered this software about 12 years ago when I was at Denver Seminary, and I have probably used it every week since then. The base software doesn’t have some of the commentaries and popular Christians books that other software packages might have, but when it comes to doing primary research on the text of Scripture, there is no better software package available. And besides, other similar Bible Study software packages (like Logos) are over three times the price!

Over the next several weeks and months, as I continue to study Scripture and write commentary, I will make posts about the strength of this software package. To read more about this software now, click on the picture above.

FTC Disclaimer: I was asked to review this software on my blog in exchange for a copy of BibleWorks 8.