Filed under: App Store, App Review
Logos brings free Bible study tools to the iPhone
We've mentioned Logos for Mac before, but now there is Logos Bible Software for iPhone (iTunes link), a free app providing access to several translations of the Bible and other Bible study books (most of the ones available at http://bible.logos.com). That's pretty good.If you create a free account at Logos.com, you gain access to even more free resources. That's even better.
The app also lets you set up reading lists, which is an excellent idea. I've read through the Bible twice in the past few years, and used Mobile Safari on my iPhone to keep up with online lists. This app would have been much easier to use.
Many of the free resources are older, but the English Standard Version (ESV) is a good and fairly modern translation. There are also comparison tools available, as well as dictionaries. (UPDATE: Ryan Burns from Logos.com added a complete list in the comments.)
I'm almost hesitant to mention this next feature. Here's the good news: the new Logos version 4 will work with the iPhone app, giving you access over the Internet to books that you have purchased. That's a pretty killer feature.
Here's the bad news: the Mac version of Logos 4 is not finished. (That sound you just heard was an angry mob of Mac users grabbing their pitchforks off the wall and looking for the kerosene to light their torches.) Logos is developed both for Windows and Mac, and the Windows version beat the Mac version out the door.
The developers explain that the underlying "core" works on both Windows and Mac, and that the pre-release version "reads and indexes the exact same resources and data files as the Windows version. It synchronizes with the server and even uploads and downloads notes, settings, and other data. It can automatically update itself over the Internet. It just needs work at the user interface level, and we're doing that as fast as we can."
They go on to explain that the Windows and iPhone versions are both ready, and delaying "wouldn't speed up the Mac product, it would just delay access for the larger group of users." They describe version 4 as "a completely new product." All of which is fairly reasonable, but unlikely to soothe the nerves of some Mac users who will no doubt feel like second-class citizens.
The iPhone app still offers a lot of functionality, even without Logos 4 integration, and it is completely free.
Do you have a favorite iPhone Bible study app? If so, please let us know in the comments. I realize a lot of you are not religious and may not have any use or affinity for this particular app, but it would be appreciated if you'd let others have a chance to discuss this.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 6)
mcg said 8:06AM on 11-05-2009
Cue the anti-Christian snark in 4... 3... 2... 1 ...
Reply
JKT said 9:06AM on 11-05-2009
On the contrary, it's much more often in our society that the non-religious are persecuted by the religious. Even at the end of the article the author had to "beg" the secular folks to "allow" the discussion, as if the non-church goers regularly go out of their ways to stop religious discussion. It's indicative of the incredible stigma attached to being non-religious, as if being so also means one is amoral, a concept I find quite offensive. OF COURSE the app can and will be discussed. Don't demean us by claiming, in advance of any evidence, that we'd derail things. The U.S. was founded on freedom of religion. Go, be religious. It's your right and it would be wrong of us to stop you. Therefore we won't.
mcg said 9:13AM on 11-05-2009
Nice rant, JKT. However, if you read any of the other posts TJ has put up about Bible software, you would have to concede that his admonition's is entirely justified by experience. He wasn't working from some preconceived notion about non-believers, he was working from what has *actually happened* several times already.
bo3of said 9:26AM on 11-05-2009
@ mcg
I'm positively sure that Christians would do the same thing if the article was about -- let's say a Qur'an app.
mcg said 9:28AM on 11-05-2009
@bo3of: granted.
John Meche said 9:34AM on 11-05-2009
I'm a southern Christian who believes that the Bible is inerrant. That being said. I would scroll past the Qur'an app in Google reader without a comment or foul word. I might even download it if its free.
Rory said 9:49AM on 11-05-2009
I'm a Christian and I'm with John on this one. I pass by those things that don't apply to me. Unfortunately too many in our society both non-Christian and Christian cannot resist the urge to stir the pot
mcg said 9:57AM on 11-05-2009
OK, my attempt at a bit of snark has now spawned a thread that may very well take up the whole first page of comments. That's a shame, and I apologize, and have voted the posts here "negative"... maybe y'all should too...
MSM said 12:19PM on 11-05-2009
@John Meche: look at (Al Mus'haf) app on iTunes (its free)
sodapop said 2:58PM on 11-05-2009
@JKT "On the contrary, it's much more often in our society that the non-religious are persecuted by the religious."
Thats kind of a subjective statement. I could see it justified in news reports, but if you added up internet blog posts and comments such as these I would say my perception is opposite of yours.
Plus you can openly talk poop about the religious and call them the equivalent of the n-word, and prevent them from equal opportunity in legislature etc. It's also indicative of a certain political party - those who happen to refuse to accept responsibility and accountability for themselves and their actions.
*
Still, what flavor of the Bible? There are too many to have one app.
Kenny Broughton said 4:15PM on 11-05-2009
Fantastic! Free fuel for the bigoted hatemongers to find instant justification for their (love-driven) persecuting gays and waging wars on... well, practically anyone but their approved pals. Just what the world needs.
Reply
Justin said 8:21AM on 11-05-2009
I have been using one of the iPhone Bible apps that only works when you have internet, I like it because it has NIV and the popular ones. I haven't checked this one yet, but it looks like NIV won't be among the translations offered. I wish it was! :)
Reply
rob.durnford said 12:08PM on 11-05-2009
The NIV version is copywritten and as such would not likey be available as a free download.
tyten83 said 8:30AM on 11-05-2009
Yay! The invisible sky wizard has an app!
Reply
G. A. said 9:43AM on 11-05-2009
How droll!
By all means, keep believing that the universe exists in all its infinity due to random, accidental acts - one piled on top of another. Oh - and then explain from where (and by how) came to be all the "stuff"; the building blocks that "accidentally" fell one on top of the other with such precision of placement and timing to create the universe, yourself included.
Faith indeed!!!
In my experience the "unbeliever" lives to a much greater degree in a world of "faith" than any religious person...
tyten83 said 10:15AM on 11-05-2009
*sigh*
Saying something I believe is timeless and infinite and without a creator (the universe and everything in it) was "miracled" into being by something that you hold as timeless and infinite and without a creator (god) doesn't really hold a lot of water.
trainwrecka said 11:03AM on 11-05-2009
The point being made - though maybe not in the best of manners - is that both of our thoughts about how the world functions, who/what is the cause of that function, and why we are here - are all "faith" based.
No one has proved anything on either side 100%, so a leap of faith is needed on some level to believe.
Timothy Keller's book "The Reason for God" does an excellent job of presenting this information. I highly recommend it to you, not to convert, but to hopefully give you a better understanding.
Stephen said 2:07PM on 11-05-2009
GA / trainwrecka - you only say these things because you don't (yet) understand how natural selection works (I don't say that to insult you - it's a very complex idea to grasp unless it's explained well by someone who really gets it). It's not a leap of faith at all, it's a matter of science and objective analysis. That's the difference. This constant refrain, from some religious believers, that science is also based on faith is just incorrect. Science is the opposite of faith. That's not to say that science is necessarily 100% correct about everything at any given point in time (because new information is always coming to light, because scientists are always looking for new information and are always willing to be proved wrong), or that science has (yet) answered all the questions; but it is to point out a fundamental difference between science and religion which you should accept even if you choose to continue with your religious beliefs and faith. Science is not based in faith! Please stop repeating this, whichever side of the 'argument' you fall on.
Luke said 6:51AM on 11-06-2009
@Stephen
Saying that trainwrecka is wrong because he don't understand your argument makes the assumption that you are right in the first place.
Natural selection is not a proven fact. there are lots of good ideas about it, but there are also a lot of conflicting ideas.
The short and skinny of it is that there is not a quantifiable way to test things that have happened in he past. You cannot say with absolute certainty that because something appears to happen today that was the way it happened thousands of years ago.
trainwrecka said 9:19AM on 11-06-2009
@Stephen - You can say that science doesn't take "faith" all you like, but that won't change the fact that it does. To believe in a theory takes faith - even if it is the smallest possible amount - it still takes faith.
It doesn't require any amount of faith to believe in a 100% fact, but the theory of evolution is still a theory, and constantly evolving - changing countless times over the past 70 years. The Bible has been unchanged for well over a thousand years.
Test The Bible using the historical method instead of the scientific method and I think you will be pretty shocked at how accurate it is.
Natural selection or a creator?
Something created matter, so everything matters.
OR
Nothing created matter, so nothing matters.
NOT
Nothing created matter, so everything matters.