ChristiansUnite Forums

Brothers and Sisters,

I just recently learned about "The Word" Bible Study Package, and I've been using it now for several days. It's completely free with no strings attached, and they don't have a single pay module right now. Of course, that also means that they don't have some newer Bible Translations that charge royalties per copy in any format. Typical pay Bible modules include NIV, NASB, AMP and other newer Bibles.

Most Bible Study programs clean up old material that should be free and charge money for materials that have been in the public domain for many years. Let me just repeat that "The Word" doesn't have a single pay module, and they have a huge assortment of excellent modules that don't cost you a penny. Everything can be downloaded FREE, or you can make a nominal donation to receive the materials on CD or DVD.

"The Word" Information and Download:
http://www.theword.gr/en/

I must say that "The Word" is excellent and has more features than any Bible Study package I've ever used. User created materials are extremely easy because of the design of the program. This means that lesson or sermon preparation is heavily supported and easy to use. "The Word" also indexes and sorts everything with one click access to a huge library from a single page. The interface is very attractive and easy to use. The user can customize just about everything (i.e. fonts, colors, views, etc.). Bluntly, it's EXCELLENT - FREE - and tops anything I've ever used. There are already many links for additional materials, and all of them are FREE.

If you want to see announcements of new materials with links, join their forum, and you'll see many new modules being added by almost the day now.

"The Word" Forum:
http://forum.theword.gr/

This software is not new. It's been around for years and carefully developed. The current version of the program is 3.0. It's FIRST-CLASS! You have nothing to lose, so try it.

Love In Christ,
Tom

Philippians 1:21-23 ASV  21  For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.  22  But if to live in the flesh, if this shall bring fruit from my work, then what I shall choose I know not.  23  But I am in a strait betwixt the two, having the desire to depart and be with Christ; for it is very far better:

I've been using it for a few days now also and I like it a lot also. It took me a bit to get used to the differences between it and e-sword. Not that it was difficult to use because it isn't ... just different.

I'm really looking forward to seeing what other modules that will come out for it.

I really like the mode it has where if you have a Bible reference in an email, forum post, or anything else on your computer all you have to do is put your cursor over it and click you have the verse pop up in a small window right over it for easy reading.

One of the strong points is the ability to synchronize everything you have at once with a Scripture you click on. From what I see, this includes the Bible Maps you refer to.

Another powerful feature of "The Word" is to make your own custom views and make as many categories as you want to. There is actually no limit to the number of categories you make, so you can organize your entire library in a way that makes it easy for you to find (i.e. Bibles, Commentaries, Dictionaries, Maps, Devotions, Books, Sermons, Lesson Plans, Personal Notes, By Topic, etc., etc.). "The Word" will import from a variety of formats, including HTML direct from the web. Further, "The Word" will literally index everything you have for easy search.

Another powerful feature is the use of "text links" that you can embed in one document that links to other documents, photos, graphics, any file address on your computer, and any URL's material on the Internet. The point is that the filing and retrieval system on "The Word" is limited only by your imagination, and it is superior to anything I've ever used or seen. It does automatically index all of your personal materials you incorporate into it or link to. One of my biggest problems in the past has been finding specific materials that I worked with in the past, including my own studies and notes that I've worked on over the years. "The Word" will import them and index them either in a default way or a customized way that I design into an indexed library for quick and categorized searches. The search functions are also extremely powerful in "The Word". "The Word" does searches in just about every way that you can imagine, including its own built-in categories and any additional categories you define. You can literally define countless categories and drag and drop materials into that category. "The Word" then indexes whatever you define for later searches.

I haven't even mentioned "customized views" yet, and I haven't worked with this much yet. "The Word" allows you to set multiple views of various materials by category or however you define it. "The Word" comes with multiple pre-defined views and layouts to try, or you can define your own. This is without mentioning multiple "skins" and color schemes to choose from and user choice of fonts and just about everything in the interface. So, the individual user can set the interface to their own tastes and needs. It's also fast and easy to switch to other views, pre-defined and/or customized by the user.

I find the menu system to be user friendly, powerful, and intuitive. This applies to the overall interface and or portions of the interface. By this I mean that you can actually customize individual portions of the screen that you see. Once you are happy with a specific view, name it and save it. You can have as many as you want and switch back and forth between them (i.e. Tom1, Tom2, Tom3, etc., whatever you want to call them). The big point is that there is much more to "The Word" than what first meets the eye. Several people right now are working on more detailed instructions to use the real power of "The Word", but I find that many functions don't require instructions because of the excellent menu system.

Love In Christ,
Tom

Ephesians 5:25-27 ASV  25  Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself up for it; 26 that he might sanctify it, having cleansed it by the washing of water with the word, 27 that he might present the church to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.

I am going to download it

Hello Brother David,

I think that you'll be very happy with "The Word". Just go to the download page and download the English package. That's pretty nice just by itself, but you can go back and download whatever else you might want and easily add to it. Please do let us know what you think about it after using it for a little bit. I found it so easy to use that I used it without reading any instructions at all. As far as I'm concerned, it's a programming masterpiece and great for doing Bible reading and study. I know that your favorite Bible Translation is the NLT, and that isn't available right now. None of the Bible Translations requiring royalty payments are available, but there is an excellent variety of translations. At this point, there is no money associated with the program at all unless you want to avoid the download by ordering it on CD or DVD for a nominal cost. My personal thoughts right now are that money can corrupt things, and I'm not talking about donations or small costs for CDs or DVDs.

Love In Christ,
Tom

Romans 15:5-7 ASV  5  Now the God of patience and of comfort grant you to be of the same mind one with another according to Christ Jesus:  6  that with one accord ye may with one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.  7  Wherefore receive ye one another, even as Christ also received you, to the glory of God.

wonder what add ons I should get

Hello Brother David,

I got a variety of everything and find the materials to be excellent. The add-ons are automatically installed, so there's no difficulty involved. "The Word" easily handles a large number of add-ons. I got nearly everything they have and like the idea of being able to click between numerous resources for Bible study. The are all linked to the portion of Scripture you're studying. If a particular resource has information about that Scripture, it's underlined. You can also hover your mouse over various links in the Scriptures for pop-up information you can read. The same is true for hovering over Scripture cross-references. It acts much like an excellent Study Bible, just with many more resources that are quick and easy to use.

Love In Christ,
Tom

Hebrews 4:16 ASV  16  Let us therefore draw near with boldness unto the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy, and may find grace to help us in time of need.

Brothers and Sisters,

Investigating the functions of The Word has been fun and interesting. Please know that there is much more than what first meets the eye. If you have The Word, you already know there is access to many resources on one page. Dictionaries, Commentaries, Books, and ancient language helps are all chained to the portion of Scripture you are reading in the Bible. Various links to all kinds of resources become underlined or otherwise highlighted when they have information on that portion of Scripture. This is much like e-Sword in that you can click the various sources with information, all from the same page.

I just learned about some extremely powerful functions of The Word that are unique. Finding the additional features is easy, and so is the configuration. In "Bible View", you can configure what is shown in the Bible Panel and how it is shown. First, you should already know that hovering a mouse over different looking numbers or letters will cause a pop up with the information for that link. The same is true for pop-ups of cross-reference Scriptures while hovering over the cross reference. Here's what I didn't know until today:  there are many more options you can configure in "Bible View" that add additional displayed material either in-line, to the side, or at the bottom of the Scripture you are studying. In fact, you can configure all the resources you want to display in the Bible Pane. As an example:  you want the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Scofield footnotes, and Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge to be displayed in the Bible Panel while you are studying - no problem. In fact, there are many other resources you can add to the Bible Panel in numerous ways.

Some people who use computers for Bible Study don't even know about some of the resources available in their own software. As an example, you see your margin and footnotes in your paper Bible that you hold and read. These don't show up in many Bible Study programs for the computer, but they are there. If you want them shown in The Word, just configure the "Bible View" to show them. You have to physically turn to the cross-references and other materials in a really good leather and paper Study Bible. This can take considerable time, especially if there are numerous references available. In The Word, you simply check mark what you want shown and how you want it shown in a simple configuration window (i.e. hover pop-up, linked, shown in-line, to the right, at the bottom, or beneath each verse). This is an extremely powerful set of features, and I'm not aware of any other Bible Study program that offers this kind of flexibility with numerous sources at once. In essence, you can have your Bible Reference Library go with you on each page of your study. As a contrast with leather and paper libraries, you would have to be sitting in a room full of books and spend considerable time in just deciding which reference books you wanted to use. The Word indexes everything you put into it, including your own personal study notes - so everything you have can be searched and retrieved immediately. Now - back to the leather and paper library for a moment:  you would need a filing cabinet full of index cards, and the search and retrieval methods would involve considerable time and effort. The index card system would only index a tiny amount of the available information for the leather and paper books on the shelves. "The Word" indexes everything and offers many extremely powerful ways to search and retrieve the information you want. Honestly, I think that the indexing, searching, and retrieval system on The Word is the best I've ever seen for a computer driven Bible Study Program. Remember - The Word is FREE! It also appears to run circles around other expensive Bible Study Programs. One can easily spend between $500 and $1000 for a Bible Study Program that will NOT perform as well as the FREE "The Word".

"The Word" Information and Download:
http://www.theword.gr/en/

Love In Christ,
Tom

Psalms 100:1-5 (ASV)1 Make a joyful noise unto Jehovah, all ye lands. 2 Serve Jehovah with gladness: Come before his presence with singing. 3 Know ye that Jehovah, he is God: It is he that hath made us, and we are his; We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. 4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, And into his courts with praise: Give thanks unto him, and bless his name. 5 For Jehovah is good; His lovingkindness [endureth] for ever, And his faithfulness unto all generations.

Hello Everyone,

It's hard to believe that I've been using TheWord for almost 8 months now, so I think it's time to revisit this topic.

TheWord has been updated numerous times in the last 8 months - each with upgraded and new features. There are also now some newer modules that still require royalty payments, so there are now a few pay modules (i.e. NASB, Constable Commentary, etc.). I don't think that I mentioned in my reviews that TheWord has a variety of skins for appearance, and there are new skins to choose from. A lot of new power-type features have either been added or upgraded in the last few new versions. As an example, there has been vast improvements in the ability for a user to make his or her own modules. I've made my first one, and I'm working on my second one right now. I was amazed to find out how easy it is for a user to make a book, dictionary, Bible, or commentary module. All I've tried so far is book modules. My current work in progress is a library of books from a popular author in the 1800s. One of the most powerful features is automatic indexing for later searches. I must also say that it's easy to make your module attractive, add graphics to it, do tables of contents with hot links, and just about whatever you can dream of from within TheWord - with no additional software required. As a result, there are now hundreds of new user-created modules - all free.

One of my favorite places to get additional modules for TheWord is:

David Cox's TheWord Module Library
http://www.davidcox.com.mx/twm/

David Cox is a missionary in Old Mexico, and he has already made hundreds of TheWord modules. David Cox was a previous e-Sword user and switched to TheWord when he found out about the powerful features of TheWord - especially in the area of users making their own modules. I use e-Sword and TheWord still, but I'll have to say that I think TheWord is better in many ways - especially after you get used to it.

For those who haven't tried TheWord yet, I want to repeat that TheWord is FREE with no strings attached. You can find the latest version here:

http://www.theword.gr/en/

You have nothing to lose in trying it, and you just might like it.

Love In Christ,
Tom