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3 out of 5 people found this review helpful
3 stars
Version: Bible Explorer 4
"Go try a different program like e-sword"
Pros: Has a lot information,
Cons: Most of the information that is available for this program is available in other programs because the information is public domain. The format they use is old and is no longer supported in the industry. They have a discussion group that you must believe in their beliefs, or else they will inform you that you are going to hell. For an example, I said that people who are gay should not be discriminated against in any fashion, and I was told my flesh is wining the war against my soul.
- 2 replies to this review
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I do believe the previous replay to this post came from A. Cogan, an employee who works for the company that produces the Bible Explorer program.
There is nothing wrong with this at all, but I believe everyone should know where he is coming from.
The day after this reply was posted, they closed down the discussion group. Thanks Mr. Cogan.
Concerning the old format that ACOG777 rebuffs. At one time, there was a standard format called STEP (Standard Template for Electronic Publishing). This standard was designed so any publisher to produce a electronic book, and the consumer could use any program to read it. This format is no longer supported by the industry. Not only does BE4 uses this format, they encrypt their books so you have to buy their books. You cannot use their program to read any other books by a different company, and you cannot read their books using a different STEP reader.
ACOG777 mention that the user can purchase over 40 different versions of the Bible. According to their website, this will cost you over $1,000. ACOG777 also mentioned BibleWorks. BibleWorks comes with over 30 English versions, several Hebrew and Greek versions, plus several lexicons for around $350.
BibleWorks does not come with a lot of books outside the use for the Greek and Hebrew text, but a lot of people have created add on modules from that can be found in public domain, and can be used with BibleWorks.
Yes, you can get a lot of "add-on books" for this program. The issue that I have here is that all of these "add-on books," which I have looked at, all written from a very conservative to an ultra conservative view point. Out of the "1400" plus "add-on books", I only saw three female authors. I did not see any Hispanic names, and I didn't see any African American names that I recognized. I personally did not see any books concerning African American theology, womaninst theology, or any other theology with the exception that comes from the white male, euro-centric view.
One last thing concerning the "add-on books," for all of the ones that I looked at, they are also available in the LOGOS format and most of them cost $10 less than they do for this format.
Therefore, I believe tsmith123 is much more informed than what ACOG777 would like us to believe. I agree with tsmith123 to go with E-Sword for a free bible program, and would agree with ACOG777 to use BibleWorks to look at the Greek and Hebrew texts. I would also add to use Logos software for the â??add-on books.â??
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The above review claims that the format used by this program is old: completely incorrect. It uses the latest HTML, CSS, and XML standards. Some books even include Flash animations or PDFs.
While it's true that the FREE books they supply are in the public domain, that's true of all free books in ALL Bible software. Where Bible Explorer absolutely trounces all other freely available Bible software is in the AMAZING availability of add-on books: they have over 1,500 volumes available!! For example, they offer over 40 Bibles including all the popular ones like NIV, NKJV, NASB, Amplified, ESV, NLT, etc. etc. They offer commentaries ranging from layman-friendly titles like the Bible Knowledge Commentary all the way to the extremely scholarly 30 volume New American Commentary. You can see the whole list for yourself at the vendor's web site. It's remarkable. The only part of their library that isn't absolutely stellar is if you're into really hardcore PhD-level Greek or Hebrew studies. For that you're better off with a program like BibleWorks. But if you're a layman or even a pastor who's been out of seminary for a few years, even their Greek/Hebrew selection is great: they include a full NT Interlinear, the great AMG Complete Word Study Dictionary, and the UNABRIDGED Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew lexicon (not the lousy public domain chopped up version), and nearly 20 more. Again, see the entire list at the vendor's web site.
I'm sorry the user above had a bad experience in the discussion groups. It's not true that you have to believe in any particular doctrine to participate. They have folks from every Christian denomination you can think of that participate.
This program is far more powerful and has a dramatically larger number of titles available than e-Sword. It's obvious the reviewer above didn't do his homework.
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