Good Morning Mike,

Thanks for the reply. I had actually found e- sword in a search a few days ago, and attempted to install it, but had some inexplicable difficulty (firewall and browser protection settings I imagine – perhaps not inexplicable at all) 🙂

I’ve made the attempt again at your suggestion and was both successful and frankly thrilled at the quality and utility of the software. It’s already saved me hours of research, and countless thumbed pages in Greek/ Hebrew dictionaries.

I know I’ve just scratched the surface of the resources on the web, but e- sword looks already as if it will be my primary study tool.

I had also found some software – bibledatabase – which I have enjoyed, but I can see the great value of Strong’s numbering and the immediate reference to the Greek and Hebrew.

Thank you so very much, Mike.

I’d like to keep in touch. Although I consider(ed) myself a critical atheist, I’m not at all satisfied that I know well enough that which I claimed not to believe… if that makes any sense.

I was scholarly in my atheism (study of objectivism and epistemology), but it seems unfair to declare philosophical victory having never really given the other side a fair shake so to speak. I’ve honed my debating skills, but I really don’t have much else to show for it. Winning debates is sort of like winning at chess – it’s a game, and it really doesn’t matter once all is said and done, unless you are a lawyer. 🙂

In fairness to the theology which I had rejected, I will begin a post graduate correspondence course in Christian Apologetics relatively soon, but can see already that the Statement of Faith of the Calvinist school (Trinity) is based on less than scriptural interpretations… perhaps most immediately observable in the name of the school! LOL

It will be an uphill battle for me to maintain my scholarly integrity and still put together an acceptable (to them) thesis, but as a law student, I understand that learning and presenting both sides of any case as fairly as possible, and applying the rules equally is the real challenge. Anyone can attempt to make any argument for anything, but I really just want truth. It is not about the winning for me… well, truth is the real winning, and I the winner if I discern it.

K____

Thanks Again.

Hi K____,

I do not claim to be a Greek or Hebrew scholar. I do not believe that our salvation requires that. I do, however, believe that we ought to “study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needs not be ashamed but rightly dividing the Word of truth.”

The only tools I have are a KJV Bible, a Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance, and a Wigram’s Englishman’s Greek, and a Wigram’s Englishman’s Hebrew concordances. The reason for the KJV is simply that it is the most popular and most widely used Bible in history. The reason for the Strong’s Concordance is that Wigram’s is keyed to Strong’s numbers.

The single most helpful tool you can have is e- sword, which you have already downloaded. It is full of different translations and different commentaries. I find that I use these very little. What I do use very much is the Strong’s numbers which give me every entry for any Greek or Hebrew word. E- sword will do more for you than all the other translation and commentaries combined.

If you are willing to take the time to look at every entry for any word in the original Greek and the original Hebrew, you will then know the difference between how the translators have mistranslated that word and the true meaning of that word.

Two verses are paramount to consider if your understanding of scripture is to be truly extant.

Joh 6:44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.
Rom 11:8 (According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day.

The first verse shows only by God dragging you to him [ the word ‘draw’ here is the same word used elsewhere for ‘drag’] will one come to know Christ and thereby His Father, and the second verse explains why some have understanding and some don’t. I pray that God will open your eyes and ears spiritually and draw you to Him.
Let me hear from you.

Mike