Two great online Bible resources...

The Children's Minister at my church (also my men's Bible study leader on Wednesday mornings) hipped me to two great resources online for Bible study...

The first is Bible Gateway. The title bar describes Bible Gateway as "A searchable online Bible in over 35 languages and 50 versions." Need I say more?! You can search by passage, topic, or keyword, and specify which translation and language you want to see. This is great for comparative studies, as anyone who studies the Bible knows that different translations can have different wording which can contribute to discussion and deeper study. Bible Gateway also has different reading plans for you to try to get yourself on a committed and consistent study of the Word.

The next is Blue Letter Bible. Their mission statement is as follows:

"Our mission is to facilitate in-depth study of God's Word through an on-line interactive reference library continuously updated from the teachings and commentaries of selected pastors and teachers who hold to the conservative, historical Christian faith."

Now this one does not have as many translations as Bible Gateway (for example, NASB is there, but not NIV), but it definitely makes up for this in other areas. Beside each verse you look at, there are blue letter links (hence the name of the site I suppose...LOL) to a variety of study tools.

• Treasury of Scripture Knowledge cross-references of related scripture
  
• Concordance and Hebrew/Greek Lexicon showing original Greek or Hebrew words and meaning
  
• List Audio, Study Tools, Commentaries regarding the verse
  
• Hymns, Images, Maps related to the verse
• Version/Translations to compare the scripture across different translations
• Dictionary Aids

As you can tell, there is a wealth of information on this website. Also of note are selected audio and video sermons streamable through Real Player. I was particularly pleased to find Kent Hovind's video series on Creation versus Evolution available to watch. The video is kind of small, but hey, it's free! I mean, the first video of the series (of which there are seven) is almost 2 hours long! This is a great video series, and one which I used as an adjunct to a Sunday school series I taught to teenagers on Creation versus Evolution. For those out there interested and with whom I have chatted about this subject (and you know who you are...LOL) I would highly recommend them, as Mr. Hovind does a MUCH better job of explaining the position than I ever could!

So anyway, I just though these definitely warranted a blog entry. I have included the links permanently placed in my "Distractions" section in the sidebar. Hope you find them as informative and enjoyable as I am.