Author: David Betz

Over the past few years I've been slowly shipping resources into virtual world. Examples of this include trading paper books for eBooks, exchanging magazine subscriptions for web page access, and buying MP3 and MPEG4 videos instead of CDs and DVDs. In February 2008 I bought a device that helped me take this transition to the extreme. This device is my handheld computer, the iPod Touch (hereafter, "iTouch"). This isn't simple music device or even a PDA; it's an entire computer compressed into a tiny device.

One of the primary things my iTouch helps me with is with my Biblical Studies. Other than the technology, math, and physics materials, most of my library consists of Biblical language textbooks, seminary-level Biblical studies and theology textbooks, study bibles, commentaries as well as church history, theology, and biblical studies books, videos, and CDs (in addition to every type of Bible you can think of and the "heresy box"-- a locked box where I keep all non-Christian materials like my various Qu'rans and most edititions of the Book of Mormon). There's no way to physically carry it all with me and having to be picky about what to bring is very annoying. Let's see how the iTouch helps me in my Biblical Studies...

Let's begin the dive into my iTouch by checking out my home screen (by the way, everything mentioned here applies to both the iTouch as well as the iPhone -- I'm using the 1st generation here). As you can see I have seven screens. These screens hold tools ranging from dictionaries and shopping assistants to games and helpful utilities. On this home screen, though, you can see some of what I use on a daily basis. In addition to my astronomy books, iBird Yard (an absolute must have for bird watchers-- seriously!), and other applications, you can see some of my Bible applications: AcroBible, Olive Tree BibleReader, and the NET Bible.

I'm going to talk more about these Bible applications in a moment, but for now know that there's much more Biblical material on this screen than what's obvious. For example, GoodReader is my PDF reader which holds many of my Biblical study documents, Amazon's Kindle application, which holds my Theology books, and the Photo viewer, which... well, let's look at that one now.

Photo Viewer

Opening up Photos, you may be surprised to see thousands of flash cards for both Biblical Greek (for two major text books) and Biblical Hebrew (for four major textbooks). The Greek set is iVocab Biblical Greek and the Hebrew set is iVocab Biblical Hebrew (the new editions on these links have more textbooks than what I originally purchased).

These set's are just awesome. No more carrying around thousands of paper cards, being constantly paranoid about dropping them all over the floor (which I hate thinking about-- my cards stayed in my bedroom at all times.) All I have to do to view them is open my photo viewer, select a set, and flip my finger back and forth between the cards (using either vertical or horizontal orientation):

Here's a sample of what you see with one of the Greek sets with horizontal orientation:

With a flip of the finger, you have...

Here's a sample from the Hebrew set:

My photo viewer has more than this though, I also have Bill Mounce's Biblical Greek overhead slides (to download, scroll down on that link), which I can quickly flip through:

Then there's the Basics of Biblical Hebrew slides from the Basics of Biblical Hebrew Charts set:

This gives me quick access to the information I need to further or review my Hebrew and Greek studies. In addition to all of this, I have the "How We Got the Bible" slides so I always have a visual aide handy for impromptu lessons:

PDF Documents

The quick access to the slide information and flash cards was already worth the price of the iTouch in my mind (especially if you bought it on eBay). Having said that, converting existing PDF documents to images isn't always the best idea (it really only works for very large text; small text gets smudged by iTunes's horrible conversion). For my PDF documents, I use an application called GoodReader. I've gone through many different PDF readers and this is the only one that really does what I need it to (fast viewing and bulk PDF uploading).

In GoodReader, I have PDFs organized into all kinds of topics:

No more printing! This is really handy. For example, if I need to show someone a requirement of a certain Ligonier Ministries Certificate Track, I can quickly whip it out, without killing a tree:

Beyond that, I can also view books that I already have in PDF (or books that I converted to PDF). For example, now I can finally stop lugging around Dan Wallaces' Greek Grammar: Beyond the Basics (a thick book!) by throwing it on to my iTouch:

I also like to keep various Greek documents with me:

Among these is the PDF version of Bill Mounce's Basics of Biblical Greek workbook in addition to the answer key:

GoodReader allows for really nice zooming. Using this, I can quickly study various documents with little effort:

Everything here also applies to my Hebrew documents. I like to keep the charts, the PDF version of the Basics of Biblical Hebrew Workbook (I scanned mine in), and the answer key with me:

As you can see, the iTouch is incredibly handy when you want to bring documents with you. There's no reason to print something that's going to be thrown away soon anyways (if only we could send a few of these iTouches back in time to the infant church-- Bart Erhman's lies wouldn't even exist!)

Reading the Bible

This isn't the end of the story, though. In addition to everything here, we need to actually have the Bible with us. For this, I use three different applications: AcroBible ESV, Olive Tree Bible Reader, and NET Bible.

My usual "group" Bible is the ESV. By "group" Bible, I mean the Bible I use when I communicate with others. The ESV is also my memorization Bible as well as well as the Bible I use in my "first-pass" reading (when you first read a particular passage or read it again after a long time, you don't go "deep", you just let the text speak to you-- often called first-pass reading). At this point, I must admit that it's incredibly difficult to beat the effectiveness of the ESV web site (optimized for viewing and printing). Just print off a quick section (a short epistle or a 5-7 chapter section) and then write all over the pages with notes, underlines, and circles. Paper is just great for that. I'll typically roll up the section like a scroll and keep it with a pen in my jean pocket for the week (if you don't have a pen, you aren't "studying", you're "reading"). Alternatively, you can copy/paste a section of the ESV (the web site is optimized for this!) into Microsoft Word and use the "comment" feature in addition to bold, underline, and italics to make notes.

Having said that, when it comes to church and "read-only" discussions with others (i.e. I'm not taking notes), the AcroBible ESV application is the way to go. The first thing I do when I get to church is check out what passages will be discussed that day. Then I go into AcroBible ESV and bookmark each of those sections, giving then quick meaningless names (Q, W, etc...). Throughout the service, I may bookmark other things with more meaningful names that I will want to research more in my own time:

With this application, I can quickly access the footnotes for the ESV Bible:

What's really nice about this application is that it allows me to highlight what I want to see quickly or what I want the other person to see (it also allows note taking as well):

There are myriad other features in AcroBible ESV, but that covers my primary usage of it (my family uses this example much more than I do-- I stand by my use of paper and the "comment" feature in Microsoft Word for note taking!). If you're a heavy ESV user, then this application is a definite help. The readability on it is far better than any other iTouch Bible application I've used.

The next application I use for my Bible reading is Olive Tree. This application is huge, absolutely huge. You can download all kinds of Bibles, commentaries, and books into it. Not only that, but from what I've noticed, if you purchase a Bible on Olive Tree for one platform, you can download it for your iTouch. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that my Olive Tree purchases for my old Windows Mobile phone, were re-downloadable for my iTouch at no charge.

In Olive Tree you can have ESV, NIV, NASB, KJV, Vulgate, and a whole host of other translations from a bunch of different languages. Not only that, but you can read them in parallel. This is a REALLY nice feature. When you scroll in one translation, your position updates in the other automatically.

One thing that shocked me to my core about Olive Tree is that the company actually sells the NA27 Greek and BHS Hebrew text! If you're serious about the original languages, this should excite you. Here are samples:

The only problem with the NA27 and BHS text... is a major problem and may kill your excitement: there is no textual apparatus for either one. This was a big disappointment for me, but, honestly, I can't seem to find a portal electronic apparatus anywhere else either. So, I'm still keep my NA27 with me for my Greek textual research.

Remember, though, that you don't have to use English/Greek or English/Hebrew, you can use any Bible on top and any Bible on bottom:

Another neat thing about Olive Tree is that they use the split screen to show the notes for a particular Bible. So, if you're curious about the Geneva Bible notes, I can load the Geneva Bible on top and the Geneva Bible notes on bottom (the same applies to the ESV Bible and it's notes; but I much prefer the more polished AcroBible application for that):

So, while I use AcroBible ESV for my somethings, I use Olive tree for others. They both have their advantages (AcroBible being a *MUCH* higher quality application and which is easier to use and Olive Tree having more selection), so you just choose what you need.

The third application is the NET Bible application. This is easily my favorite of the three. I paid $50 for the physical copy, but only $4 for the iTouch version... and it's the same thing! (I had to...) Not only that, but I actually find the iTouch version much easier to read than the physical version. I should also mention this: yes, the NET Bible application includes all of the first edition notes, original Greek and Hebrew type preserved in the notes. Because of this, I am constantly in this application. Below are some examples of the NET Bible application.

This is my typical deep-study Bible. I'm not a fan of standard study Bibles because HOW you got somewhere is often more important than WHERE you go. You can't simply rely on a study Bible to give you quick answers to all questions for life. You must learn the art and science of Biblical interpretation so you can read the Bible the way its supposed to be read (in context, understanding the context!) The NET Bible notes give you an in-depth view on WHY the translators translates a text a particular way. The notes also include notes regarding the textual basis for various readings. Some notes actually go on for a very, very long time, giving extensive information and citing many sources. Now, while knowledge of Greek and/or Hebrew will definitely help you with reading the NET Bible, it's not absolutely required.

Kindle

The next Bible study tool I use on my iTouch is another one that I'm in all the time. In fact, in in this application probably more than all the others: the Amazon Kindle application. This isn't just some application that helps you manage your Kindle books, it's an actual Kindle reader... and it's free. If you have an iPhone or iTouch, you have a potential Kindle at no cost. Just download the Kindle application from Amazon.com and you're all set (and if you already own a Kindle; your existing Kindle books are downloaded to your iTouch at no cost to you; your bookmarks and current position are also automatically synchronized.)

What's really nice about this is that many of the textbooks and general Bible study reading material that I use are published as Kindle books. Kindle books typically costs much less than the physical copy, so that's another great thing. As you can see from the below images, you can get all kinds of books on the Kindle.

Another things you can see from the images is that most of the books shown are actually just samples. You don't have to buy a single thing. Ever. All Kindle books have samples and all samples are free. Samples are typically the first chapter or a little more or less (if a book is 30 pages long, giving you a 15 page chapter free obviously isn't fair). Feel free to walk all around Amazon's Kindle store in your web browser (the iTouch Safari will be fine) and hit "Send sample now" all day long. Just load Kindle on your iTouch and all your samples will automatically download. Then you can read them offline whenever and wherever you want. Believe me, you can get a lot out of a sample! Below are some samples (yes, that's the Basics of Biblical Hebrew textbook!):

Now, as you can also see from the images, I did purchase one book in the list: Jewish Backgrounds of the New Testament. When I purchased this, it started out as a sample. At the end of each sample is a button for "Buy now" as well as a details button. Just hit "Buy now" to purchase or hit "see details" to load the Amazon.com web site for product details (see below). No need to manually go back to the web site, just order it right there and you'll have your book in seconds. Also, your purchase is on your Amazon.com Kindle account, not on your device. So, as I've already mentioned, if you already have a Kindle with some book, you can freely download them. Or, if you have more than one iTouch, just register them both with your Amazon Kindle account and the book will be on both at no extra charge (this is great for a husband and a wife who both own a Kindle-- just put them both on the same account and you're all set).

Now, if you're curious about the readability of the Kindle on the iTouch, know this: I've read more on this device in the past two weeks than in all other mediumscombined! This Kindle with a 2" screen is easier to read than PDFs on my 14" laptop. Why? Among MANY reasons, you don't "zoom", you actually change the font size. When reading a PDF you have to pan around every 2 seconds to see the end of the line or make the text so small that, even though it fits, it's too small to read at all. On Kindle, you just change the font size and you're done. Not only that, but for you Kindle owners: you can read your Kindle books on the iPod Touch/iPhone at night without an external light!

Also, you can change between a white, black, or a sepia background. I love the white background for some books and sepia for others, but adore black at night. Below are some samples of various sizes and colors:

The ability to quick scan to other parts of each book, the ability to quickly bookmark pages, as well as the quick "tapping" the left or right side of the screen to change pages makes Kindle the house for my future library. Having said that, obviously you won't be able to let friends borrow the book and you can't "resell" the books. So, if you are buying a book to review it for a friend, to give it to friend after reading it, or are a buy-read-sell person, think twice before BUYING everything on Kindle. It's good for just about everything else though and the samples are just great. Even if you always buy the physical copies, having the ability to read samples anywhere, anytime is definitely awesome.

Web Sites

At this point, people are probably rushing to Apple.com, Amazon.com, Best Buy, and Ebay to price the various iPod Touch models. But, this doesn't yet cover all of what I use my iTouch for regarding Bible Study. The next thing on the list is the ability to access various web sites.

If this is shocking to you, then you should probably to get out more: the iTouch has a web browser. It's actually a nice one too. It's in extremely handy for many different reasons. One of those reasons is access to various articles and online resource materials that I don't have with me. For example, Alpha and Omega Ministries ("AOMin") has a load of apologetic and textual content on their web site. Reading the AOMin web site is incredibly easy with the iTouch:

When it comes to stuff like this, I often like to read on the go (i.e. where there is no Wifi). So I use an application called Site Saver (an application which at its current version, 1.0, is in dire need of massive upgrades). While version 1.0 of the application itself has a boat load of problems, the basic idea does work: give it a URL and it will save it locally. So, I'll give it a few links to download and it will download them so I can check them out later.

On a different note, you have access to the NET Bible on the web in addition to having access to it via the application. If you want a wider view of the notes, then you can just access the NET Bible web site (the application does NOT require internet access, though).

I should mention that these features aren't even remotely the reasons I brought up the web browser. This is: the Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts (run by Dan Wallace, the author of Greek Grammar: Beyond the Basics) has all kinds of original manuscripts on their web site, all of which are easily viewable with the Safari web browser on the iTouch (if you're using another phone with Safari like the T-Mobile G1, this web site will work fine for you as well).

The detail of the images is incredible. You can zoom in really, really far:

There are thousands of pages of manuscripts on the web site. So, you can browser through them for hours on end.

Audio

Next, I would like to switch our focus from the sense of sight to the sense of sound. In addition to the load of music I keep on my iTouch, I also have a load of educational material. For example, Reformed Theological Seminary (main web site) has dumped their core courses freely onto iTunes for the world to listen to. These aren't mini courses or anything like that. These are seminary-level, ultra in-depth courses that will make anyone who thinks that Rick Warren is a deep theologian wet his or her pants. You can go to iTunes and download anything you want and just throw them on your iTouch.

In addition, I also like to keep both the Greek vocabulary on my iTouch. When I was learning the basics New Testament vocabulary, I used to play this while on long walks.

I also have the Hebrew vocabulary on my iTouch. Plus, I have the entire 18-hour Miles Van Pelt's Basics of Biblical Hebrew lecture series. The audio is split up by the chapters of the Basics of Biblical Hebrew textbook. As a reminder, I have the textbook in my Kindle and the workbook in GoodReader (of course, I would print the workbook out or keep the originals with me and do all the activities as if I were in the class--you can't learn by listening alone, you gotta take action! Doing nothing more than WATCHING a workout video only makes you gain weight.)

Beyond the standard educational material, there's also the ability to have podcasts. My absolute favorite podcast is James White's Dividing Line. It's probably the most in-depth podcast/webcast in the world, covering topics that most other people think are too advanced for the majority of Church (they aren't; people just need to be less afraid.)

Once more, we must keep ourselves in check... learning Greek and Hebrew and textual criticism is great, but what about the Bible? That's the entire point! Well, my iTouch is also loaded with the entire Max Mclean ESV Bible. It's nicely broken down by book and chapter for quick access.

To supplement this as well as my Greek studies, I also have Jonathan Pennington'sReadings in the Greek New Testament, various portions of the Greek New Testament read outloud:

Aside from all of this, I like to keep Christian music around me at all times. My iTouch is loaded with music from Soverign Grace Music as well as a bunch of other artists. But sometimes I want to listen to a different artist, one I haven't yet downloaded. Thus, Pandora: a customized internet radio. You tell it who you want to listen to and you're listening.

Then, there's the K-Love application if I want a lot of variety.

Finally, there's the NRT Mobile application which allows me to view discography as well Christian music lyrics. While it should be obvious that Pandora and K-Love require internet access, I should state this: NRT mobile requires it as well.

Video

Now let's combine the sense of sight and sound: video. The iPhone and iTouch work very well with video. Along side the other videos I like to keep on my iTouch (old Stargate Episodes, Stanford Modern Physics courses, etc), I have Mounce's Basics of Biblical Greek videos. These videos come free with the textbook (seriously, if you want to learn Greek, buy the book and do it yourself, all the lectures are on the CD.) The video isn't just some dude talking, it's actually what you need to/want to see: the slides he's talking about during that lesson. This is incredibly handy to me for reviewing old concepts. This was a great help when I first learned Greek.

Another video set I like to keep on my iTouch is a set from Third Millenium Ministries. This is Richard Pratt's seminary. He would never call it that, but it's a quick way to remember it. This seminary has an ABSOLUTELY AWESOME set of video lectures for you to FREELY watch. These aren't little Bible Study talks; these are hardcore seminary-level videos.

Richard Pratt also taught some of the Reformed Theological Seminary courses while he was a professor there. As it turns out, most of the Third Millenium Ministries professors actually are RTS professors. The RTS audio with the TMM videos is a great combination.

Apologetics

Now, while it would be ideal to strictly study the Bible, that's not an option for responsible Christians. As the strategy for anything goes, know yourself (i.e. repentance/salvation), know your territory (i.e. the Bible), and know the other side (i.e. the cults and other non-Christian religions). Preferably in that order! You can't live in the modern world and pretend that Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, Freemasons, athiests, Muslims, and others aren't poising everything around you. You have to know your Scripture (yes, that comes first!) and know what they believe so that you can formulate a proper, personalized defense of your faith.

One of the first non-Christian religions I studied in-depth was Mormonism. That doesn't mean I memorized all their scripture. So, I like to keep the all the LDS scripture on my iTouch with the LDS Library application. This gives me quick access to the information I need as I study Mormonism even further.

In addition to this, I like to keep an application called iQuran Pro around. This is a really effective application for finding exactly what you need in the Qu'ran.

It has the original Arabic (well, the common Arabic version) as well as five different English translations. Though it doesn't help me at all, it also reads the Qu'ran to you in Arabic. Some day I'm going to have to learn Arabic.

For the Jehovah's Witnesses I find that the Watchtower web site is my only hope for reading their New World Translation (http://www dot watchtower dot org/bible/toc.htm).

The Bible Answer Man radio show is also very helpful in this area. Though Hank Hanegraaff does a wonderful job in many areas (especially in hermeneutics with his amazing work "The Apocalypse Code"), his strongest areas are probably Mormon and Hyper-Charismatic apologetics. Head on over to http://www.oneplace.com/ministries/Bible_Answer_Man/ and subscribe to his podcast and throw it on your iTouch as well.

Quick Helpers

In addition to the stuff I've mentioned already, I also have miscellaneous applications that help in various situations. First, I like to use Pocket Whiteboard if I need to draw something to explain a concept.

Second, I have to keep a dictionary around. I use the free dictionary.com application and it seems to get the job done fine for me. It does NOT require internet access and it has a thesaurus in there too. If you want heavier dictionaries you can definitely get any one of the various Oxford dictionaries on your iTouch but they are often $30 or $60 (some even audibly read to you; speaking of pricy, yet helpful applications, Black's Law Dictionary is also available the iTouch for $50).

Remote Control

The last thing I would like to mention is for power users only: reusing your existing PC/Mac applications. Assuming that you have remote desktop enabled on your system, using the WinAdmin application you can access your computer and do whatever you want

Personally, I use this application when I want to use Bible Works 8 when I'm out and about. (this is *THE* application for hardcore Bible study--Logos has absolutely nothing on the depth of this application; BibleWorks is like Photoshop: once you think you mastered it, you find more awesomeness around the corner). Obviously I have to be connected to the internet, but once I'm there it's smooth sailing. (link note: you can get more information on BibleWorks here, but please purchase it here; you get free stuff)

So that's how my iTouch has essentially replaced most of my books, dramatically increased my understanding of MANY topics, kept me from having to lug my laptop around with me, and allowed me to have quick access to all kinds of resources without the extra weight of physical books.

As a closing thought... have you noticed that most everything I talked about could easily fit with other things on the FIRST page of my iPod Touch? What about the other six pages of applications? This thing is also loaded with games, a bunch of Spanish learning utilities, toys for my neice (i.e. memory matching games, flash cards, and puzzles; each physical game costing $40 from a toy store, each being free or $0.99 on my device), and MANY medical reference materials.

This is more than a simple PDA; the iPod Touch is the computer of the future.