We are finishing up on Segment 2 of the letter of James (James 1:19-2:7). Here is clipping of my analytical chart. Click for the pdf of the full chart.

As always, it was work as is all good Bible Study. But, the rewards are many. It really helps me focus and highlight the things that are key…

We have been working from the beginning of the study of Segment 1 (James 1:1-18) on the construction and features of the Analytical Chart. The Analytical Chart is the concise representation of the things studied in a particular segment. Every time I make a chart, something previously undiscovered is either brought into focus or becomes evident. The chart can be tedious, time-consuming. But, it is most valuable. It helps sharpen the things already observed and then forces you to put them on paper in an organized fashion.

Here is a snippet of my chart. Click for the full pdf.

Join us in our newest study on the Letter of James.

Spiritual maturity amidst turmoil. James, the brother of our Lord, writes to encourage the brethren to consider how they look at the world around them and how they could demonstrate Christ in their daily lives.

Last night, we discussed the analytical chart for Titus Segment 3. We discussed those times on the right side of the chart. As noted before, we typically use the right side of the chart for side studies (studies on words that add to the main study). Here is the chart.

Sometimes, there are words that could be used for the main study but that don’t flow through the particular chart being made. For instance, the word, ‘hope’ is a theme that definitely runs through all of Scripture and indeed through Titus. But, it is not, to me, to be emphasized in this chart. But, it can make for an interesting side study that adds to the main study.

In this segment, hope is referred to in the context of eternal life. Certainly important, but not in the main study. So,we can add to the right side of the chart. Often, you can find another scripture that embellishes the word (Scripture is its own best commentary), in this case, hope from 1 Peter 3:15 “but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence; ”.

The subjects similar in scope to hope in this segment are subjection and good deeds. They are presented in the same vertical alignment on the chart. For, subjection, the scripture reference is Rom. 13:1. For good deeds the scripture reference is Matt. 25:34-40.

Also, in this segment are ‘things’. So those are presented on the right side in a different vertical alignment and a different color. There are authoritative things (2:15), trustworthy things (3:8), good and profitable things (3:8), and unprofitable and worthless things (3:9).

And, finally, in the first paragraph, there are characteristics of God and works of God. These are presented in a comparison chart format, also on the right side.

Last night we demonstrated the Text Flow diagram capabilities of the Sentence Diagramming Tool in Logos 3 during the lesson. A text flow diagram is a very effective way to identify verbal clauses and show their emphasis in a sentence. In this case, we diagrammed Titus 2:15-3:7.

The SD tool in Logos 3 is a bit more powerful than the one currently in Logos 4 (for the moment). The Logos team really listens to their customers and I am hopeful that they will soon fix some of the issues (they are minor, but issues nonetheless). Regardless, if you have Logos 4, you can install and use Logos 3. And, if you don’t have at least the Scholar’s package in Logos 4, which would include the SD tool, you can still purchase the SD tool for about $20. Well worth it.

Here is a pdf of what we worked on last night. SD Text Flow Titus 2-15-3-7

… been doing a lot of tweaking in the past week. I hope you can tell. If you have been following the site, for years (since 1998) it was known as ‘bill cook’s Inductive Bible Study Page’. It is still me, but I have finally revamped the site graphically, functionally, and am working on revamping the content.

In those early days, a web designer had to be very concerned with the size of the graphics on each page because of the tremendously slow (by comparison) download and connection speeds (we used dial up which depended on your modem- nobody could pick up the phone while you were online – woo-hoo! fun it was!). So we used a program by Adobe called ImageReady. You had to import your image that you were hoping ImageReady would not destroy into ImageReady. What it did (it was powerful for its time) was to reduce the image size by taking away bits of the graphic’s information. This would ensure it could be downloaded easily by the browser and the user could see what you had worked so hard to produce. The removal of image information reduced its quality, so you would incrementally reduce image quality until you couldn’t stand it anymore to reach a compromise between image quality and file size.

All of this meant that web pages in those days, in order to be visually appealing, had to be very creatively crafted. But, they were sparse at best. Now, with cable speeds and high-speed DSL, this limitation on file size is virtually gone (within reason). So, the time to build a graphically rich web site has been nagging at me for some time.

Also, having had a lot of experience with WordPress in the past couple of years, and especially with the release of v3, everything fell into place. I just had to get my nerve up and dive in.

My son, Josh, has become a very skillful designer using Photoshop and Illustrator. So, I floated the idea (more of a challenge)  to consider making the new logo. One of the design elements to best express Bible Study to me, on the old site, was a puzzle piece. So, I wanted to have that element incorporated into the new design. I also wanted to have the letters ‘i’ and ‘b’ (for inductivebible) visibly prominent or even part of the puzzle piece. Josh toyed with this for a few weeks. We talked about many possible designs. He would work on prototypes off and on, but none really satisfied. Then, one night very late, his inspiration hit him and he said he had an idea. The next day he emailed me the design. I was blown away.

So, now the pressure was really on to get going on the new site. So, I installed XAMPP lite and WordPress 3 on a local intranet and began working…

And so, as I continue to work, please feel free to move around… Some of the furniture might be in a different place when you visit again, but the coffeemaker will still be on the counter.