Notability & Logos 8 Bible Study

I have been a bit quiet here recently and will be sharing more about my health soon. But now that I have some mental energy here is a video review or presentation of the new Bible software Logos 8. It also shows how I use it with Notability which is a fantastic note-taking tool that I recently discovered.

Notability allows me to mix handwritten notes, text, PDFs, Word documents and audio files into a fully searchable database. The software syncs seamlessly to my Apple iPhone and Mac.

To get the most out of it on an iPad or iPhone, you need a stylus, and on a Mac, it would work well with a basic graphics tablet.

I only discovered very recently that almost all iPhones and iPads still in use can connect with a battery-powered stylus and that you do NOT need the Apple Pencil for this purpose. Here are three examples (make sure you get one that is either rechargeable or has a battery for a reliable drawing) that differ depending on what type of nib you are writing with. Wacom Bamboo (photo), Heiyo rubber, and Circular The copper.

I attach a simple guide to how to import all your existing documents into Notability including your Evernote or Apple Note files. Powerpoint, Word documents, PDFs, and even old Tweets can all be imported as well.

Today I’m going to see how I use the pen-based features of Notability to annotate and draw on the Bible, as part of an overall Bible study workflow that involves Logos Bible Software.

The video presents an example of how I could typically delve deeply into a passage from the Bible. The study itself took me several weeks. I did it in no time and thanks to one of the new workflows found in Logos 8 I was able to simply pick up where I left off. It gives you a guided way to work systematically throughout your Bible study, even if you can only manage a few minutes at a time.

The folks at Logos Bible Software were kind enough to upgrade me to a version of Logos 8 for free, although I have also purchased a lot of resources from them over the years. They didn’t ask me to produce a positive review. And I must clarify that if you follow this link and buy logos for the first time or as an upgrade, I will receive a small commission. If you use WARNACK8 at checkout, you will get a discount and can claim free books.

Logos 8 feels very familiar. It’s like meeting an old friend who got a makeover and developed new skills! But I see no reason to change what I said about Logos Bible Software for a long time:

“For many years now, if I want to check the meaning of a passage in the Bible, or do a word study in the original Greek, or even check the latest theological thinking on a certain topic, I almost always turn to Bible Software Logos. I call my growing collection of electronic commentaries, lexicons, Bibles, interlinear Bibles, reference books, and theological journals my personal theological seminar in a box.

The YouTube embedded video is something new to me. Maybe I’ll do more of these kinds of tours in the future, because in some ways it’s easier than writing a long article.

Contents

• Video review of Logos 8 Bible Software
• Demonstrates use of the passage guide, proposal outlines, and basic Bible study workflow.
• Use of an export of a biblical passage to annotate in Notability

In the video I mention propositional contours which are clause-by-clause cards that follow the author’s thought flow. I sincerely believe that this is one of the most useful ways for us to study the Bible carefully and understand the meaning of the text in front of us.

The audio cuts out just as I explain how to export our Bible study results using app.logos.com which can be a useful way to access your logo collection from any device. It has more features than the app available for iPad and iPhone. Sorry, I didn’t have a chance to say “goodbye!” Not very professional I know, but I decided not to re-record the whole video just so I could say goodbye! I have since found out that the best way is to copy and paste the online workflow player view into Word. I was then able to import this Word file into Notability (here is a PDF of the output).

Highlights of the resulting Bible study

• The passage concerns Paul and Christ. One lives FOR The other. One lives IN The other.
• We are weak, he is strong. When we get beaten he has the perfect remedy. We can die everyday but he LIVES in us.
• The most serious and faithful minister of the gospel must always remember this humiliating truth. He has this precious treasure of the Gospel entrusted to him; he knows he has it, and he intends to keep it safe; but, nevertheless, he is only a vessel of earth, easily broken, soon damaged, a poor custodian of such an inestimable truth. However, God has a good reason to put this treasure in earthen vessels, –7. May the excellence of the power be of God, and not of us . . We are puzzled, but hope has not left us. Dum spiro spero, was the old Latin proverb: “As long as I live, I hope; but the Christian proverb is even better, Dum expiro spero, –“Even while I’m dying, I still have hope” because “the righteous hope in his death.” Spurgeon, CH (1911). “Our slight affliction. “In Sermons from the Chair of the Metropolitan Tabernacle(Vol. 57, p. 167). London: Passmore & Alabaster.
• “Paul recognizes the depth of the trial, but he admits that God did not forsake him inside ”Martin, RP (1998). 2 Corinthians (Vol. 40, p. 87). Dallas: Word, Embedded
• “The Christian reaction to adversity tended to be ‘smile and endure’ or ‘keep a stiff upper lip. “Paul’s approach is to make it clear that it is the power of God (v. 7) and the life of Jesus (v. ten) that strengthen and support it, and not his own courage. . . It is a harsh message for the twentieth century mentality. We like to be in control of our circumstances and to operate from a position of strength ”Belleville, LL (1996). 2 Corinthians(Vol. 8, 2 Cor 4: 7). Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press.
• Today, many trust the “great” preachers. Perhaps if the preacher’s weakness were more visible, we would trust him less and trust his Savior more. This passage for some reason reminds me of the chimpanzee called David from the BBC’s Dynasties series, who had to put on a show of strength even though he was actually weak in order to maintain his role as an alpha leader. Christian leadership shouldn’t be like this.
• God is not looking for perfect Christians and promising us a perfect life here on earth.
• Don’t lie about how you feel, but be honest about your challenges, but not defeated. No rigid top lip required.
• See the result basic Bible study workflow

Purchase or upgrade to Logos 8

If you follow this link and use WARNOCK8 as code at checkout, you will get discount and free books. In order to obtain the Overview of the proposal view you need to get at least one Bronze library. Make sure to visit the Logos website on your computer and sign in with your existing Logos account if you have one. Then you can decide which package you want based on the new resources you will get. Usually I say get as much as you can afford, but because you buy so many books, think of it as an investment in a library. You may decide that you don’t need to buy physical books anymore because you can not only search for the books but read them on the iPhone app on the go.

Spurgeon

Every Christian should have a bit of Spurgeon in their reading. Every sermon he has ever preached is similar in size to the Encyclopedia Britanica if anyone remembers seeing it in a library. You can own them all and search for them by verse or by Bible topic. I cannot recommend it highly enough. Get it all if you can afford it:

• The Spurgeon’s “Complete” Sermons as originally published in print form (also included in the Standard gold, Where Baptiste Argent and above the packages)
• Some additional Spurgeon sermons since its publication
• Spurgeon quotes reformatted in a commentary style (this is less essential than the other two in my opinion)