Tuesday, 03 August 2010 06:03 Written by Bob Flack

I know my last post ended rather abruptly. I related about all I know about using Logos for a Bible reading plan. Today I discovered the value of a feature in Logos that I had known about but never explored. When my Logos program opens on my computer, it calls up the “home page.” This page is actually several “pages” of information about the books and features available from Logos. Future posts will likely address other benefits on the home page.

A headline today caught my eye so I followed the link to the blog post from a Logos employee. It described “Reading Lists” that have been prepared and are ready to access in Logos. I had been aware of this but did not realize its potential.

A reading list is simply a collection of books on a topic. A Logos reading list will open a book to the page dealing with that topic. If I think back to the days before Logos I can remember how I would gather general information about a book of the Bible like Hebrews, the subject of our current sermon study. I would have several favorite commentaries, dictionaries, introductions, and encyclopedias to which I would turn. I would pull them off the shelf one by one and find the article or section on Hebrews. I might collect several of these books open on my desk at once.

In the prepared reading list for Hebrews, Logos has identified these basic books and marked the right page for me already. I can open as many of them as I want at a time in different windows on my computer screen. If I flashback again, I remember that I have non-reference books that contain good background information on Hebrews. These kinds of specialty books are easily forgotten. In Logos, I can edit the Reading List to include any book that I have in my electronic library and mark the page where the background information begins. I won’t forget these volumes in the future.

For those of you who use Logos, you may recognize that the “Favorites” feature works in a similar way. But when you use Favorites you start from scratch. Logos comes with a reading list for each book of the Bible and users all over the world make their reading lists available for use.

This feature is accessed through the “Tools” tab in Logos. There is a search function in the “reading list” feature that identifies specific reading lists related to the search topic. With a reading list, a Bible student can fill a desk with books open to the right page instantly. What a help!

Saturday, 24 July 2010 17:00 Written by Bob Flack

One of God’s great gifts to me is a Bible study software program and electronic library called Logos. I use it every day. It is my Bible reading plan, Bible, prayer list, prayer journal, sermon preparation tool box, and to do list all at one place on my computer.

When our family lived on Whidbey Island, we fellowshipped with the family that started the company and developed the software. I came to know firsthand their commitment to the authority of the Bible. They worked very hard week by week convinced that a more biblically literate Christian made for a stronger church. Many of the same people remain in leadership at Logos but it’s growth has forced a relocation to larger facilities in a larger city on the mainland.

My purpose is blogging about this gift is to share it. Everyone in the church from the newest disciple to the most seasoned scholar will find help through Logos to pursue a deeper understanding of the Scriptures and a more consistent walk in obedience and devotion to Christ. If you are reading this post on a computer, you can benefit from using this program.

The logos.com website has anything I would share with you and much more. But I trust that learning about it from someone who uses it regularly will prompt you to ask questions and investigate it more closely.

I will simply write about the features I use most. Feel free to ask questions using the comment box. For you Logos users, make suggestions about easier ways to accomplish the same function.

Logos provides my daily Bible reading plan. I told the program that I wanted to read the whole Bible in a year, reading Monday through Friday and reading something from the Old and New Testaments each day in the English Standard Version. The program very quickly developed a calendar for me which marks out my readings for each day.

When I open the reading feature it takes me in the ESV to the next OT reading. If I get behind it tells me that but takes me to the chapter I need to read next without skipping any passages. At the end of the OT reading the NT reference appears. Clicking on that link jumps to that passage. At the end of the NT reading, a “mark read” link allows me to indicate that I have finished reading that day’s assignment. The calendar updates for the next day.

My start date was January 1 but this too can be set to any date. Readers can adjust any of the above parameters.  For example, let’s suppose that I want to read all four gospels in the King James Version between Christmas and Easter reading every Sunday. The calendar will take that information and assign weekly readings to accomplish that plan.

This reading plan feature is available for any electronic book in my Logos library. I can select a book to read, indicate how long I want to take to read it and how often I want to read. It divides the book up into reading segments to accomplish this pre-determined goal. Currently, I’m reading John Bunyan’s Some Gospel Truths Opened. I like to read it slowly so I have a plan that requires only a couple of pages each session.

This works so well for me because I can’t lose a book mark. I can’t lose my Bible or another book unless I lose my laptop which would be a disaster of epic proportions. I can set the size of type on the screen or the size of the window in which the type appears. I play a recorded reading from the ESV of the chapters as I read to enhance my concentration. However, the recording is separate from Logos.

Wednesday, 21 July 2010 14:41 Written by Bob Flack

Two days blogging in a row! A record. Yesterday I failed to mention that I attached manuscript and powerpoint files to my audio messages from July 11 and 18. Click the "Sermons" tab to the left to access. Today's post returns to an earlier topic.

Another neglected blog series has to do with my challenge at the opening of this calendar year to open our homes to others after church services at least once per month. If I judge our family by the strict standard of doing this in our home, on Sunday, we’ve not done well. But this challenge has helped us to think more outwardly and be intentional about hospitality.

I continue to have an interest in your hospitality tales. I’ll share them in a generic way that preserves identities. Include them in your comments or send a separate email. We’ve learned some lessons as the year has progressed:

1. Hospitality does not just happen. Family schedules and guests’ schedules have to align. Sundays have proved a difficult time for us to have people over. Just this month we initiated an every other Monday group at our house. Opening our home requires our whole family to be intentional. After family worship, I meet with the men. Lynn meets with the women. Our daughters are available to assist parents with children. This coordination comes on top of arranging for the meal. Taking on this challenge is not as simple as it might seem.
2. Holidays are excellent opportunities to invite people who are away from their extended families.
3. Restaurants are convenient places to show hospitality especially for those of us who live far out of town. But they can be noisy, making conversation difficult. Doing family worship at a restaurant is virtually impossible. They are obviously expensive if you have a family and guests on a single ticket.
4. Inviting more than one family builds relationships in the church among our guests. The house is a bit more crowded but the fellowship is sweet. It’s a joy to see guests interacting.
5. As our society grows increasingly fragmented, the experience of Christian hospitality around a family table serves as a powerful witness to the gospel.

Tuesday, 20 July 2010 21:35 Written by Bob Flack

I have neglected my blog for more than a week. Since my last post the elders held their summer retreat. Preparation and participation in this took a good deal of time, attention, and emotional investment.  In retrospect, I consider those two days some of the most significant in my eleven years at Grace Baptist. Perhaps future posts will offer the right opportunities to reflect on our deliberations.

But I ought not to use the retreat to excuse my careless inattention to the blog. My commitment is to blog several days each week. I renew that commitment as I write today. I recall some matters of unfinished business from earlier posts. I’ve started a list of potential future blog subjects but should put them on hold while I concentrate on tying together some loose threads.

Among those is the Manhattan Declaration. If you are not familiar with this document, you may access it on the web at http://www.manhattandeclaration.org/the-declaration/read.aspx. It represents the combined effort of representatives from three major branches of historic Christianity – Catholic, Evangelical, and Orthodox. It addresses with boldness a biblical position on the sanctity of human life, the design for human marriage, and the necessity of religious freedom. It calls Christians to bold action and response against societal movements that oppose these fundamental Christian beliefs.

I drew attention to this significant declaration in some earlier blogs, indicating that I was going to leave some time for discussion and reflection before making a decision about signing it. I sought feedback from blog readers and other sources to make my decision.

I have decided not to sign the statement. I can openly affirm that I agree with its conclusions regarding, life, marriage, and liberty. I share the spirit of the statement that nurtures a stronger and bolder response from God’s people. I am sure that my prayers about these issues and those of the declaration’s framers align.

I stop short of signing it because the document makes three references to the gospel.

“Like those who have gone before us in the faith, Christians today are called to proclaim the Gospel of costly grace, to protect the intrinsic dignity of the human person and to stand for the common good.” (Preamble).

“It is our duty to proclaim the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in its fullness, both in season and out of season.” (Introductory paragraphs)

“Going back to the earliest days of the church, Christians have refused to compromise their proclamation of the gospel.” (Paragraphs on Religious Liberty).

I agree with these statements. The problem is that there is wide disagreement among these major religious groups on the nature of the gospel. I am persuaded by the argument that it is dangerous to pretend or presume agreement on the church’s ultimate priority while seeking to advance a godly agenda in areas of common grace where there is agreement.

If the framers insisted on making reference to the gospel, it would have fostered even more support to have admitted to the significant differences that exist among these traditions. As written, the statement leaves the reader open to conclude that those who wrote and sign(ed) the statement hold to the same definitions of the words in it. Yet in the preamble, there is simply the recognition of “ecclesial differences” not doctrinal ones. Again, many readers will conclude that the differences amount to merely ones of practice rather than core belief.

A popular radio host who worships in yet another religious tradition regularly pleads with all people of faith to unite in opposition to the downgrade on these same and other moral issues. I cannot say that I object to this at all. I can act in concert with those with whom I would not worship. But I do object to this radio personality’s use of biblical vocabulary, redefining terms to suit his political and social purposes.

Something similar is going on with the Manhattan Declaration. I imagine two different types of professed evangelicals who have committed to this document. One views the differences between the evangelical gospel and the gospel outlined in the official statements of the other two traditions as minor and inconsequential. I struggle to understand how or why this person would continue the claim to be an evangelical.

The second admits to the real and significant difference between the gospel he holds and the one confessed in the other two traditions. He must conclude that there are then at least three places in the document where signatories will have to fill in significantly different definitions of a word. We have suffered too much from this practice of agreeing to common statements but then redefining words to squirm out of a commitment.

I will continue to stand with all who will stand for life, marriage, and freedom of conscience. I refuse to let my reservations about the declaration turn me away from these critical battles. There is more that all of us can do individually and collectively. But my commitment to the biblical gospel and to protecting it from any compromise leads me to steer clear of a public affirmation of this particular document.