Comparison of Free Bible Apps for iPhone and Ipod Touch

I downloaded some free Bible Apps for my iPod Touch. Most of them share the same set of features like highlighting verses, bookmarking verses, adding your own notes, performing searches, and viewing reading history. Here is the list of apps (ordered) installed with their corresponding links to iTunes for you to see the screenshots of the programs. But among the freely available apps, I like the ESV Bible most, followed by Bible by Youversion, BibleReader by Olive Tree, and Holy Bible by Paul Avery.

1. ESV Bible


2. Bible by YouVersion.com


3. Holy Bible by Paul Avery


4. BibleReader


5. Blue Letter Bible


6. CCEL Devotional Bible


7. Mantis Study Bible


8. The Holy Bible - King James Version


9. Bible.is


10. Bible+1


11. Logos Bible Software

Best and Free Diagram and Graph Maker

I've been finding a good, free, and easy to use diagram or graph making software. I'm doing some experiments on visualizing some natural language representation. I need to do this manually so I can easily study and compare different representations. I need a tool that can allow me to easily add nodes and edges, and customize the colors. The program must be able to arrange or to layout the nodes and the edges. I was able to try yEd Graph Editor, a free Java program, that allows me to create something like the one below.

[caption id="attachment_748" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="John 3:6 using YEd Graph Editor"][/caption]

Understanding the Bible

Is there a contradiction between James and Paul?

For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. (Romans 3:28)

You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. (James 2:24)

Many do not want to believe in the Bible because they "found" existing "contradictions". They did not really find it themselves, but read it from websites established by atheists. There's no really contradiction in those verses, but rather our lack of understanding. How can we be swayed by atheists who not only do not believe in the Bible but do not understand what was written?

John Piper's sermon entitled "Does James Contradict Paul" helps me understand that the two verses do not contradict each other. Piper did not formulate some explanations or reasonings, he only connected the verses  and helped us to understand what was written. It is the truth and the message in the Bible, rather than the syntax and the characters that try to represent them that matters most.

Why We Need and Want to Read the Bible?

I will try to present some answers which are not necessarily in order, cumulative, and entirely the ideal ones. I will use some analogy to drive a point.

1. To gain knowledge

If we are fascinated in science because we learn a lot of things, shouldn't we be more interested to read and to know the Word of God because it contains wisdom and knowledge?

2. It is a requirement

If those of us who easily get tired when reading, read the entire novel in just a month because it is a requirement in school, shouldn't we read the Bible because God requires us too?

3. It concerns us

If we spend time researching a particular disease not because we want to know about it, but because the symptoms we are experiencing affects our physical body and it concerns us the most, shouldn't we read the Bible because our eternal life is a major concern?