- Image via Wikipedia
Have you ever wanted to go to seminary or take some time to seriously study the Bible? Have you ever wished you had a grasp on Biblical events and their correlation with the timeline of history or understood how ancient geography matches up with the modern map? I have had a chance to preview the beta version of the new online Bible study tool, BibleMesh, and I am really excited about it going live (available June 2010 according to the website).
This well organized tool offers the equipment for anyone to study on a Bible scholar level with everything from multi-media presentations (video, pictures, charts, graphs), to group discussions (you can create your own group or join an existing one), to testing for comprehension and understanding of what you have studied. All the benefits of a college level course without the student loans!
The program has the Bible divided into 7 major Eras from Creation to the Church. You can join groups based on Bible era, common interests (i.e. end times theology), IRL groups (i.e. sunday school, family Bible study). So far, the majority of groups are open to anyone who wants to join. I expect that when the program goes live there will be more closed or membership approval required groups showing up. Within the groups, you can have discussions, share photos, share documents and resources, create your own courses, and generally relate with other members of the group.
Personally, I am most excited about studying how Biblical history interweaves with world history. I was taught history in somewhat of a piecemeal fashion. We studied the history of the different continents, but I don’t have a good grasp of how those histories overlap one another, and even less of a grasp of how history overlaps the Bible. What was the Roman Empire doing during Jesus’ life? Trying to maintain peace and avoid war by agreeing not to expand its borders. How did the Roman empire influence the Bible story? Persecution led to the martyrdom of the apostles and the scattering of Christian believers. With the help of the Roman infrastructure of roads, Christians scattered across the known world to avoid persecution, taking the gospel wherever they went.
BibleMesh is going to be a great tool for digging deeper into God’s story and understanding it better. To know God and make Him known.
