The most important criteria I use is the consensus by Jesus, the Early Christians, and also the genuine Pauline Epistles except 2 Cor 10-13. Another criteria is information from some commentaries, such as Ulrich Luz Hermeneia Mt 11:27: that verse was an addition by the post-Easter Church and the Arians used and the United Church of God uses that verse in to refute Trinity (i.e. they don't use the parallel in Lk). Most books of the NT, Sirach, 1-2 Mc, Tobit, 4 Ezra, some of the rest of the OT from the Septuagint. Last priority is the Hebrew OT, I pick parts from there in English translations, I'm not going to learn Hebrew though.
There is a good post about the NT, I've come to the same conclusion about it myself:
www.christianforums.com/t7753566-post63300077/#post63300077Regarding the Epistle to the Hebrews in the NT, I reject 9:15-13:25 because those verses are not in one of the major oldest manuscripts!
Of course I accept as Scripture some "Gnostic" scriptures, although not things like the Gospel of Thomas or Mary Magdalene. Add also 1 Clem and Origen (there has been recent new finds regarding Origen - works that had been lost).
I just got to this forum and am aware that this may be against the rules, but I would like to inform that for one more day the cheapest Bible with full canon that You can search on the computer and read is now available for the first time in 21 years: the 1989 Revised English Bible with the full Apocrypha/Deuterocanonicals, including 4 Ezra (which is found only in this version and RSV/NRSV)!
The software is freeware and works on Windows Vista, 7, 8, 8.1, Android, iOS, and MacOS. (If needed, an older version of it (4) works on Windows XP and a bit older MacOS.) Internet connection is required only initially. It downloads to the device and is thereafter used from the disk. (I'm a little unsure though if it works fine on iOS if You almost never have an internet connection.)
You can make notes and highlightings, and those are synced between Your devices and backed up. Your notes and highlightings are also searchable, at least on a computer and probably also (if not now then in the future) on a tablet with internet connection.
This is the best Bible version for large parts of the Bible.
Until now only one company has offered it for a few years, but their software is not freeware ($50).
This is exiting!
The URL is:
www.logos.com/product/24537/the-revised-english-bible-with-the-apocryphaThere is some great, brief, discussion about the Apocrypha at:
forums.catholic.com/showthread.php?t=806118Customer service and sales are open Monday-Saturday almost every day of the year.
Between 1987-1989 typos and typesetting errors were meticulously corrected in the U.K. In 2012-2013 and onward Logos in the state of Washington in the northwest of U.S.A. has been and is committed to continue to meticulously correcting typos and host back-ups of notes and highlightings, as long as the company exists, which is most probably quite a long time since they have almost 1½ million customers and are by far the largest Bible Study software company. If the business would run on a deficit for a very long time they would most probably be bought by some other company because of the customer base and most things would continue as usual!
The price for the REB on computer goes up about one day from now!
This version is great for example for the Apocrypha, and most of the Pauline Epistles (there is a commentary called Paideia Romans by Matera which is better for Ro and has an English translation of it), but also for most of the rest of the Bible.
If You regret Your purchase there is a 30-day refund policy. (If You regret after that You can sell Your purchases at
www.stilltruth.com/ but a license transfer fee of $20 will apply per occasion and person You are transferring the license to, regardless of how many books You transfer at the same time. The registration link at stilltruth is hidden at the bottom in the blog.)
Notes can be shared with other users on
www.Faithlife.com (a service by Logos).
For comparison, You can download a Bible which has an Evangelical slant, for free: the Lexham English Bible 2012 Edition:
www.logos.com/products/search?q=lexham+english+bibleI don't endorse Evangelical Christianity. The Revised English Bible is in fact not Evangelical, see:
www.bible-researcher.com/reb.htmlBut I will issue a warning: there's very little free Christian content at Logos.
If You have questions or considerations about Logos, ask me! I'm an experienced user and have been following sales since Summer 2012 and the Logos User Forum General and Suggestions sections since March 2012. I can both help You spend, and help You save and cancel orders, and I'm restrictive what to recommend. I can also tell You practical things such as how to place orders and pay, some problems may come up if Your bank requires additional security: the CVC/CVV2 -code, but it's possible. What I recommend, is the minimum just to start: the free engine or Core Datasets, see:
forums.catholic.com/showthread.php?s=0d83dabe3e3fae497437348ad790393c&p=10975835#post10975835The typical user of Logos is a pastor or in such a seminary.
(This is my second post. I won't be posting this much about Bible study softwares anymore!)
