I remember buying my Strong’s Concordance in Ashland, Kentucky in 1998. A new bookstore just opened on Winchester Street and I wanted to check it out. Like most Christian “book” stores, the shops in the area were about 4% books and 96% trinkets and of the poor books on sale, most of them were not worth the paper they were printed on. When I entered the shop, most of the books were still in boxes and few had even been arranged on the shelves. But the books that were out and ready for purchase, providentially, were the good ones. I was about to make my first Bible book purchase. Until this point, the only other book I had about the Bible was one that I got at the Calvary Baptist church bookstore. It was Sermons on Catholicism by John R. Gilpin. I remember asking for that book a few times before Mom finally bought it for me. I really don’t know why a 10 year old boy was so interested in that book, but I was and bought it and read what I could, but didn’t really understand a lot of it. Eight years later, I’m about to lay down my own money on some study tools. I saw a box of Matthew Henry’s on sale and grabbed those. Close by, maybe on the same shelf, I spied the Strong’s Concordance. I knew this book was important because I remember my Dad, laying in the living room floor with his Bible, his brown covered Strong’s and a notebook many an evening. There were several editions. Strong’s, the New Strong’s, and the Strongest Strong’s. I didn’t know the difference and figured I should stick with the original, which remains my policy to this day, unless there is a good reason to get the updated or edited version of an author who is dead and gone. I still don’t know what the difference is and don’t care enough to find out.
Saturday, May 19, 2018
The Concordance - Study Tools
I was going to add concordances to the list, but I’m not sure that is even necessary anymore. I have a Strong’s concordance on my phone. And I can find what I was looking for through computer software before I could get out of my chair and get the Strong’s off the shelf. This tool was, even when I started preaching, an indispensable tool for Bible study. I still, every once in a while, will take the book and a pen and paper and do study away from all technology. Brother Strong certainly served his generation well. It is especially important for a man to read the preface to the concordance. Isn't it amazing how much weight and confidence we have in this one book, and yet not take the time to read the introduction of the author and his purpose for the book and how he intended it to be read and used?
I remember buying my Strong’s Concordance in Ashland, Kentucky in 1998. A new bookstore just opened on Winchester Street and I wanted to check it out. Like most Christian “book” stores, the shops in the area were about 4% books and 96% trinkets and of the poor books on sale, most of them were not worth the paper they were printed on. When I entered the shop, most of the books were still in boxes and few had even been arranged on the shelves. But the books that were out and ready for purchase, providentially, were the good ones. I was about to make my first Bible book purchase. Until this point, the only other book I had about the Bible was one that I got at the Calvary Baptist church bookstore. It was Sermons on Catholicism by John R. Gilpin. I remember asking for that book a few times before Mom finally bought it for me. I really don’t know why a 10 year old boy was so interested in that book, but I was and bought it and read what I could, but didn’t really understand a lot of it. Eight years later, I’m about to lay down my own money on some study tools. I saw a box of Matthew Henry’s on sale and grabbed those. Close by, maybe on the same shelf, I spied the Strong’s Concordance. I knew this book was important because I remember my Dad, laying in the living room floor with his Bible, his brown covered Strong’s and a notebook many an evening. There were several editions. Strong’s, the New Strong’s, and the Strongest Strong’s. I didn’t know the difference and figured I should stick with the original, which remains my policy to this day, unless there is a good reason to get the updated or edited version of an author who is dead and gone. I still don’t know what the difference is and don’t care enough to find out.
I remember buying my Strong’s Concordance in Ashland, Kentucky in 1998. A new bookstore just opened on Winchester Street and I wanted to check it out. Like most Christian “book” stores, the shops in the area were about 4% books and 96% trinkets and of the poor books on sale, most of them were not worth the paper they were printed on. When I entered the shop, most of the books were still in boxes and few had even been arranged on the shelves. But the books that were out and ready for purchase, providentially, were the good ones. I was about to make my first Bible book purchase. Until this point, the only other book I had about the Bible was one that I got at the Calvary Baptist church bookstore. It was Sermons on Catholicism by John R. Gilpin. I remember asking for that book a few times before Mom finally bought it for me. I really don’t know why a 10 year old boy was so interested in that book, but I was and bought it and read what I could, but didn’t really understand a lot of it. Eight years later, I’m about to lay down my own money on some study tools. I saw a box of Matthew Henry’s on sale and grabbed those. Close by, maybe on the same shelf, I spied the Strong’s Concordance. I knew this book was important because I remember my Dad, laying in the living room floor with his Bible, his brown covered Strong’s and a notebook many an evening. There were several editions. Strong’s, the New Strong’s, and the Strongest Strong’s. I didn’t know the difference and figured I should stick with the original, which remains my policy to this day, unless there is a good reason to get the updated or edited version of an author who is dead and gone. I still don’t know what the difference is and don’t care enough to find out.
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