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MetaV Personal stories The Christian Vision

ChurchMag Top 20 and A Note to New Readers

Today, a popular church tech blog, ChurchMag, listed my site as number 14 on their 2012 list of “Top 20” blogs in that class based on website stats, social media networks, and Google PageRank.  Newcomers here may be wondering how this site fits in among that list  since most of my posts are not focused on gadgets, social media, or apps designed to help your ministry.  So, here’s a quick introduction to SoulLiberty.com and why I think it belongs in the “tech” category.

I tend to be a “power user” or even a creator of technology meant to help spread the knowledge of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  I share ideas on a very wide range of topics of concern to Christians.  I have covered abortion, science, design, prophecy, data visualizations galore, and created a handful of simple apps.  My communication style is  mainly oriented toward demonstrating new concepts instead of discussing them.  For instance, I could have written a post on how useful I thought Wolfram|Alpha could be and linked to a  couple of things there.  But, I didn’t.  I wrote on the size of the New Jerusalem and embedded a Wolfram|Alpha widget that lets you type the size of one person’s “house” and let it tell you how many of those “houses” could fit in that city.

Most of the time the “tech” part of this site is subtle like that.  The main exception is MetaV, my ever-expanding project to collect, visualize, and communicate data on biblical people, places, and periods of time.  Some of the visualizations using the data in MetaV are featured on the home page.  Others can be found under “Tools.”

Years ago when I started this site, I wrote this about the internet:

As we marvel at the technological achievements of our time, God finds a new way every day to remind me that the inventors of this virtual universe are worthy only to worship at the feet of the Creator of the actual universe.

I still feel that way all the time (you can read more on the “About” page). My hope is that readers would come to see things that way, too, but also recognize the rich opportunities before us. I want to make the most of the achievements in the Information Age to evangelize a lost world and train up disciples that grow in grace and the knowledge of the truth.  If you’re a new reader or just someone I haven’t heard from before who feels the same way, I’d love to hear from you in the comments below or on Google+.

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MetaV Vision

Imagine This for Bible Search

Just watch this video, read Google’s write-up, and imagine a similar search tool designed to explore Bible knowledge.  Then, you’ll understand the idea behind MetaV.  But please remember…I’m not Google, so it’s going to take a while to get this far.

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Application Hermeneutics/ Exegesis MetaV The Bible Vision

Data-Driven Hermeneutics

One’s approach to Bible study has great influence on a person’s views about God and our relationship with him. The set of guidelines I prefer and recommend would be what’s generally known as the inductive bible study method. I find it’s a great way to let the text speak for itself before applying any pre-concieved ideas that may warp its intended, actual meaning. Of course, no single study method must be dogmatically practiced as long as the approach does not impose outside influences that may skew our interpretations (a.k.a “Sola Scriptura”).

Likewise, a person’s approach to understanding any other data set has a huge bearing on their eventual understanding of what that data represents.  A flawed approach tends to produce false or misleading statistics, granting that field of study a special category coined by Mark Twain in his famous line: “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics.” On a blog that I regularly visit, Flowing Data, Nathan Yau does a good job of giving examples of the right and wrong ways to analyze and present data truthfully.  The recent release of his book Visualize This promises to be as good a resource as his blog.  It comes along with a wonderful video (below) that illustrates some important points I’d like to expand on.

I couldn’t have said it better myself.  The parallels between this approach to statistics and sound hermeneutics are immediately apparent.  Let’s walk through each step and discuss how it corresponds to inductive Bible study and how I believe we can improve upon some areas.

  1. Get Your Data. Normally we choose some passage that is manageable in the time we’ve set aside for study.  When studying an entire book, it must be broken into smaller segments.  This is a good way for individuals to dig really deep and meditate on certain points, but it can be inadequate and unnecessary for other purposes.  Enough people over time have taken this approach, tabulated and published key information that can now be used alongside many other such resources to efficiently study the entire Bible as a whole.  The data sets I’ve chosen come from renowned scholars over several centuries, now combined in one linked data set (MetaV).
  2. Ask a Question.  Once we’ve chosen what passage(s) to pick apart, we must make some basic observations.  What people, places, or time frames are mentioned?  Much of this can be gleaned directly from the text, but helps such as maps or time lines are often necessary to really understand where in the world that place is or what else might have been going on in that period of history.  This is why MetaV includes a year assigned to every passage and why every identifiable place is given a latitude/longitude.
  3. Choose your tools. These days we’re stuck with either pen and paper or study software which does a great job of putting a microscope on the text, but nothing is yet available which can handle analysis of the entire Bible.  If you’re computer-savvy, you may be comfortable with various spreadsheets, databases, or statistical computation tools, but let’s face it – not everyone just loooves to do stats in their spare time!
  4. Explore.   This goes along with the observations you may have when asking some basic questions, but now it may be expanded to look for trends, patterns, and differences.  Like the video points out, it’s useful to compare things according to categories, space, and time.  The only real way to do this on a scale larger than a chapter or two is to take each place mentioned in the passage and find it on a map (hopefully one that corresponds with the time period you’re studying) or take a similar approach to finding/plotting events through time.  To help in that regard, you may find this interative visual to be useful.  On a smaller scale, highlighting key elements by marking them with colors and shapes can help you identify repeating or contrasting phrases.  Wouldn’t it be nice, though, if your study tools did that for you, allowing one to apply this to everything in the Bible at once so you can spend more time thinking and less time marking?  I think that day is fast approaching.
  5. Get your story.  Once you have some idea of what’s being emphasized, compared, or explained, it’s time to put it all together. What does this text actually mean? How does it relate to other stories?  How does it relate to your own life?
  6. Design your visual.  It’s just not enough that you understand it.  You want to share what you’ve learned…but how?  How might you communicate key points in a meaningful, truthful way without simply reciting the text or handing over a list of raw data?  This is another reason why most analysis, both biblical and otherwise, is limited to smaller, more manageable bites.  It’s a fairly unique skill set to handle large volumes of facts and communicate them in a way that isn’t overwhelmingly complex or else too watered-down for the sake of simplicity.  I am finding more and more folks out there like Nathan Yau who are teaching others these skills and I’m learning a great deal from their online resources.  I sincerely hope that the visuals on this blog do a decent job of that for you as well.

This is just one of the ways that I believe MetaV can be applied to broaden our understanding – taking the Bible as a whole, seeking common or diverging elements while remaining true to the intent of each individual passage.  If you’re looking for other ways to understand the data in MetaV, keep checking this blog for upcoming visualizations or do what I do: find sites like Flowing Data to get some ideas and “how-to” articles.  Then, let me know what you come up with by leaving your comments below.

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Inspirations MetaV The Bible Vision

What’s next: Graphing the Graphe

For many in our day, to picture the Bible is to think of an old dusty book on the shelf with leather binding and golden accents.  Its pages are so thin you’re afraid you’ll destroy them at every turn, or perhaps you believe the words on its pages will destroy you.  I have taken the words from those pages and linked them with explanatory works in order to show you the Bible in a way that you’ve never seen it before.

Scripture contains stories about thousands of people over thousands of years in thousands of places.  We can take those thousands of words and make them into a picture.  The root word from which we translate the term “Scripture” is graphe. This same root word is also the basis for our English word “graph.”  How appropriate is it then to to translate the words of scripture into graphs as we use that word today?

Christians of the renaissance “visualized” the Bible with works of art that are now considered priceless.  Now we can replace the oil and canvas with data and computers.  I would contend that this approach is no less beautiful or creative.  Now that the foundation has been laid, in the coming months on this blog I will bring forth the realization of this vision.  Never before seen patterns may emerge.  Beautiful structures may unfold.  Readers will see the consistency of design in God’s words and works through time, space, and the soul of mankind.  This is truly an exciting time.

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Application MetaV The Bible Version History Vision

MetaV 2.0 Now Available

MetaV 2.0 is now available to download as an Access database or as a group of csv files.  I have attempted to make it as easy as possible to understand the structure of the data, but feel free to leave a comment if you have any questions.

This is perhaps the most complex undertaking I’ve ever engaged in and I know it simply would be impossible without the ongoing guidance and helping hand of the Lord our God.  There are many improvements that can and will be made in future versions, but the time for collecting information is past and the time for turning it into action is upon us.  As I’ve seen from the response to my infographic, “Mapping God’s Bloodline,” visual presentations of biblical data can reach far and wide, gaining influence in some of the most unlikely sectors of our society.

MetaV provides the foundation for more visualizations of this type.  With it, data experts can correlate biblical people, places, and timelines in ways not yet imagined.  For the foreseeable future, I shall be focused on bringing the big picture of the Bible into view using modern data techniques.  I welcome your ideas and would be happy to share on this blog any visualizations or analyses you have performed.

Click Here to go to the download page.

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MetaV The Bible Version History Vision

Progress Update

A lot has progressed since I first posted the central parts of MetaV.  At that time, I had only converted and indexed the text of the Bible itself.  Since then, I’ve managed to add cross references, topics, time lines, readability info, Strong’s Concordance, and locations.  I’ve even made a number of tools to explore each “module,” and one to explore the timeline, places, and text all in one place.  But, what’s next?  The diagram below shows the modules I have envisioned so far to include in the database.  Black outlines indicate areas of future development; white outlines are completed modules (tables).

Each sub-group has at least the main part of it complete, with one exception: People.  What can I say? People are messy.  I know there are a number of genealogies out there and a number of tools produced to explore them, but finding an openly available one in an appropriately structured file that’s free for public use is proving difficult.  Therefore, I expect it will take significantly longer to compile such a reference on my own using what I’ve scraped together so far.

I have chosen not to upload the updated database until I at least have people identified and tagged with basic relationship information (father/son, husband/wife).  After that iteration is complete, I’ll make that available and begin work on the remaining modules and other refinements at the same time as producing new, simple tools to explore the database.  Any estimate on how long that will take would only be a guess.

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Cool Tools MetaV The Bible Vision

Quality Interaction

I’ve been out shopping for cars recently, and it has reminded me of one of the shortcomings I’ve noticed among Christian websites I tend to visit. As usual, I intend to fill this gap through our efforts at SoulLiberty.com. Let me explain.

Something I appreciate about car websites is that they put a lot of effort into showing you the main features of each model. I can see the inside and outside, and often do a 360-degree tour. In each view, I can see certain areas featured; click on them and find out more details, see a video, etc. Of course, a lot of this is designed to dazzle the buyer into an emotional state where he simply must have that car becuause “it’s just so cool!”

But aren’t certain things about the Bible just “so cool?”  I happen to think so.  Then, why not present things in such a way that conveys that feeling to the new or maturing Christian student?  If a storytelling professor can make statistics look like the most interesting thing in the world, can’t geeky web designers do the same with the most epic and fascinating story of all time?

Guttenberg invented the printing press for one big reason: to distribute the Bible to as many people as possible.  That was a time when Christians were the master of new technology intended to carry out God’s calling.  Today, the most high-tech ideas are motivated by material gain or fulfilling other carnal lusts.  How can we begin to turn this back around?

One place to start is by implementing today’s technology to aid in teaching Biblical ideas.  Yes, churches and ministries are always adopting new tools, but they were new to the world 5-10 years ago.  One of my 2011 goals is to bring the Bible itself into a tool that is barely over a month old.  That’s the future.  Right now, we have some catching up to do.

Go back to the car example: our website applied that years-old idea to the Ark of the Covenant.  While a clip from Indiana Jones might invoke the “that’s so cool” thoughts, I felt it would be better to make something different.  What we have now is a 3-D model of the Ark that can be explored from the exterior and interior.  You can click on icons to learn about key features, just like that Corvette you’ve been drooling over.  It’s interesting, informative, and biblical.  It links yesterday to today through technology and by linking the Ark’s symbolism to our daily Christian walk.

Ark of the Covenant Interactive Tool

What I am not advocating here is a wordly approach to evangelism with focus groups, high-pressure marketing campaigns, and so on.  There’s nothing wrong with advertising, however. Isn’t that what evangelism is anyway – advertising the Gospel far and wide?  I’m also not arguing that putting a little more glitz into a website will have a direct impact on the visitor’s journey to salvation. I’m simply pleading for a higher standard. Give God your best each and every day in everything you do, and it will eventually rub off on others.

Categories
MetaV Personal stories The Christian Vision

Using technology to present biblical truth

I graduated from the US Air Force Academy with a degree in Mechanical Engineering.  Since then, I have held several positions in the military, business world, and in Christian ministry.  In each role, I have found ways to work with information (databases in particular) to help myself and others sort out what that information really tells us about what’s going on.

I have recently taken on a new role which has exposed me to more advanced methods behind what’s referred to as Business Intelligence.  I quickly realized that these techniques can be applied to the Bible to “zoom out” and discover patterns and relationships that you can’t find with traditional study methods or tools.  I will highlight others who have done work to this end in hopes of bringing their results together and develop them into an integrated whole.

I have previously laid out my vision for enabling the average person to find reliable information on the web as easily as many incredible tools that are available today free of charge.  Soulliberty.com is a work in progress that will be one platform for applying these technologies to scripture and related information in commentaries, maps, media – you name it.  To be perfectly clear: my primary goal is to present the Bible in a clear, understandable, and intelligent way so that more people can come to know its truth, power, and salvation.

To get an idea of the basics, consider how you might do online research for a new car or even decide what movie to go see this weekend.  You can narrow it down by type, sort it by popularity and price (or what time a movie is showing), and see place marks on a map where that movie will be playing or where that car is sold.  You are presented with media telling you more about it in the form of videos or interactive content.  A common element is that the information is tied together in meaningful ways that help a computer sort through the information to find what the user is looking for.

I think it is possible to do the same types of things with Bible study software and make it available for free on the web instead of it costing hundreds or thousands of dollars.  This blog will more fully explain specific ideas for creating new tools and implementing existing ones in ways that are easy enough to understand by a non-technically minded person while also providing enough detail for the up-and-coming programmer or designer to contribute their skills and time.  I hope you find it informative and exciting to imagine the possibilities!