Hey! If you’re reading this, it’s possibly your first time visiting Bible to Life. So, welcome! We have some explaining to do, but not in a bad way.
First, let’s look at how the site actually works, because it isn’t like most Christian “blogs” you’ve encountered before.
How This Site Works
This website is designed to feel like a virtual library. It isn’t designed to feel like a blog. It isn’t designed to feel like a news website or cultural commentary magazine.
Bible to Life is built to make our resources as easily discoverable and as searchable as possible. Maybe you want to search by book and chapter of the Bible—you can do that here. Maybe you want you search by topic—you can do that here. Perhaps you want to just look at the books we cite on the site—you can do that here.
At Bible to Life, we’re not interested in following cultural trends or current events and telling you our opinions on them. Sure, you will see opinions here from time to time, but the point is this: we aren’t interested in chasing controversy for clicks. We just want to help people better understand, engage, and love God’s Word.
Every resource you come across on Bible to Life is tagged and categorized by:
- Resource Type
- Perspective
- Topic
- Scripture
So a resource like the one pictured below is tagged like this: Question (Resource Type), Learn (Perspective), Biblical Studies > Inspiration and Inerrancy (Topic), and has no Scripture tag because it isn’t expounding on a specific piece of Scripture, but cites multiple.
In addition to that, every resource has a “For Further Reading” book recommended at the bottom. These books are recommended because the resource was either pulled directly from those books or the books are on a similar topic to the topic of the resource itself. Here’s an example from a great resource from John Perkins’ and Karen Waddles’ book Count It All Joy:
We understand the site can be a bit overwhelming at first, but that’s okay. We’ll explain in more detail below.
Let us explain the basics of this website and how you may want to use it.
The Purpose of Bible to Life
Bible to Life is a resource library that exists to lead people to learn about, engage with, and love the Word of God.
We hope to accomplish this by providing trustworthy, understandable, and helpful resources that addresses common questions, concerns, and circumstances that people face and attempt to reconcile with matters of faith.
Who Is Bible to Life for?
It’s for anyone! We have a bunch of different kinds of resources here at Bible to Life, and each kind of resource may appeal to different people at different stages of life.
Some posts might be more helpful to people like pastors or church leaders. Others will be most helpful for parents. Others may be most interesting to Christian business leaders. Some may even be most interesting to people who aren’t Christians but are interested in learning more about Christianity. Much of what you see on the site will be helpful to a wide array of people.
Speaking of our different kinds of resources, let’s introduce you to our Resource Types.
Four Types of Resources
Right now, Bible to Life hosts four different kinds of resources: verse collections, devotions, questions, and articles. Some day, hopefully soon, we will have even more kinds of resources to help you better understand, engage, and love the Scriptures. Here’s a brief explanation of each Resource Type:
- Verse Collections are resources that help you get a better understanding of what the Bible says about a given topic or find just the right Bible verse to write on your encouragement card to a hurting friend.
- Questions are meant to answer the question in the title of the post. Sometimes these posts address common questions people pose about faith or Christianity, and sometimes they’re more specific and unique to particular life circumstances.
- Devotionals are dedicated to helping encourage your heart and point you to the goodness of God that we see throughout the Bible. We hope that devotionals stir your affections for God and remind you of His love and care for you.
- Articles are the posts that don’t really fall into any of the other categories. Most articles will be practical in nature and help you better engage the Bible and apply its truths to your life.
Each resource on Bible to Life is categorized within one of these Resource Types. In addition to being categorized into a Resource Type, each piece of resource is tagged with a “Perspective.” Let’s explore those.
Three Different “Perspectives”
Bible to Life exists to lead people to learn about, engage with, and love the Word of God. These three things—learn, engage, and love—are motivations or reasons someone may come to Bible to Life, and we call them “Perspectives.”
You may be here because you want to learn and grow in your knowledge of what the Bible says and means.
Or you may be here because you want some help engaging with the Bible and applying it to your life.
Still yet, you may visit our site because you want to be encouraged in your love for God and His Word.
These are all different motivations, or “Perspectives” as we call them, and our hope is that they help you if you’ve stopped by and you’re not sure what to read, but you do know what you hope to accomplish.
Next, let’s look at the Topic Index.
Our Topic Index
The Topic Index is pretty straightforward. When you visit the Topic Index, you’ll be able to find just the right resource to help you in your current life circumstance. Right now, Bible to Life has plans to publish resources in about 50 different topic areas—everything from Biblical Inerrancy to Sex to Mental Health.
Our Topic Index will grow and include an ever-increasing number of topics as the site matures. If you ever can’t find a resource on a particular topic, contact us here and we will start providing more resources in that area!
Our Scripture Index
Like the Topic Index, the Scripture Index is pretty simple. Want to find a resource on Genesis 2, click on Genesis, then select Chapter 2, and you’ll find everything we have on that chapter of the Bible. We will eventually have some a resource for every book of the Bible, and perhaps every chapter of the Bible! But that will take time.
Every resource is only tagged with one Scripture reference, and we try not to tag resources that only briefly mention a particular piece of Scripture. For this reason, not every resource on Bible to Life is tagged in the Scripture index.
For instance, “What Are the Ten Commandments,” is tagged as “Exodus 20” as that is where we see the list of the Ten Commandments in Scripture, but “What Is the Trinity” has no Scripture tag as it cites many verses and is not explaining one passage in particular.
Like with the Topic Index, we’re always open to requests, so please contact us here if you’d like to ask for a resource on a particular book or chapter of the Bible, and we will work on providing them!
Where Should You Go Now?
That’s Bible to Life and how it works! Hopefully it is a bit more clear now than it was when you first found this page. What should you do now, then? Good question. Here are a few options for you:
Check out our Questions resources that address some of the foundational questions of the Christian faith like, “What is the gospel?”, “How do I know if I’m saved?”, and more.
Find a topic that’s interesting to you and see if any resources may be helpful. Perhaps something on parenting, prayer, or mental health.
Visit our virtual bookshelf of all of the books we’ve cited as “For Further Reading” resources on the site. We like our books!
