XV, The Bible in 15: App Review

Discover the big picture & glorious detail of the Bible in 15 mins a day.

Understanding the big picture

One of the problems people have when they first approach the Bible is they don't really understand the 'big picture'. Some people think the Bible contains ancient secrets for healthy living, others think it has lots of old stories about whales and rainbows, and still others think there's 2 Gods - an angry one at the beginning, and a nice forgiving one at the end.

So, when you tell people that actually the Bible is really one big story from start to finish, they sometimes look a bit surprised. At the same time, it can be hard to pick up this 'big picture' first time, by simply opening the Bible at Genesis & reading all the way to Revelation (not that we're discouraging that).

This is where the new app from Australia's Mathhias Media might just come in handy.

The team at Mathhias describe XV (that's Roman numerals by the way, which your school teachers should have told you about by now) as "helping you do two things: zoom out and see the magnificence of the ‘big picture’ of the Bible’s story, and then zoom in to focus on the life-changing detail."

God is in the zoom

The app includes an introductory overview of the story of the Bible in 15 stages, from creation through to new creation. This gives you a grounding of God's masterplan for his creation, showing how He created the world in perfection, why things have gone wrong, what Jesus has done to remedy the situaion, and what God's promises are for the future.

After you've got your head around that 'zoomed out' view of the Bible, the app zooms in again, and gives you specific Bible passages to read for 15 minutes a day, covering various Biblical events and major themes.

Alongside the Bible passages are questions to help you understand the passage, things to think through, and prayer ideas.

It is the app creator's intention that "each of these readings will help you get to know God better, and add to your zoomed-out overview of the Bible’s story".

You can choose where you go & if you want to zoom back out again to remind yourself of the big picture, that's always available.

Why you should get this

Here's a few reasons you shoud consider getting this app for yourself:

You will get a very good grounding of the 'overview' of the Bible. This is not just helpful for yourself, but could be a great help when explaining the message of the Bible to others
It makes it easy to learn a lot. This is not like sitting listening to a lecture - it's interactive, enjoyable, and you start learning before you even realise.
It could get you into a habit. Not used to spending 15 minutes a day reading the Bible? This app could be just thing to get you started.
It's free. No brainer really.

You can find out more, and download the app for your iOS device at http://www.matthiasmedia.com/bibleoverview