Monsterlizard - Born Again

I have tried a few Bible message boards, but something doesn’t quite feel right with all the ones I tried.  They are usually really moderated (for good reason because there are people who would destroy their communities if not moderated).  The problem is, you cannot engage in discussion that goes against the doctrine of the the leaders of the board.

I have more and more issues taking someone else’s interpretation on Scripture as the only interpretation.  This is what the Roman Catholic Church did for centuries and I don’t think that was the intention of the Bible.  I think it is the Word of God for all.  I have searched for a place where it can be freely discussed (in a Christian manner) online and have not found it, so I decided to set out to build such a place.

I started looking for a web service that I could use to read and search the Bible.  The first place I found was the publishers of the English Standard Version (ESV) translation   I actually use the ESV on this blog to show verses for further study.  I was worried with their terms and conditions when it comes to the number of queries and use.

Then I found BibleWebService and it was just about perfect.  However, this is a service by an individual that could go down at any time.  But, this wonderful person made the source code open source.  I have since converted it to use MySQL instead of SQL Server and have started testing it.

My plan from here is to create a place that anyone can lookup and discuss the Bible.  They can talk about their interpretation and back it up with scripture.  Others can join in on the discussion and state their views.  My hope is that through free open discussion, light will be shown to all.