Tim Butterfield

In general I try to teach 2 OT books for every NT book in my Sunday School class.  (This quarter we are in Daniel, last Quarter we did James. Some of my students are trying to convince me to count James as an OT book).

There is great relevance in the OT, not merely as prophetic prologue to the NT, but also as proof that God's plan of Salvation was "in the works" from the beginning as well as the evidence and proof of God's faithfulness and provision to His people even when they were unfaithful to Him.  

The same people who see no profit in studying the OT also hate to study history, because it doesn't seem "relevant".  But without understanding history, we make the same old mistakes over and over.

If you study the ancient heresies you will see that they never went away, they just changes their names and the way they expressed themselves, but are as alive and infectious today as they were in history. The question of what constitutes heresy and why is a whole different can of worms.  ;-)

Tim

When I find a new site the first thing i look for is a "What we believe" statement to get a feel for their theology.  This one doesn't have one labeled as such, but it did have an "introduction" page.
http://www.mirrorwor...is/Introduction

This is what it says:

Jesus Christ is infinitely more than an historic Hero; He is both the mirror image of an invisible God, and at the same time the reflection and blueprint of every person's original design. His life, death and resurrection represent the human race, preserved and revealed in the most documented ancient record, and confirmed in our faith.

We believe that the church, ekklesia, is so much more than a building or an organisation. It is the voice of God that echoes in man and reveals man's true spiritual origin and identity (Greek, ek, a preposition denoting origin, and kaleo, urgent invitation, to give a name to, to receive the name of, to call or salute by name). Jesus introduces Simon, the son of Jonah to his true identity, a stone hewn out of the Rock; the son of man is the son of God. It is in this context that Jesus says he will build His ekklesia. Math.16:13, 16-18. Isa.51:1, Deut.32:18, 1Peter 2:5.

'And we all, with new understanding, see ourselves in Him as in a mirror; thus we are changed from an inferior mindset to the revealed opinion of our true Origin.'
2 Corinthians 3:18 - Mirror Translation

and an "About us" section that starts out with the same thing, then expands upon it.

I teach an adult level Sunday School class, and do it the hard way.  I write the lesson plan myself. Text to be studied, about a dozen questions to aid in studying the text and two pages of expository commentary covering the the text.  First I write my own exposition, then I read several commentaries (about 20 pages for every one I write).  Some times a commentary says what I want to say better than I expressed it, sometimes it reminds me (or shows me) of something I wanted to say but didn't.....and finally to make sure that I am not off on some theological limb.

I have some over all favorites, (J. Vernon McGee for one) the commentary I like best depends upon the scripture I am studying, some seem better for OT ...others for NT...some for prophecy...others for history and so on.

The thing to remember about commentaries is that they  are not inspired as the Bible is, but the efforts of Biblical scholars to help their their readers understand the precepts of the scriptures.  (I make no claim of scholarship on my own part, I have no formal theological education, but it is the reason I include commentary in my Sunday School class lessons because I hope it will aid my class in understanding the scriptures and expressing their understanding during the discussion.  At least they are have begun to take a more active part in class discussion since I started including commentary.)

Ok.  That clarifies it.  I will delete my copy of the College Press NIV Commentary.

How do I reference commentaries and dictionaries from e-Sword?

If you mean how do you include information about commentary or dictionary when you use it as a reference you can generally find that information by opening the resource, clicking on the menu at the top of the e-sword screen (File Edit Format and so on) select Commentary or  Dictionary or what ever  then select  information.

The material in the pop up often has citation information included.
"Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960,1962,1963,1968,1971,1972,1973,1975,1977,1995 by The Lockman Foundation.  Used by permission."

If not, it at least has the name author and such of the work.

Examples:
Vincent's Word Studies Marvin R. Vincent, D.D.

BELIEVER'S BIBLE COMMENTARY WILLIAM MACDONALD
Edited by Arthur Farstad THOMAS NELSON PUBLISHERS
Nashville Copyright 1995, 1992, 1990, 1989 by William McDonald. All rights reserved.

Obviously some (generally the commercial modules) are more complete.

I highlight the pertinent info, hit control C (to copy) then paste it in as the reference citation. (sometimes editing is need to get it into a proper font, format, and so on)

That is how I do it...there might be a better more official way, if so I am certain that someone here will know it.

Since (in theory at least) the electronic version is the same as the print version I don't generally include that as part of the citation unless it is included in the pop up "PERMISSION TO QUOTE" section (if any).