How to do this in Logos?

Periodically I have a topic/subject I would like to see the best fits in how scripture supports it. I guess in a way this is like the old fuzzy search; topic search, clause search still do not help in this area although they do help in some things that fuzzy search was good at.

Example: today I was trying to find some relevant scripture to "unanswered prayer". Unless I am missing something Logos; topic/go, clause, regular search really don't find this for me. I go to

http://www.openbible.info/topics/unanswered_prayer

More times than not, on this site I find exactly what I am looking for.

Can this be done in Logos? If not I wish they would add it. It's sad to have all this power in Logos, yet the simplest search it seems I do, Logos can't handle.

Thanks!

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Dan Francis

Well in Logos Verbum the is catholic topics which is similar but i don't remember... Nelson's Topical Bible might be a resource for you to look into..

Nelson's Topical Bible Index

The MacArthur Topical Bible (MTB) is one I do not own but sounds good.

New Nave's Topical Bible 2.0

New Topical Textbook by R. A. Torrey

Brother Mark

Don, I got great result with a simple Basic search on All Text in All Resources on "unanswered prayer". In my library it returned 152 results in 122 articles in 91 resources. Viewing the "Ranked" preview of results, I see many scripture references (some within commentaries, and others from my English Bibles).

--Bro. Mark

Dave Hooton

Periodically I have a topic/subject I would like to see the best fits in how scripture supports it. I guess in a way this is like the old fuzzy search; topic search, clause search still do not help in this area although they do help in some things that fuzzy search was good at.

Example: today I was trying to find some relevant scripture to "unanswered prayer". Unless I am missing something Logos; topic/go, clause, regular search really don't find this for me

If it doesn't come up in Topic Guide then the Basic Search for "unanswered prayer" (with quotes) is your best alternative. I get useful results from 66 resources. Clause Search is not designed for this.

Rosie Perera

http://www.openbible.info/topics/unanswered_prayer

Hey, thanks for mentioning OpenBible. I checked it out and there's some really cool stuff there. It would be great if Logos could incorporate some of it. Especially the pericope browser, topical bible, and bible word locator.

Rosie Perera

I would also do a Basic Search on "prayer, unanswered" as it comes up with some other interesting hits. Here are a couple from my Library:

From The New Encyclopedia of Christian Quotations:

From More Perfect Illustrations: For Every Topic and Occasion:

(Note that the comma is ignored as Logos ignores all punctuation in searches.)

Keep Smiling 4 Jesus :)

Example: today I was trying to find some relevant scripture to "unanswered prayer". Unless I am missing something Logos; topic/go, clause, regular search really don't find this for me.

Basic search of a collection with Prayer & Praise finds a number of results:

Note: If join Faithlife group Logos Collections, can freely copy Collections by clicking Get Copy to the right of the desired document name (e.g. Prayer & Praise) followed by synchronizing Logos. Alternative is Select All then Action => Get Copies

Keep Smiling [:)]

Don Awalt

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/553951#Comment_553951

Thanks for all the suggestions, but just to reaffirm my original point, while Logos is excellent for finding results in resources, to find relevant SCRIPTURE for something like "unanswered prayer", it is nowhere close to the best resource to use.

I did try "unanswered prayer" NEAR <Matt-Rev>. This actually was the closest to finding legit scripture verses I could use, but (1) it only used "unanswered prayer" and not unanswered and prayer together in other combinations, and (2) adding more complexity and options to the query it probably not viable since it took THREE HOURS to process this search!

Obviously, bible.org is a much better choice right now - Logos certainly has the ability to change that for us.

Rosie Perera

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/553973#Comment_553973

Obviously, bible.org is a much better choice right now - Logos certainly has the ability to change that for us.

Note that openbible.info (which is the one you mentioned above and I'm guessing that's what you meant here too) is a crowdsourced site. That means the topical lists in it have been collected by users submitting verses they think should be in the list. Logos could/should do something like that, but for now we're limited to finding such topical lists that others have curated (which can be found in topical guides such as Dictionary of Bible Themes, New Nave's Topical Bible, and the like) or attempting a machine search which is not necessarily going to find everything. There are instances of unanswered prayer in the Bible that do not even mention either of the keywords "unanswered" or "prayer" but yet a human would realize they have something to do with unanswered prayer. For example Ps 88:13-14: "But I cry to you for help, Lord; in the morning my prayer comes before you. Why, Lord, do you reject me and hide your face from me?"

Here's another set of "unanswered prayer" passages which couldn't possibly be found by a machine search (these are listed in An Analytical Concordance to the Holy Scriptures; or, The Bible Presented under Distinct and Classified Heads or Topics by John Eadie)

Here are some Scripture references on reasons for unanswered prayer from Dictionary of Bible Themes:

And here are a couple of references to unanswered prayer to idols from New Nave's Topical Bible:

If topics.logos.com were exposed and editable via the Logos UI, then this is the sort of list of verses on a particular topic that could be curated by the Logos hive. As it is now, there isn't even a reading list on Prayer at all! The page exists, but it's completely blank: http://topics.logos.com/Prayer.

RyanB

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/553977#Comment_553977

Hi Don,

Using the "unanswered prayer" basic search query and then sorting by "ranked" the first result I got was from Grudem's systematic theology. In his article about unanswered prayer there are a number of verses he uses. While not a permanent solution for every case, perhaps that would help in your current situation?

Ryan

Don Awalt

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/554002#Comment_554002

Thanks, Ryan.