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'The Word Processor' a computerized Bible program

By TERESA H. ANDERSON

AUSTIN, Texas -- Two Texas men have combined the world's oldest bestseller with modern technology to develop a computer program that allows detailed analysis of the Scriptures at the touch of a keyboard.

Bert Brown and Kent Ochel were executives with the Intel computer company for several years before they formed Bible Research Systems and came up with the idea for 'The Word Processor.'

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Both religious men, the computer experts were searching for a way to marry their high-tech knowledge with their interest in studying the Bible.

'To use people's time efficiently in home Bible study is just what a computer is made for,' Brown said.

Bible Research Systems, which the two men operate out of a small office in Brown's hillside Austin home, since February has sold about 1,000 programs, retailing for $159.95.

But before sales could begin, Ochel and Brown had to quit their high-level jobs with Intel -- Ochel, 44, was president of the firm and Brown, 39, head of development -- to begin the tedious, expensive process of computerizing one of the world's best-read and lengthiest books.

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They located a computer tape that had been used to typeset the traditional King James version of the Bible for conventional book printing, and laboriously reduced its 4.5 million characters into a workable 1.8 million-character space to fit six tiny computer disks.

Once the text of the Scriptures was computerized, the men had to create a program that would allow an orderly method of indexing, storing and cross-referencing the information.

'It provides instant access to information about the Bible and is designed to remember what you study so you can refer back to it,' said Brown, who helped design the data base management system for NASA's Apollo series of moon rockets.

'For instance, if you're studying the subject of forgiveness, you can scan for all the verses in the Bible that are about forgiveness, then store that information.'

The program currently is available for Apple II-plus, Apple III, IBM-PC and Radio Shack TRS80-III computers, but the firm hopes to expand the program to 20 other home computers by next spring.

Most of the people who have purchased the Bible program use it for home study, although pastors, Sunday school teachers and Christian school libraries also have bought the system.

A survey found users 'very spread out,' Brown said. 'We have a high geographical concentration in California and Florida -- in California because of the high percentage of computer-type people there and Florida because of the number of retired people who have a lot of time to study the Bible.'

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Brown said he believed the computer program was of particular benefit to children.

'Children are attracted to a computer screen, the same attraction that draws them to a video game,' he said. 'You grow up with TV and are much more comfortable sitting in front of a tube.'

The company hopes to expand next year to offer a companion program that would help parents teach Christian moral values to their children. Other companion programs that would offer topical cross-references of the Bible also are in the works.

Although Bible Research Systems has paired age-old religion with ultra-modern technology, the firm's founders say computerization does not detract from the spirituality of the Bible.

'To me, the Bible is a handbook,' Brown said. 'God manufactures the equipment and the Bible is a handbook to tell you how the equipment works. The Bible is a working document. You should be able to get maximum use out of it.'

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