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The Electronic Bible


irishman

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The "tactile feel" may be important to some, but certainly not all. An ever growing number of our population has grown up reading and writing electronically more than with paper and ink. For many of these, the electronic devices they use feel more at home to them than a physical book. Just as a scroll would feel odd to me, a physical book feels odd to them. While a Bible in book form in my hands feels best to me, for others the Bible on their electronic device is closest to their heart.

 

When it comes down to it, whether one uses scrolls, books or electronic devices, it's more a matter of preference and availability than it is a anything else. One or the other isn't put forth in Scripture as better or the best.

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I guess I'm not making myself clear, here - I'm not discounting the purity of Scripture in scroll, bound, or electronic format (as long as it's KJV or from the Antiochian tradition).

 

What I'm saying is that there's a built-in disconnect between a viewer and a screen that's been studied and documented, and that I believe God designed us to respond to His Word in all 3 parts of our being - body, mind, and spirit - and that does not exclude holding it in our hands.Tha

 

That said, it is certainly possible, even common, for most people in the church age to respond just fine to the Word as it is read pr preached, even if they cannot read or write.

 

All I'm saying is that there is an added dimension that can be found by including all 3 parts of my being when reading the Word of God, and that includes, and is amplified by, holding it in my hands.

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All the folks I know who use an electronic device for their Bible are holding it in their hands, their hands are required to "turn" the pages or go to another book of the Bible; and some are able to add notes.

 

That would be totally uncomfortable to me as I'm not used to such and I certainly didn't grow up with such. Yet for many folks this is far more natural for them than using an actual book.

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Again, I'm somehow getting you to understand what I am getting at -

 

Holding a piece of plastic in your hand and sliding your finger across the screen is not the same as holding a Bible in your hand and feeling the pages with your fingers, writing on those pages notes and definitions of words, and the musculature of your hands becoming so familiar with the feel of it, the turn of it, the location of the passages in it, that it becomes an extension of your physcial, mental, and spiritual being.

 

Again, I am not discounting the efficacy of the other formats - I'm just trying to make a point clear that I believe there's a connection that is deeper than may be realized with a Bible in your hand that is well used and a piece of plastic in those same hands - however well used - there's a disconnect there that isn't present otherwise.

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Now don't get me wrong here - I actually agree that a paper and ink book is a better way - BUT any study that would prove your point is necessarily flawed for the simple reason that Tablet 'books' have only been around in popular use for about 4 years. (Rough guess).
That means that the people involved in such studies grew up with traditional reading in the vast majority.
Any study as to retention of information will therefore be based on people who for the majority of their learning have used paper resources or hardstand PC's.

I would guess that 15 years in the future, the same study will yield a different result, due to the fact that the people involved in the study would have grown up with tablet style reading, and therefore it is more comfortable and familiar to them.

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Well, not necessarily - the studies I have seen and heard about go back about 20-25 years, all the way to the early PC days. They show that people who spend great amounts of time in their growing up years with a video screen as, perhaps, their closest companion to become detached as adults, unable to easily interact with others in real life. Further, they have trouble with general interpersonal relationships, and can also tend to be dysfunctional in other areas.

 

Of course, we've known this about TV, in a lesser sense, for 50 years.

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Good for you, brother, but you must realize that you are an exception - most people don't work at it like you do, even with a printed Bible in their hand.

 

Yes, it really all depends on our motivaiton, but, I believe, having it in your hands helps more than having a piece of plastic in the hands of the average church members does.

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soon there will be a screen at each seat in the pews where the Bible verse the pastor is using will appear along with his outline and his cross references.

 

This is all part of the Falling Away, people get dumbed down by this sort of activity.  while I see no problem with using these things as tools I don't think we should rely on them.  what if they stop working?  Many don't know where to look then.  One church I attended the past had the same bibles in the pews and so he would just call out the page number to turn too. and not the book and chapter.

 

We are becoming ePeople, depending on electronic devices to help us so we are ignorant without them.

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soon there will be a screen at each seat in the pews where the Bible verse the pastor is using will appear along with his outline and his cross references.

 

This is all part of the Falling Away, people get dumbed down by this sort of activity.  while I see no problem with using these things as tools I don't think we should rely on them.  what if they stop working?  Many don't know where to look then.  One church I attended the past had the same bibles in the pews and so he would just call out the page number to turn too. and not the book and chapter.

 

We are becoming ePeople, depending on electronic devices to help us so we are ignorant without them.

Using Electronic Bibles really isn't part of the Falling Away and the users of these electronic Bibles are not being "dumbed down" by using  them.  My husband (SFIC) uses his iPad at church because it is easier for him to read, due to his poor eyesight (he is legally blind).  He even has the hymnal downloaded to his iPad because the print in the hymnal is too small.  Those overhead screens are also hard to see...and I don't care for them either. 

 

Using an iPad at church and for Bible study doesn't mean we depend on these devices and we (I'm speaking for me and my husband) don't become ignorant w/o them.  We weren't ignorant before these devices came along and we won't be ignorant if they break down or someone steals them.  We know how to open a Bible and find what we want.  A good Bible software program (we use SwordSearcher) is a great tool...and it sure helps if you have limited bookshelf space.

 

BTW, speaking of becoming ePeople, would you not call yourself an "e" person?  If I'm not mistaken, you are sitting at a computer keyboard in front of a computer screen typing your posts on this forum....are you not?

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