This past Sunday, I did something generally considered verboten in conservative evangelical circles.
I went to church without my Bible.
No, I haven’t cast aside the primacy of the Word in exchange for platitudes, and my reading of the Scriptures was no less than on any given Sunday. The only difference was that this time I did all my reading on my phone.
Reading the Bible on an electronic device is not a novel idea. Bible apps for the iPhone have been around since the device began, and before that, as far back as two decades ago electronic Bibles could occasionally be seen in the pews. But sightings of the Franklin Electronic Holy Bible were as rare as the taped eyeglasses, short-sleeved dress shirts, and pocket protectors worn by its users. And even today, at least in my circles, people overwhelmemingly use the traditional codex.
This wasn’t my first experience with using an iPhone or Blackberry-based application to read the Scriptures. I’m currently reading through the Bible daily using the Logos Bible app for the iPhone, and I’ve previously used my iPhone as a substitute text when in a pinch, like when carrying my kids precluded toting a leather bound Bible safely.
This time, I wanted to see what it was like to go all-in, and attend the Sunday morning service codex-free. My app of choice was Crossway’s new ESV iPhone app, which has a navigation system better suited to virtually “flipping” back and forth through the text than the Logos app, which has better readability but an awful navigation system.
I used it both for teaching in my Sunday School class, and for reading along during the worship service. Within such contexts, if felt odd, but that was mostly due to the “first time” factor. Here are a few observations:
- The temptation to check email, the internet, etc. wasn’t much of an issue, but the potential for distraction remains, and should not be ignored. I’ve actually heard of pastors asking people to text them questions during the sermon — something even a technophile like me can’t understand.
- A codex is still faster for navigating through the Bible. If you ever did Bible drills as a kid, and you’re at least somewhat familiar with your Bible, you’ll find the passage you’re looking for faster in a bound paper Bible nine times out of ten.
- I don’t usually write or take notes in my Bible, but this could be an issue for someone who does. The ESV app and others do allow you to take notes, but I can’t see how this would be quicker than pen & paper.
- The nagging feeling that people around you might think you’re checking your email rather than reading the text is, well — nagging.
Have I converted? No, not yet. I’ll have my codex with me this weekend, but I do see myself increasingly using PDA Bible apps. I do wonder, however: if the PDA bible isn’t more traditional than a bound book? After all, Jesus didn’t turn pages when he read the Scriptures, but, shall we say, scrolled.
What do you think? Will the days of Bible-thumping be succeeded by Bible-tapping?
March 25th, 2010 | 2:02 pm | #1
I love my ESV phone app, but I’m afraid of what people think of me….cuz my church does have wireless….mine is an iTouch. Abstain from all appearances from evil? Hmmmmm, but i love the ESV app!
March 25th, 2010 | 2:39 pm | #2
The ESV app is nice – there’s another one I saw on another blog that is apparently is in beta right now… http://wavestudybible.com
March 25th, 2010 | 3:25 pm | #3
A lot of sermonizers nowadays put all the scripture references on PowerPoint so people don’t have to look them up (saves time, I’m told).
It seems that this also trains people not to bring their Bibles to church, or even to bring their electronic devices.
March 25th, 2010 | 6:59 pm | #4
I seem to remember a Bible on CP/M, but it’s been a long time. (Long enough that most here don’t know what “CP/M” was, or stands for.) Needless to say, though many pastors had an Osborne I, few if any ever put one on the pulpit. (Not without structural reinforcement, that is.)
March 25th, 2010 | 7:19 pm | #5
I think the day is soon coming when this may be, but to date, I think a person who can use a physical Bible well can still navigate around the Scriptures more quickly than smart phone versions.
I love the Crossway ESV iPhone app. Very well done indeed.
March 25th, 2010 | 8:12 pm | #6
Paul,
Let me frame it this way: I’ve been in software development, professionally, for a little over 25 years. I was one of those whiz kids in the 80s. But today I still use paper and pencil, don’t own a PDA, and will maintain that mechanical means are faster and more reliable in 90% of situations.
(That’s also why I still shoot b&w film!)
March 25th, 2010 | 8:18 pm | #7
Wow, you are positively a Luddite.
: )
March 25th, 2010 | 8:20 pm | #8
I am a digital Luddite!
March 25th, 2010 | 8:23 pm | #9
I have a desktop iMac, a Mac PowerBook, an iPhone and more iPods than I care to admit, but…I still use an 8.5 x 11 Franklin Planner to keep my life organized. Go figure.
March 25th, 2010 | 11:05 pm | #10
My concern with the Bible app is with what’s lost in the electronic format.
No matter how user-friendly an electronic book is (with the ability to make notes in it, etc.) it is still fundamentally ephemeral. As such, the owner is really the user only, and can’t pass along the physical object to a friend, relative, etc.
I possess a small Bible that belonged to my great-grandfather. It is precious to me in a special way because I was not raised Christian, and as far as I know, my grandparents were not Christians either (or not in any way evident to me growing up). Having the Bible that my great-grandfather owned and used creates a connection for me with Christians in my own family – tenuous, yes, but real.
Second, I distrust the cultural trends that are reinforced by the use of electronic media. We already live in a culture that emphasizes alienation – a culture in which family members sit in different rooms in the same house, or friends next to each other, texting rather than talking, or viewing media in parallel but not together. Electronic media encourages a disconnect from the physical world. A Bible app does not have physical pages with ink on them; it cannot have the marks of fingerprints from live human beings on the pages, or creases or dents from the wear and tear of ordinary human life.
Our Lord did not just tell us information that would save us, but became flesh and dwelt among us. In the face of technology that pushes us away from incarnational encounters, I think we need to resist, and hold fast to the physicality of the material world, to the flesh and blood (and paper and ink) of it. Technology has its uses — I am sharing this thought on an online forum, after all! — but I think that in our current culture, we have to be even more focused on the Incarnation.
March 26th, 2010 | 7:52 am | #11
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March 26th, 2010 | 8:02 am | #12
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March 26th, 2010 | 8:10 am | #13
I can’t do without my “real” Bible yet. However, I have frequently used my iphone when the speaker was using a different translation. I agree with everyone else about the ESV app.
March 26th, 2010 | 8:27 am | #14
I have an ESV and NIV on my Kindle. I look up the bulletin online before the sermon and bookmark the passage(s) prior to the service – quickly flipping to a passage is almost impossible. My wife likes it – less annoying than the loud flipping of pages right next to her.
March 26th, 2010 | 9:28 am | #15
Hey, I’ve been using my Pocket Bible on my Windows Mobile computer and my Palm before that since Palm 1.0 days.
Yes, I could probably look things up faster if I was using paper and pencil, but I like the portability of it.
I’ve never been too concerned about what people think (or don’t think) of me, so the social stigma was never an issue, but I can tell you that most of the people in my church have finally gotten use to the fact that my phone IS my Bible… so much so that I could play a game or surf the Internet and people would assume I was looking at my Bible.
Most of the down sides of using digital were never an issue for me. I never wrote in my Bible and even though I memorized the order of the Books of the Bible YEARS ago, I’m still more consistently able to look up a verse on my phone than I am by hand.
Also, with my app, I’m able to search for a verse. This is really handy when you are thinking, “what’s that verse that says…?”. You can just search for it.
If you are a note taker, going digital probably isn’t for you. And there is a lot in my life that I still use paper and pencil for even though I’ve been a programmer for 22 years. But I genuinely prefer my Pocket Bible app over the paper version.
As for Holly’s comments, I get what she’s going after, but what could be more “separating” than how most of us “do church”… Seriously! We all sit in pews, or chairs all facing the front and for an hour to an hour and a half we “corporately” sing and listen to someone else. Very little requires use to interact. If you have a greeting time that last what? Maybe a minute if you stretch it out? And about 80% of the congregation makes a made rush for the door once we conclude.
Sorry, but holding onto traditional paper and pencil isn’t going to fix THIS problem even if it does allow me to pass my notes on to my grand kids some day.
March 26th, 2010 | 9:57 am | #16
Rev. McCain,
iCovet. I am too big a tight-wad to get the iPhone because I don’t want to pay for the internet on it. That would up my monthly price $60 a month because my wife would demand her equal rights. So, I just look at the iPhone and slobber. (But I am getting an iPad. w00t.)
All that to say there are definite advantages to bringing an electronic device to the service, and there are disadvantages as well. I think the trend will continue as books go more digital, and the technology will improve I’m sure. So, as a pastor, I have reconciled myself to get used to it. Also, on the off chance that I am horribly boring, at least someone can read their Bible and ignore me without drawing attention to themselves through flipping pages.
March 26th, 2010 | 10:12 am | #17
I actually like the loud sound of an entire congregation flipping the pages of Bibles. It lets me know they all brought their Bibles, at least, and are actually looking up what the minister is referencing.
March 26th, 2010 | 11:37 am | #18
I often use the ESV mobile version as a search engine alongside my Bible when we gather with the church but I am concerned that searching for what I want will make me lazy about studying on my own. That and I have flipped over to ESPN.com on occassion during a slow point in a talk.
March 26th, 2010 | 12:00 pm | #19
I see the advantages of being able to search for a passage and portability in electronic reading devices. Portability is big for us Anglicans, as a weekend away means packing at a minimum a Bible, Prayer Book, and Missal. They get heavy!
I, however, have a concern not yet raised – that electronic devices might get so wrapped up with corporate discipleship in a church that those who can’t afford or use them feel they can’t grow as disciples of Christ. Years ago we had ever bigger, ever fancier Bible covers and marking sets. Now, if all the “good” members of a Bible study or Sunday school class can look up passages in half a dozen translations as well as 3 different commentaries in a matter of seconds, how will that make those who only have the tattered, paperback NIVs they received as gifts the first time they visited the church feel? This all depends on how those using electronic devices go about it, but I know from experience we must carefully avoid giving the impression that the cost of discipleship is measured in dollars spent on “discipleship tools.”
March 26th, 2010 | 12:15 pm | #20
I love to take notes, underline and sometimes re read a previous note on that vs.
I am a commuter junkie, I use online bibles for daily use and searches.. bit for church I will stick to the codex
March 26th, 2010 | 3:41 pm | #21
I am another long-time PocketBible user (Palm, Windows Mobile and now iPhone) and I (and many other portable device reviewers agree with me) think that PocketBible is one of the best software Bible solutions on the market. PocketBible is developed by Laridian (http://www.laridian.com/).
You’re bookmarks, highlights, notes (yes, you can pass them down to your grandkids or whomever) will follow you between the multiple available portable device formats as well as Windows PCs.
Also, you only have to pay for any particular Bible translation, commentary, dictionary, encyclopedia, etc. once – no matter what all platforms you have the PocketBible reader running on. This means we can be better stewards, not having to pay for the same content many times when we decide to change platforms.
You can also purchase the ESV Study Bible (along with the ESV translation) from Laridian for your PocketBible reader software.
I love my PocketBible!
March 26th, 2010 | 8:49 pm | #22
Dave wrote:”As for Holly’s comments, I get what she’s going after, but what could be more “separating” than how most of us “do church”… Seriously! We all sit in pews, or chairs all facing the front and for an hour to an hour and a half we “corporately” sing and listen to someone else. Very little requires use to interact. If you have a greeting time that last what? Maybe a minute if you stretch it out? And about 80% of the congregation makes a made rush for the door once we conclude.”
That wasn’t my point at all. I’m not talking about separation between one individual and another, but between one individual and physical, corporeal reality. Electronic media is “virtual”: there is nothing there to touch or manipulate physically. It reduces interaction to sight and/or hearing only — two senses that do not require physical contact. By using electronic media more and more, we are drifting toward a type of interaction that is contact-free. It’s the same trend that leads to video broadcasts of a pastor instead of having the actual man in front of his actual congregation, the same thinking that leads to a text message filling in for an email filling in for a phone call filling in for an actual face-to-face meeting with another human being. It’s not the same.
We’re not just a bunch of souls that happen to be tied to bodies at the moment — but that’s how electronic media tends to make us think about ourselves, disconnecting us from the physical and over-emphasizing the mental/emotional.
Passing the peace in the middle of worship is far more than just a greeting. It is a sacramental act, an act of physically expressed reconciliation with one’s neighbor, an expression of our unity in the Body of Christ. It doesn’t matter that it only lasts half a minute. It carries a lot of meaning. Similarly, choosing to use a printed Bible or bulletin rather than an electronic one carries meaning as an act in itself, and it supports (or undercuts) particular ways of relating to the world. We should be mindful of the implications of technology, not just focused on how useful it might seem to be.
March 26th, 2010 | 10:37 pm | #23
I’m still looking for an app that does the read-through-the-Bible-in-a-year plans well.
Until reading your post, I’d tried several iPod apps with Bible content, but couldn’t find support for reading plans built in to any of them.
Logos has something, but I’ve got an iPod not an iPhone so it’s pretty useless to me unless it also works offline as that’s (which the Logos app doesn’t seem to handle well). I also haven’t figured out how to get it’s plan to assume that I’m not just starting reading but am partway through.
March 26th, 2010 | 11:14 pm | #24
About six months ago, I switched to using a lightweight Lenovo Thinkpad laptop as the only thing I take to church service.
I use BibleWorks 8 as my primary Bible software.
I take sermon notes.
And, when I’m teaching in the youth ministry, I plug my computer into the audio/visual system and display my notes on the screen.
The folks who sit around me in church service think my use of the computer during the service is neat and novel. One older lady calls me “the computer guy”.
While I’ve got Bible software on my iPhone, that is more for those daily walking around times when carrying the laptop is too much hassle.
March 26th, 2010 | 11:23 pm | #25
Not a good idea. All I can remember is the horror I felt for my poor pastor husband who thought it would be a GREAT idea to preach from his laptop-using the Bible program on his laptop too. Everything went great until the laptop went into hibernate…it was downhill from there.
March 28th, 2010 | 4:01 pm | #26
ESV is now electronic standard version (or Eastern Suburbs Version if you live in the evangelical anglican church heartland of eastern suburbs of sydney)
March 31st, 2010 | 12:34 am | #27
If your church venue has wifi then people really shouldn’t judge you for possibly using it…
I love the tech but love to have the Bible on paper… increasingly using it onscreen for preaching prep – just easier to have the Bible and Word open on screen… just the latest way of delivering communication…
Papyrus anyone?
April 2nd, 2010 | 7:51 pm | #28
The last time I spoke (I wouldn’t call it preaching, exactly) at my home church was in 2007, and I used my Palm TX to read the scriptures. I was flipping back and forth between the three synoptic accounts of the rich young ruler and Jesus.
I thought it was going fine … until afterward, when my then 13-year-old son that my clip-mike had picked up and amplified the electronic whine of the TX every time I held it up to read.
I’ll use my iPhone – IF I’m ever asked to speak again!
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