I was scrolling through my Google Reader the other day when I stumbled across this article:
iPad with Bible app saves the day at firefighters swearing-in ceremony
I immediately started reading. Here’s the basic story: someone forgot to bring a Bible to a ceremonial swearing-in of some newly promoted firefighters. Clearly, this wasn’t the end of the world, but my old-school, “raised on the KJV” mentality kicked in. Long story short, I was angry. For at least a day or two, I slowly fumed about this.
“An app isn’t the Word of God!” I kept saying to myself.
Then, it finally hit me, “What makes paper and ink holier than an LCD display?” The answer, of course, is nothing. Ink and paper simply have the advantage of having been around so long that we no longer see them as technologically controversial, but as I learned from John Dyer over a year ago, they most certainly are technology. We don’t see them as such because they were around when we were born—well before then, in fact. Technology that is existent in the mainstream of the society when we’re born becomes white noise, part of the background. Technology is what’s new. A few hundred years ago, what was “new” with the Bible wasn’t that it was written down but rather the language, English, that it was being written in. That change was not received well by the Church power structure, who had some of these rogue translators executed. Historically speaking, we Christians have a poor track record with regard to changes in how the Scripture is communicated.
Tonight, I spent an hour or so reading from my the leather-bound Bible I received for my high school graduation, which is something I haven’t done since I first got an iPhone in 2010. It was a nice change of pace from YouVersion, but not likely a permanent change. Of course, I’m not ready to write-off the printed page, especially where the Bible is concerned. However, I do think that we in the Church need to prepare for the day when printed Bibles are pulled out for special occasions only and apps rule the day. Obviously, swearing officers in on a Bible app, as opposed to a printed Bible, is more of a novelty story right now. (In fact, it was all accidental in the first place.) So, I don’t envision this being a growing trend, nor do I think that the printing of Bibles or any other books is on a downward spiral. And yet…
What if this world keeps on spinning for another hundred years?
I’m not yet thirty-years old, but in my lifetime, we’ve moved from the Lisa—the first computer with a GUI—to this past week where both Apple and Google, two of the biggest tech companies in the world, are developing “wearable computers.” When my two-year old reaches this point in her life, the e-reader/tablet trend will have accelerated to a point comparable with that of how the PC accelerated in my lifetime. When she sits down to read the Bible, will there even be a choice? I barely ever think about pulling out my Bible; will she ever think about doing the same? Personally, I can’t imagine that Bible printing will be that severely diminished in 27 years time, but I’m sure that no one would have foreseen the decline in so many other industries and technologies over my lifetime: arcades/video stores, home phones, and so-on.
I’ll most likely stick with YouVersion for my daily Bible reading, though I doubt that I use my iPhone to perform any major ceremonies. Though at some point, probably in my daughter’s lifetime, though maybe not in mine, when the majority of the world will interact with God’s Word through an app or an e-reader than through the printed page.
What do you think? Do you still read from a physical Bible or have your devotions gone digital?
[via TUAW]
ThatGuyKC says
Funny this should publish today. Just last night I picked up my Bible off the coffee table and wiped a layer of dust off the cover. Most of my scripture reading occurs digitally, but I like both and really hope the paper format never dies completely. There is something nostalgic and almost mysteriously romantic about a physical, tangible Bible.
Phil Schneider says
I completely agree.
Thanks for the comment!