I can relate. I have three physical Bibles which have seen the wear and tear of years and use. It is indeed incredible how I distinctly remember not only when I first purchased them but what I was dealing with in my life and relationship with God. I don't know, but it seems that Bible Apps are becoming the norm among the younger church generation.
One future consequence of most Bibles being digital in the future is their content may be deemed "hate speech" or something that goes against the societal mores of the time. Microsoft has removed content in their cloud that was "immoral" and Amazon has removed material from individual's Kindles. Who can say cloud providers won't be more proactive in the future?
I definitely understand the appeal and rationale for physical Bibles. But for me, the ability to underline and write notes is exactly the reason why I use a Bible app (Olive Tree being my app of choice). So while it's true that I have to click to see the notes, I can write many more notes, categorize them by color and tags--not to mention see all these notes on my laptop, Kindle and phone. So the record of my thoughts is far more permanent and legible than if I had scribbled tiny words in the margin.
One day when I get to preach in church I want to begin by saying: “Please turn in your Bibles to Romans chapter 8. If your Bible is on your smart phone, please turn your phone on, stare into your phone to activate FaceID, or type in the passcode, swipe to the Bible app, click on it, acknowledge the pop up that appears, click on Bible search, click on Romans, then click on chapter 8. Or, you can just turn in your Bible to Romans chapter 8.” 😜
I was a unsaved teen in the 90s and can attest, the 90s were a hot mess. Many of our parents went to work early and stayed late and we were left to our own devices. This was probably especially true for lower middle class children.
In addition to "deliberate remembrance", I think there's a large missing piece here in the case for using physical Bibles: the channel (digital or physical) significantly influences our interactions with the content itself (the Bible, in both cases).
Not only in digital do we open ourselves up to being distracted by a call, text or other notification - but even if we silence all notifications - we've trained ourselves, through all of our daily interactions with our phones, that our phones are meant for quick, short, bursts of interactions. Not for slow, intentional reflection/consideration.
Obviously, it is very possible to engage with the Bible on our devices in slow, intentional ways. But I think most of us are pretty oblivious to how the channel itself affects the way we engage with content.
I can relate. I have three physical Bibles which have seen the wear and tear of years and use. It is indeed incredible how I distinctly remember not only when I first purchased them but what I was dealing with in my life and relationship with God. I don't know, but it seems that Bible Apps are becoming the norm among the younger church generation.
I use hard-cover rather than leather, but the point is the same.
One future consequence of most Bibles being digital in the future is their content may be deemed "hate speech" or something that goes against the societal mores of the time. Microsoft has removed content in their cloud that was "immoral" and Amazon has removed material from individual's Kindles. Who can say cloud providers won't be more proactive in the future?
After all, it's sharper than any two-edged sword.
I definitely understand the appeal and rationale for physical Bibles. But for me, the ability to underline and write notes is exactly the reason why I use a Bible app (Olive Tree being my app of choice). So while it's true that I have to click to see the notes, I can write many more notes, categorize them by color and tags--not to mention see all these notes on my laptop, Kindle and phone. So the record of my thoughts is far more permanent and legible than if I had scribbled tiny words in the margin.
One day when I get to preach in church I want to begin by saying: “Please turn in your Bibles to Romans chapter 8. If your Bible is on your smart phone, please turn your phone on, stare into your phone to activate FaceID, or type in the passcode, swipe to the Bible app, click on it, acknowledge the pop up that appears, click on Bible search, click on Romans, then click on chapter 8. Or, you can just turn in your Bible to Romans chapter 8.” 😜
I was a unsaved teen in the 90s and can attest, the 90s were a hot mess. Many of our parents went to work early and stayed late and we were left to our own devices. This was probably especially true for lower middle class children.
How many of us would be able to detect subtle revisions to our app-bibles?
In addition to "deliberate remembrance", I think there's a large missing piece here in the case for using physical Bibles: the channel (digital or physical) significantly influences our interactions with the content itself (the Bible, in both cases).
Not only in digital do we open ourselves up to being distracted by a call, text or other notification - but even if we silence all notifications - we've trained ourselves, through all of our daily interactions with our phones, that our phones are meant for quick, short, bursts of interactions. Not for slow, intentional reflection/consideration.
Obviously, it is very possible to engage with the Bible on our devices in slow, intentional ways. But I think most of us are pretty oblivious to how the channel itself affects the way we engage with content.