Digital or Paper Bible for Devotions?
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00:00:05.000 | We're still addressing Josh's question about what Bible is better, a paper one or a digital one.
00:00:09.500 | And last time you made a case for caution when using digital Bibles in church,
00:00:13.500 | but also said it's an inevitable trend in the church as well.
00:00:16.500 | So what about in our personal devotional reading, what Bible is best, ink and paper or digital pixels?
00:00:22.500 | The main point I made last time when we were talking about digital reading of the Bible
00:00:28.000 | is that the Word of God is not identical with the ink and the paper,
00:00:32.500 | but the words themselves in their grammatical context.
00:00:35.000 | And therefore, it's not of the essence whether we read on paper or read on a screen.
00:00:41.000 | And what matters is that we read it, understand it, memorize it for our souls and for our ministry,
00:00:50.000 | that we love and worship the God it reveals and obey it.
00:00:55.000 | So here are the upsides to digital reading of the Bible in private.
00:01:03.000 | I didn't get to say anything about that.
00:01:05.000 | We talked about public use of it, but there are upsides and downsides to it.
00:01:12.000 | Here's some upsides.
00:01:14.000 | It's easy to have with you everywhere you go.
00:01:18.000 | This is wonderful, both for reading for our own souls and for review in memory work
00:01:24.000 | and for having it there to talk with anybody about the Bible.
00:01:28.000 | How many times in previous eras did we get into a conversation
00:01:33.000 | and wish we could just show them what we're trying to quote from the Bible?
00:01:39.000 | And now we can just reach in our pocket and do it.
00:01:41.000 | So that's one. Access is everywhere.
00:01:45.000 | Number two is it's easy to have several versions at your disposal,
00:01:51.000 | whether it's a Bible dictionary or a commentary.
00:01:54.000 | The U version is a stunning success all over the world.
00:01:58.000 | Logos Bible software is a bottomless ocean, it seems to me, of resources for the Bible.
00:02:04.000 | Olive Tree is really accessible for handheld devices.
00:02:10.000 | I have found I've done all my reading, my Bible reading, my devotional reading on an iPad
00:02:18.000 | for several years now, and it is wonderful to have the Greek right there
00:02:24.000 | with one button click away at the bottom of the screen.
00:02:28.000 | Hebrew is there. One tap away is a commentary from Calvin or from Jameson Fawcett Brown
00:02:36.000 | or quick insights from others.
00:02:39.000 | So the digital world has made the Bible more accessible and it has made helps easier to use.
00:02:47.000 | Those are some of the upsides.
00:02:49.000 | Here's some downsides.
00:02:52.000 | Maybe I should have put it in the benefit column.
00:02:57.000 | So far, I'm not sure.
00:03:00.000 | I want to see the highlighting passages and the underlining and the note taking
00:03:10.000 | with the digital Bible as more secure and more permanent.
00:03:14.000 | When I have a paper Bible in front of me, I can be underlining it, taking notes in the margin,
00:03:19.000 | and that Bible can go on a shelf and 40 years later, which is what I do with my King James Bible
00:03:26.000 | from when I was 15 years old, 50 years later, I can take that down and look what God was doing,
00:03:33.000 | what he was showing me, and I just have the sneaky suspicion that as I'm reading these digital Bibles,
00:03:38.000 | that's not happening.
00:03:40.000 | And what I would like to see, and maybe it exists and I just don't know about it,
00:03:44.000 | is a Bible reading software that takes that real seriously and says,
00:03:50.000 | "At the end of this year or at any given time, you may save this entire Bible,
00:03:55.000 | put it in a file, and have all your notes, all your underlining, all your highlighting there forever
00:04:01.000 | just like you left it, and now you go on to another Bible, or you can keep the same one,
00:04:07.000 | another version of that Bible the next year and see what God shows you that year."
00:04:12.000 | So a downside is the fear of lack of permanence in what you're marking and what you're underlining
00:04:20.000 | and what you're noting.
00:04:21.000 | And here's another one, distraction.
00:04:24.000 | I know this because I experience it every day.
00:04:27.000 | I'm tempted to quickly look at an email or a message or a blog right in the middle of my Bible reading
00:04:35.000 | and I must preach to myself sadly, "Hey, stop!
00:04:39.000 | Do you realize who you're talking to and who's talking to you right now?
00:04:45.000 | The God of the universe is speaking to you and you are listening to him.
00:04:50.000 | How do you think he feels about that?"
00:04:53.000 | And what I find is if I don't really work at this,
00:04:57.000 | Bible reading can take on a kind of mechanical feel or functional feel,
00:05:05.000 | and you're just jumping from thing to thing, in and out, instead of realizing,
00:05:10.000 | look, real change happens in the human soul when God Almighty shows up
00:05:17.000 | in his almighty authoritative word and works on you.
00:05:22.000 | And that's just diminished when we are jumping around looking at other things.
00:05:28.000 | That's a pretty serious downside.
00:05:31.000 | And if people can't overcome that, I would say it might be better not to even put yourself at risk in that regard.
00:05:38.000 | So, summing up, I think the digital revolution is inevitable
00:05:44.000 | and therefore is not mainly to be resisted, but managed with spiritual wisdom and discipline.
00:05:51.000 | And the main thing is, are we reading the Bible?
00:05:54.000 | Are we memorizing the Bible for our souls, for our ministry?
00:05:58.000 | Do we love the God of the Bible?
00:06:00.000 | Are we worshiping the God of the Bible as we read the Bible?
00:06:05.000 | Is he working on us, changing us, deepening us, sweetening us, tenderizing us, causing us to obey?
00:06:13.000 | Yes, excellent. Thank you, Pastor John.
00:06:16.000 | And the access we have to digital Bibles may change the way we think about Bible memorization.
00:06:21.000 | If I can search my Bible app for a verse, what good is the discipline of memorization?
00:06:25.000 | Let's talk about that next time, Pastor John.
00:06:27.000 | Until then, please email your own questions to us at AskPastorJohn@DesiringGod.org.
00:06:32.000 | I'm your host, Tony Reinke. We'll see you tomorrow.
00:06:34.000 | [end]
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