Do we lose something important by using a Bible app?

By on June 14, 2012 in Christianity, Pop Culture

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I’m not against technology. I may be a little late coming around, but I generally embrace it. Which is why I have an iPhone, and on that iPhone I have a Bible app.

It’s convenient when I forget my Bible or just need to look up a verse quickly, but in general I prefer holding my Bible. I’m not against people who don’t. That’s just me. I still have a monthly planner in my purse and take notes in a real live notebook.

But I know plenty of people who would rather just use the Bible app on their phone or iPad than carry a Bible to and fro.

So here’s what I’ve been thinking about lately: aside from the common cry of the anti-app crowd (wanting to hold it in your hands, write in it, feel it) I think there might also be another thing that’s lost with the app version of the Bible, and here’s why:

It has a search function.

I mean, it’d be weird if it didn’t. You’d waste half your life scrolling through thousands of iPhone-sized pages to get to 1 Thessalonians.

But because of this feature, we never have to know where anything actually is in the Bible.

I only came to this realization a couple weeks ago. It may seem obvious, but I didn’t make the connection that because I can use the search function, I never have to recall where any verse or chapter or book is in relation to any other verse or chapter or book.

This realization has stuck with me for a few days, and left me with a question:

Is there something important lost by having a searchable Bible?

I don’t have an answer; I’m asking.

It’s probably not as much an issue for us because we grew up learning the books of the Bible. When we search for Romans, we know we’re in the New Testament, after the gospels and Acts (Most of the time. If we sing that song we learned in 4th grade sunday school real quick in our head.).

But will the Bible eventually be primarily used in an electronic format, so that future generations don’t have to sing “Matthew, Mark and Luke and John, Acts and the letter to the Ro-mans…” over & over again to win stickers in Sunday School? (Will stickers even EXIST? I don’t want to think about a world where stickers don’t exist. Let’s not follow that rabbit trail any further.)

I think that’s a real possibility. (The electronic Bible thing, not the sticker thing. Hopefully.)

But I just don’t know if that’s a huge detriment or just part of adapting to the digital world. Is a general knowledge of Old vs. New Testament all we need?

I would think the most glaring problem would come with the chronology of the Old Testament stories. If we don’t know if Moses came before David, how will we understand the significance of Jesus?

Or should we just teach the order of the books of the Bible in Sunday School and church to form the foundation, but continue to use the electronic format in practice?

Would that approach still produce a sufficient knowledge of the grander story of the Bible? Or would we lose something in the process?

Again, I’m asking. I genuinely want to know what you think.

I’m leaning towards “yes, there is something lost in the ‘search’ function and we should fight to preserve the real-life book,” but that may just be my late-adopter still-uses-a-pen quality talking.

What do you think? Is knowing the order of the books and where verses are located within the context of the Bible important enough to outweigh the convenience of a Bible app?

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  • http://craigmcclellan.com/ Craig McClellan

    I thought I’d share my thoughts as someone who uses a digital Bible far more than Bible Classic. There are so many different arguments for and against a Bible app that I’ll just stick with answering your question at the end of the post.

    Bibles have always had a search function, the concordance. Not literally always, but it’s been there for a long time. That’s how I see the search function on my Bible app. It’s a really fast and powerful concordance. Which that’s a good thing to me. Though my knowledge of where things are in the Bible has grown a lot over the last several years, it’s still far from perfect. So when I look something up, I try to remember where it is so that in the future I don’t have to.

    So I think it all boils down to your heart. Is it possible the search function can make you lazy? Of course. However, if you understand the value of the Word of God, an app can be a powerful tool in your study.

  • http://unknownjim.com/ Jim Woods

    Many older versions had the tabbed pages so you could find things easily, so I don’t think the search function is the issue.

    I think the REAL issue is your email, Twitter and Facebook are right there, so when you get distracted for a second it’s almost impossible not to go over there when you should be following the sermon in the Bible or even reading the Bible. At least that’s in my own personal experience ;)

    • http://lauramcclellan.com Laura McClellan

      That’s fair. But at least in that case you have the visual representation of the books in order, so you know where you are in relation to everything else. You know you’re in the middle of the book or the end…you know? Also you can see the tabs in order and you get used to knowing where things are.

      I think when you isolate certain passages by just searching “Romans 5″ you just see Romans 5, so if you’d never had a paper Bible you wouldn’t have as much of a handle on where you were in relation to the rest of the books. But you would even if you had a tabbed Bible. does that make sense?

      Just my thoughts, here. I haven’t reached a conclusive argument. :) thanks for commenting, Jim!

      • http://unknownjim.com/ Jim Woods

        That absolutely makes sense. I guess my thought is the Bible isn’t necessarily in chronological order anyways. For example, the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are just different accounts of many of the same things.

        • http://lauramcclellan.com Laura McClellan

          Yeah, I think that would be more of an issue for the Old Testament chronologically. But could you also argue that God ordained the books of the Bible to be in a certain order for a reason? I don’t know the answer to that, but it’s just a thought I’m wrestling with.

          • http://unknownjim.com/ Jim Woods

            Wow, that’s deep. Not sure about that. I think you are probably on to something there though.

            I recently saw Donald Miller speak and he kind of ranted a little about how the current Bible is wrong and Job should be moved toward the beginning of the Bible. (Was he right or wrong? I’m not sure!)

            This is a great conversation though. It would be great to learn more about this and speak to someone who knows about this area.

          • http://lauramcclellan.com Laura McClellan

            Totally. I have no academic/theological backing for my thoughts on this–just what I’m thinking!

  • Auntie Jen

    Hey Laura…

    This is a great article….when I read the title, I actually didn’t expect the topic of the search function to be the main drawback of the e-Bible. But I totally agree that it can (but not definitely) “dumb us down” and make us lazy.

    Maybe because we are in the ministry we appreciate this other reason more – but when Glen asks the congregation to turn to such and such a verse – there really is nothing like the sound of hundreds of people flipping through their Bibles. :-) and we emphasize that they DO bring their Bibles to church and mark them up and USE them and give them one to use if they forgot theirs. (I guess you did sort of allude to this in referring to the holding it part)

    Is there also the aspect that people can “hide” the fact that they are reading their Bible (on the bus, on their lunch break, in any public place)? I thought of this recently when I downloaded a Bible for my Kindle to take on vacation so I didn’t have to LUG my huge wide margin Bible to Maui and back. Hmmm..I can sit on the beach or on the plane and read my Bible and no one will look at me strange because for all they know I am reading the Hunger Games. I didn’t like that. Reading our Bible in public is one aspect of sharing who were are – it opens conversations with people whom you may have not talked to otherwise, gives you great opportunities to share your faith.

    So, although I agree that an e-Bible has its place (like I said, I have a couple on my devices) – it should never replace your real Bible that you hold in your hand and flip through and pour over and love.

    Thanks for writing this! Great food for thought!

    Love you! ♥

    • http://lauramcclellan.com Laura McClellan

      All good points! I agree. I think e-Bibles are not a bad thing at all. I’m sure I’ll still use my Bible app, and I have a Kindle so I may do the same as you sometime. But I agree that it probably shouldn’t replace your physical Bible altogether.

      Once again, I’m a paper notebook kind of person, so I prefer that anyway. :) Thanks for your thoughts!

  • http://twitter.com/amympayne Amy Payne

    I won’t live in a world with no stickers.

    • http://lauramcclellan.com Laura McClellan

      AGREED.