I enjoy reading the Christian Communicators Worldwide blog. They recently posted an article entitled 3 Reasons to Prefer a Paper Bible Over a Digital Bible at a Church Meeting. I completely overlooked the “at a church meeting” part of the title and dove straight into the article. As I read through the three reasons, each one hit a nerve. It seemed like the author got it wrong. Look at these 3 reasons why using a digital Bible study app can serve Bible students better than paper Bibles. This is true whether students take a digital Bible study app on a phone or tablet to church or a coffee shop.
Since the CCW article by Steve Burchett, who serves as the assistant to the president of CCW, focused on Bibles for a church meeting, I thought I’d need to refocus my response. However, I think the reasons to prefer a digital Bible don’t change regardless of where one reads and studies it.
Context and Content of a Verse are More Easily Observed in a Paper Bible Over a Digital Bible Study App
Understanding context in digital Bibles can be complex if one does not use the right digital Bible study app. It also requires understanding the app’s features. I wouldn’t recommend the simple YouVersion Bible app for this. Logos and Olive Tree offer great tools in an outstanding digital Bible study app that runs on almost any platform.
The Logos Bible app has a recent tool for every passage called Insights. Tap the little button with a light bulb icon, and a new window opens next to your passage. It shows several reference works and links to many more, like the Logos Factbook. You can also find a few guides with more research, a tool that summarizes the passage. This often adds context and meaning, and more.
Ai Search in Logos Proves Invaluable to Digital Bible Study App Users
In addition to the tools, you could open an AI-powered search to examine your library. This search finds answers to essential questions in regular English. You can open Smart Search from the Insights menu or the More button on the tab.
The author also said, “Even the content of a single passage can be more difficult to observe on a Bible app, especially if the passage is large.” That’s a possible issue, but reducing the font can help. Sometimes, you can show more text on screen with a digital app on a large 13-inch iPad.
Getting more text on screen might be true with a paper Bible. However, that one benefit doesn’t eliminate the long list of powerful benefits of a high-end Bible study app like Logos.
Digital Bibles Distract in Ways Paper Bibles Do Not
We’ve heard this before – phones or tablets distract users because they run email, messaging apps, social media, or even games. However, pulling out a paper copy of God’s word doesn’t eliminate the distraction of a phone or tablet. I’ve seen plenty of people pull out their phones while the preacher’s reading his text, whether they’re using a device to follow along or a paper Bible. I’ve also seen many church service attendees stay in their Bible app and not let the device’s other features distract them.
The author’s argument focuses on discipline more than media format. If you’re easily distracted by a phone, you will likely get distracted by that phone regardless of how you read the Bible. Working on a phone or tablet might make it easier for you to get distracted. However, it would help to try to overcome this problem eventually.
How can you stop this distraction? Turn off notifications using the iPhone Focus mode or the Android Focus mode.
On my iPhone and Apple Watch, I turn on Focus mode with my watch. I press the side button, tap on the moon icon, choose Do Not Disturb, and choose one of my focus durations. Usually, I choose On until I leave.
Users must focus on the Bible on their device or a book on their lap. Doing so becomes difficult unless you use a tool for focus. I use a note-taking app for this purpose.
On my iPad, I open the Logos Bible app on the left side of the screen and the Notability app on the right. The latter lets me take handwritten notes with my Apple Pencil. Using this pairing, I focus on the speaker’s teaching far better than I would with a physical paper Bible. A paper Bible doesn’t have enough space in the margins. I’d need a separate notebook, which can get awkward unless you sit at a table.
A Paper Bible Can Become Precious to You
I will almost concede this point. When someone uses the same paper Bible for decades, it becomes precious to the owner and his family after they’re gone. As a pastor, I’ve often experienced this as a family planned a funeral. The survivors ask me to read from Momma’s Bible. Or they want to read from it during the service.
My family won’t be able to center their memories on my Bible, since I spend most of the time taking digital notes in Notability. Or I attach passages in Logos. Or will they?
Just because I choose to use a digital Bible in church doesn’t mean I don’t use a paper Bible. I keep notes in my physical printed Bible when I read devotionally. I keep my iPad or iPhone nearby to look something up. Not only that, but I also add notes to Logos. I also mark up physical Bibles, and my family could cherish the notes in both Bibles.
I own other objects that will fulfill this physical memorial. People don’t just use their deceased family members’ Bibles in an end-of-life situation.