Bring Your Bible To Church or Smartphone/Tablet?

[Manuel]

I hate all that techie stuff and I read from a scroll. Of course I have to have each book on a separate scroll otherwise the scroll would be to heavy for me; and I have to take a grocery store cart to church with all my scrolls in it (I wish the pastor would stick to just one book or maybe two).

No, seriously now, I read from an electronic device. I have been doing it since the days of the PDA (nothing like the good ol' eSword on the Axim x51v, which I still keep). I have now turned to the tablet because it's larger and has touchflow technology that the PDA didn't have.

 

[Sensus Divinitas]

I rarely see anyone in our congregation using electronic devices. It would fine if people did but it's just not that common. Personally, I really prefer using a printed Bible during church services. At home, I use electronic Bibles quite often since it is so easy to look up passages, cross references, commentaries, original languages, etc. using Accordance.

 

[Solparvus]

I use my smartphone instead of a physical Bible. It's helpful when I'm trying to take notes. Balancing your notebook and your Bible on your lap gets clumsy.

Tell me about it. Especially when your feet don't reach the floor.

I've never had this problem in church. How high are your pews?

I use my smartphone instead of a physical Bible. It's helpful when I'm trying to take notes. Balancing your notebook and your Bible on your lap gets clumsy.

I take a beanbag tray to church to allow me to have somewhere to balance my bibles and take notes. It's an IKEA Brada a less colourful version of it's B&W successor. (Ikea Byllan Laptop Cushion Black and White NEW | eBay)

I'd be very brave to show up to church with that.

 

[Solparvus]

I rarely see anyone in our congregation using electronic devices. It would fine if people did but it's just not that common. Personally, I really prefer using a printed Bible during church services. At home, I use electronic Bibles quite often since it is so easy to look up passages, cross references, commentaries, original languages, etc. using Accordance.

On days like today I slip back into looking at a physical bible, for some reason.

A friend of mine who is fluent in Puritan works finds it much faster to flip through a Bible app than his physical Bible. If someone quotes an author during the sermon with whom he is very familiar he can very quickly look up the quote. I imagine during the Sunday School hour that this is very useful!

 

[Unoriginalname]

I almost always use my android to read the bible except for church. Since I am younger I do not want to give the impression that I am texting or surfing so the Lord's day is the one day of the week I bring a printed bible with me.

 

[Mindaboo]

I've never had this problem in church. How high are your pews?

We use chairs, and I'm only 4'11". I have a stool that I use to prop my feet on. I have yet to find a pew or chair where my feet don't dangle.

 

[reaganmarsh]

I have yet to find a pew or chair where my feet don't dangle.

I have yet to find a pew where my knees don't smack the hymnal rack (I'm 6'2")! Just teasing; I couldn't resist.



To the OP: I carry a physical Bible with me every Sunday and preach from a printed or handwritten manuscript. I guess I'm old-school. I really enjoy the And Bible app on my Kindle but don't think I'd be comfortable carrying only the Kindle to church. We have a couple of people who bring their tablets and a couple more who use their phones (my wife often uses her phone), and it usually doesn't bother me. Just my $0.02.

 

[reaganmarsh]

Slightly off topic but relevant to the discussion: at our monthly Baptist Association ministers meetings, I am usually the only guy (out of the 20 or so who attend) who brings a physical Bible. Everyone else uses their smartphones.

 

[Scottish Lass]

I've never had this problem in church. How high are your pews?

We use chairs, and I'm only 4'11". I have a stool that I use to prop my feet on. I have yet to find a pew or chair where my feet don't dangle.

Yup. At 5'1", mine touch in our pews if I sit forward a bit, but not if I sit with my back fully against the pew.

 

[Jack K]

Continuing to sidetrack... at 6'3", my knees also bump the hymnal rack and I don't have room to cross my legs.

My church provides footrests, though, for short people. You can pick one up in the back as you enter and carry it with you to your pew. Set it on the floor for your feet. Quite popular.

 

[ProtestantBankie]

Continuing to sidetrack... at 6'3", my knees also bump the hymnal rack and I don't have room to cross my legs.

My church provides footrests, though, for short people. You can pick one up in the back as you enter and carry it with you to your pew. Set it on the floor for your feet. Quite popular.

I stand at a minuscule 6'1"

 

[jogri17]

I prefer electronic (I always put mine in airplane mode though before the service), but one problem I have faced are children from households that are less tech savy becoming obsessed with devises and they want to play with it after Church on a weekly basis. Playing with the ipad, nexus 7, iPhone, or whatever android phone becomes the highlight of the Lord's day as oppose to Hearing God's word, seeing their friends in Sunday School, or even the snack time.

 

[Pilgrim Standard]

The only objection I have to the use of personal electronic devices for displaying the word in worship is when folk use really strong back lights and lift the devices up enough that they cause "light distraction" to those seated behind them, or when the backlight is so strong their faces glow.

Other than that, if you read more comfortably on a e-device, or take proper advantage of the bells and whistles the devices may possess, (such as quick cross references etc.) then have at it. Just take proper precaution that you don't distract others as well as yourself.

 

[Pittzburghkid]

I find it quite distracting when someone sitting in front of me is using their phone or a tablet to follow along. Though that is my issue not theirs. I will say though that I have seen quite a few people looking at Facebook or checking fantasy football during the service. Again that is my sin in being so easily distracted and irritated by it.

 

[Marrow Man]

I typically bring an electronic device on trips to presbytery meetings, Synod, and the like, because it's easier to travel with. At the most recent meeting of presbytery, I was pressed into service to deliver the devotional on day 2 (because bad weather had prohibited several ministers from attending), and I had to use the tablet which I had brought with me. That's not my preferred method by a long shot, but we do what we have to do.

 

[Free Christian]

I suppose in 20 yrs time people will be asking "do you take your written Bible or old tablet to church or use the new heads up Eye display?" Some will answer "no, call me old fashioned, I still use a tablet".

 

[Tim]

[video=youtube;pQHX-SjgQvQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQHX-SjgQvQ[/video]

 

[Free Christian]

 

[bookslover]

I used to bring my ESV to church, but it proved distracting because, when reading the Scriptures aloud, our pastor reads from the NASB (which is our church's pew Bible). So, now I leave my Bible at home and just use the pew Bible.

 

[Free Christian]

That's a problem isn't it, when one has a different Bible translation to that being read by the Pastor!