For some time now I’ve noticed the difference between using my electronic, digital Bibles (mostly on my iPad, sometimes on the phone) as compared to using my regular, print Bibles. I have never really left the printed Bible for my devotional reading or preaching.
I grew up using mostly one Bible, until college. I remember the pastor saying, “let’s turn…” and we did. Everybody. The sound was awesome. But better than that was the familiarity I had with my Bible. I grew to know where certain passages were on the page. Obviously, with time and a growing library of Bibles, I lost some of that. I appreciate the various translations that have been produced through the years for the benefit of study and clarity, but I really do miss everyone (mostly) being on the same page.
I came across an article recently that I resonated with on a similar topic: digital books. I have a great library in print but an outstanding library in digital format. I read with the Kindle app on my iPad mostly, then of course there’s the enormous Logos library that still blows me away every time I open it.
Yet, Michel Hyatt’s words spoke to me of the reality that there’s just nothing like reading the printed book over the digital. I too have no plans to disband the digital library or the continued building of it, yet I feel the freedom to admit that I not only like but need to return more to the printed library, mostly for the same reasons Hyatt mentions in the linked article. You should read it. I won’t copy it here, but go check it out.
I love that many people read the Bible electronically, and I will too. But there is nothing like the familiar feel and sight of my Bible, with underlinings and notes and worn corners.
What do you think?
PMark's Blog World 
It is the someone who tells you something you already knew but did not have the words to articulate that resonates within you. It is the same with the Word of God.
I so agree with this. It is the same with texting. Staying in touch is not the same as having a relationship. You cannot have a relationship with 200 people but you can stay in touch through an illusion. It doesn’t take commitment. It is not the real us, it is the us we present. People are losing the art of having a conversation. It is surface. I have my mothers first bible that she learned to know Jesus out of. I cherish all of her notes. The memories of seeing that bible in her hands at different times in my childhood. Knowing she was reading the Word of God. Her written testimony of the day she was saved inside the front cover was read at her funeral. If she’d of been reading a tablet I wouldn’t have known what she was reading. My first bible after I was saved is held together with a rubber band and will go to my oldest daughter when I am gone. We are subtly losing a witness. No one carry’s a bible anymore because they have a tablet or the words will be on a screen at their church. There is not a witness to Jesus Christ. It is all very generic. I so agree with the beauty of hearing the pages turn. Even though I couldn’t put into words what these articles have from an intellectual perspective I know it within my spirit. Thanks for the blog Mark. I for one still love opening my bible and being able to cross reference and meditate upon the scriptures. When you walk into a home a see a library and the authors it is a witness. This is getting lost.