Technology and the Bible(Part
Two)
Last
month I talked about the effect technology, specifically the printing press,
has had on our view of scripture. I suggested that the appearance of scripture
in print and the explosion of inexpensive copies made the Bible even more significant
in the eyes of Christians than it was before—its Authority as the Word of God
increased among Christians bringing about the Protestant Reformation and the
proliferation of schisms in the Church. I also suggested that the way we read
the Bible changed: it became more personal, but it also led to a kind of arrogance—a
belief that we can know truth apart from a relationship with God. I concluded
that technology has affected the way we view scripture, both positively and
negatively. Now I ask, how does putting the Bible on a computer affect the
way we see and use it today?
The Holy Bible, PCV
(Personal Computer Version)
The positives of computer Bibles include:
-
Easier access. People living in a technological age will be more
attracted to a Bible on a computer screen and in which search engines
can help them find answers to their questions. Want to know what the
Bible has to say about “war,” “family,” the “death penalty?” Type in a
word search, and every scripture pertaining to the issue comes up on the
screen.
-
Speed. A media rushed culture is also attracted to anything quick. Young
people, especially, have little patience for reading, but they may be drawn
to a Bible format which can help them comprehend God’s truth more quickly.
-
Effectiveness. Good teachers and preachers spend hours pouring through
scripture and books about scripture. Bible study programs on computer allow
them to work just as hard but accomplish far more.
-
One of the complaints I made last month was that, while individual Bibles
made it possible for us to spend more time reading scripture on our own, it
also made us rely less on the body of the Church for help in knowing what the
Bible means. A Bible study program provides commentary from learned men
who can help us understand what the Bible is saying, what alternate interpretations
of a passage may exist, and whether other Christians agree or disagree with our
reading of scripture.
-
Bible programs give us easy access to multiple translations of the Bible. They can
show us original languages for careful scholarly study, and they can show us half a
dozen or more English translations at once so we can learn the variety of ways of
understanding a passage or find just the right way to communicate to others what
the text is really saying.
-
Missions groups are already making use of the internet to get electronic Bibles into
places they couldn’t get them before.
-
Electronic Bibles will mean lower prices for people who can’t even get inexpensive
hard copies or for people who want multiple translations of the Bible but can’t afford
to buy them.
Brave New Bibles?
But there are dangers:
-
The “tech manual” approach. Is the Bible a tool for learning facts about God
and how Christians should live, or is it a record of communication by which we can
encounter something of the nature of God Himself. By pulling passages out of the
Bible we strip them from their context, from their ability to inform our hearts, and
from an understanding that there is a mystery to scripture.
-
Laziness. Did God intend the Bible for speed or for contemplation? In Acts 17:11
believers “search the scriptures.” In computer Bibles, a “search engine” does it for us
(I say that, but then I just looked up Acts 17:11 in my computer Bible program to
check the wording).
-
While its true that easy access to commentators on the Bible allows us to study the
Bible corporately in one sense, in another sense it removes the need for people—the
community we read in is only a virtual community, not a living one, responsive (during a
group Bible study, for example) to the leading of the Holy Spirit.
-
Just as the printing press “hardened” the words of scripture by printing them on a page
(instead of having them hand written), so too does a computer screen “soften” the
words—they become malleable, alterable. We can pick and choose the translation we
like in a given situation, how the words will appear on the screen, and which portion of a
verse is convenient for our purposes and which to leave out. Scriptural authority becomes
less about what’s in the text and more about how we choose to manipulate it to our own
ends; we take Authority from scripture and put it into our hands.
-
Should Christians really contribute to a culture that is already media obsessed?
As
with all technology, the computerization of the Bible presents unique advantages
and problems. I don’t think it’s our job to reject the concept altogether.
It’s our job to accept the challenge of working through the problems and
making use of the advantages for our own spiritual growth and for the advancement
of the kingdom. Personally, I intend to both make use of my PC Study Bible
program and read daily from the leather bound NAS Bible that has traveled
in a book bag with me wherever I go for the last 26 years.
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