How do you feel about the electronic medium?

Where much is given, much is required...

I too have much more on my laptop, and desktop pc than on my shelves.
Most of it is in e-sword.

We live in a remarkable era. I grew up in a pastor's family. I always looked forward to my dad's pastor friends to come visit, because we would sit around the table with commentaries, dictionaries and Bibles discussing scripture. I was between 10 and 18 at the time... I really enjoyed discussing scripture with my father and his preacher friends. I learned alot from them....

Move ahead 20 yrs... The kitchen table has been replaced by this laptop. And my father's preacher friends have been replaced by the good people of BB from around the world... I enjoy learning from you all.

The commentaries, and dictionaries, and Bibles that were spread all over my father's kitchen table and countertops have been replaced by e-sword, where I can access myriads of resources to enlighten my understanding of a passage.

But with all these resources comes even more responsibilities.
God has given us these resources we should use them to the best of our abilities to edify the church.

 

If the computer had been available 50 years ago, I believe I could have saved at least 25 hours each week in sermon preparation. It is a marvellous tool, but I must confess, I still prefer reading a book. That prolly has more to do with age than the medium.

The computer tends to cause brevity and misunderstandings compared with books and full discussion, including cross-referencing.

Even in here, I read some remarks, and I say to myself, now there is a sound Calvinist,,,,,,,,,,,,then, a few posts later I never read such foolishness in the name of Calvinism, and from the same person.

Certainly the electronic medium has its place. I certainly appreciate the motorcar to-day compared to the bicycle I had in my first pastorate.

Cheers,

Jim

 

electronic?

Well i use the computers all the time and have all kind of Bibles on CDs and the such. The only thing that concerns me is that all this information is put on the CDs by humans and humans make mistakes and maybe someday, someone will make just the right mistake to mislead others. Whereas when you are physically looking at the Bible you tend to not make mistakes, whereas when you are looking at the Bible on a CD, do you ever think that maybe something is wrong? Sometimes I do. But don't know what. :type:
That bothers me cause I can not put my finger on it.

 

Well, when I was first being discipled, I learned to sit down with reference books and cross-reference everything. After a couple of hours, I would have a list of verses that I could begin to look up.

Now, I have a piece of freeware (PM me if you want a copy) that I can put in the number, and I can filter it by grammar, w/without words, etc., and have that same list in my hand in less than 30 seconds, with each and every verse already parsed for me. This is old software, but very helpful, and I've not found a newer one that does this.

But, I can go a step further, if I wish. With another piece of software, I can then cross-reference that through 270 other reference books in less than a minute. (I don't usually do this, but I do have the ability.) This one is not freeware, but is very useful.

Also, what I generally use, is eSword. I can search by words (unfortunately, only in English), etc., and cross-reference with maps, or whatever I choose.

I also have another piece of freeware that gives me the NA26 text (cross-referencable with the W-H, but I don't usually use that), with grammar and lemma tags right there for me.

For a small fee, you can also obtain software to diagram the Greek structures. This used to be a very time-consuming, tedious task. Now, it's a handy tool instead of hours of labor.

So, instead of laboring and "eating by the sweat of your face" to get to the beginning of study, you can labor and sweat actually studying.

I like it, and I think that if we don't take advantage of it, we are thumbing our noses at a gift that God has placed before us.

 

I love using the Libronix software I acquired about a year ago. As time goes on, I am replacing the books and tools I have in my library, and those books are then given to students and friends that need them.

 

You mean like some of the things that have been printed in editions of the KJV, such as "thou shall commit adultery" or "their lamps have gone out" (instead of "going")?

They're all works of men, except for the original autographs, and even those were written through men.

 

With many databases available I can do a search in so many libraries among a number of documents for what I am looking for that were once not available. Instead of reading a few articles form some journals and books, I can now read thousands of articles if I like.

 

Yes, the electronic age has benefited the Bible student tremendously.
But I wonder. Has it really benefited the Body of Christ all that much?
IMO, if it had such an impact, would we not see it changing our towns? Like, how many bars does your town have? How many brothels? Crack houses? Meth addicts? Has all this technology really helped us do what matters most?

Used to be, when all we had were books, and men who believed the Book, towns were visibly impacted. And men lived like they had really encountered the God of the Book. Not so much any more. In fact, when was the last time you heard of a man getting saved and closing down his saloon?

I really wonder. Technology is a good thing. But is it the best thing? I also have a soft ware program which I depend on frequently. But it seems like it has taken the work and discipline out of 'digging in the Word', and makes it too easy sometimes.

 

I'm with Jim on this one!! Boys----do what you want with you're "electronic" library----but don't give up on the "hard copies"

Bro. David

 

AMEN!!
I too use a few programs....but there still is nothing like picking up the Book, opening it & letting our Lord speak to me! Besides.....nothing smells as good as an old Bible!!

 

What about printed (hard copy, to use the jargon) translations of the bible? I stress that I am not arguing the merits of one particular translation over another, but in the history of the translating the scriptures into English, there have been all kinds of human errors which have been, at best, amusing, and at worst, totally misleading. Such editions have often been given nicknames because of particular errors in them. Some examples:

The Bug Bible Translation by Myles Coverdale , in 1535, where Psalm 91.5 is rendered, “Thou shall not nede to be afrayed for eny bugges by night”.

The Breeches Bible 1579 edition of the Geneva Bible, where Genesis 3.7 says, "and they sowed figge-tree leaves together, and made themselves breeches." (Breeches are trousers - or "pants" to those in the US).

The Judas Bible (1611) has Judas (instead of Jesus) saying in Matthew 26.36, " "Sit here while I go and pray over there."

The Printers' Bible says, "Printers have persecuted me without cause," in Psalm 119.161, instead of "Princes".

The Sin On Bible (1716) has Jesus saying, "Go and sin on more" instead of "no more" in John 5.14.

The Adulterous Bible (1631) printed the 7th commandment as "Thou shalt commit adultery."

The Rebecca's Camels Bible (1823) says in Genesis 24.61, "And Rebecca arose, and her camels, and they rode upon the camels, and followed the man: and the servant took Rebecca and went his way." The first "camels" should have been "damsels".

The Fool's Bible (1763) has Psalm 14.1 as, "the fool hath said in his heart there is a God", instead of "there is no God."

There are many other examples, at least 17. They all appeared long before the computer age.

Every blessing,

 

I usually only open my printed Bible on Sunday's and Wednesdays (Bible study night), all other times I'm on my computer.

During times when I'm away and can't use computer, I feel I'm missing out: I can't use my full arsenal of study material .
Granted, the time spent in the printed word is still productive but I'm left with so many more questions that have to be researched later.

Rob

 

Big pluses for me, technology-wise:

• Speed of looking up scripture. I very seldom use my leather Bible--I prepare, study, etc., with the electronic versions of tools I normally used "hard-copy" (concordance, Bible, Bible dictionary, etc.)
• Finding appropriate illustrations. Photos, video, written illustrations, news items--my research time here is cut greatly. Since I now write curriculum for students, I find it helps even more.

The minuses:

• The "flip side" of one of the pluses. You can find illustrations, but getting them right (details, proper credit) is challenging. Plagiarism abounds on the web.
• Bad information. Any idiot can post anything. I've heard drivel from pastors that was not correct--bad theology, urban legend passed on as fact, etc. It's hard work making sure that what you use in illustrations, exposition, etc., is good info.
• It's easier to "chase rabbits" and get sidetracked on the web.
• We get pretty darn helpless when our "gutless wonder" has a bug, or won't boot up. I had to go "old school" after an untimely Microsoft "blue screen of death" this May. Darn near killed me. I forgot how to read, research, and study, 20th-century style.

 

Something like this happened a couple months ago to me.

We use powerpoint for Bible Study on Wednesdays and a couple months ago my adapter went bad, and I didn't notice it had went bad. So I powered everything up, but my laptop was running on battery... So right in the middle of Bible Study my pc died!
And I have never printed off the slides on paper before, so I had nothing to use, except my memory of what I had studied.

Soooooo.... I grabbed a hardcopy of the Bible and never missed a beat!
Technology is just a tool. We should never depend on it... after all, we should be depending on God anyways.

Even in the middle of my sermon, When God has taken me away from what I have prepared for powerpoint, away I go!!
It drives the powerpoint person crazy, which BTW is my son, but he is very talented, and can realize when I come back to the prepared message.

One time, I completely got off the prepared sermon, and told him to just turn off the Powerpoint. I am flexible enough to do that. As I feel all ministers should be. Where God leads we should follow.

It was easier when I didn't use powerpoint, a lot less work, but the congregation benefits more from it. That is what really matters... That the message we preach impacts the hearers life, and makes a change.

 

Regarding the electronic medium, I think it fits me just fine. The electronic small is just too tiny and fragile, and the manual large gets heavy lugging it around. So the electronic medium tends to fit just right.

 

You are a funny guy!:laugh: :laugh: :applause:

 

Computers are great for research. However, I enjoy reading my bible in print form. There is something about sitting in my chair holding that leather bible and getting lost in the word. I feel closer to God and his word this way, and get much more out if it. Fortunately there is no right or wrong answer to this question. Everyone one of us are different, that's what helps to make life interesting.

 

You can work hard and deliver a vibrant message full of power and conviction or you can give a sermon which was put togeher in a few minutes with some other sermons from the internet. However both show the result of the labor invested.

 

From a St. Petersburg Times review of Bible software by Gail Hollenbeck, Times Staff Writer --- Published October 28, 2006.

Software helps bring Bible study into the electronic age [LINK]

"I stumbled upon a statistic that shocked me as a parent," he said. "The article stated that by the time the age group that is right now between 14 and 18 graduates, more than 70 percent of what they will learn, they will learn electronically.

"Today's young people don't view study as paper. They view study as electronic."

Rob