Ipad Bible does it give you same joy as real bible?

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Jafar

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I have a feeling as if the IPAD bible that I mostly use is not giving me
the same spiritual feeling as a real bible.

Am I alone in thinking this way?

Is there some thing wrong with me?

How can this be explained?

IPAD bible is very helpful in studying …
 
Jafar said:
I have a feeling as if the IPAD bible that I mostly use is not giving me
the same spiritual feeling as a real bible.

Am I alone in thinking this way?

Is there some thing wrong with me?

How can this be explained?

IPAD bible is very helpful in studying …
Click to expand...
Maybe. I don’t see why it would make any difference at all.
Although I have several bibles on my bookshelves I read the Bible online. I don’t feel I’m spiritually missing out on anything by doing that.
Frankly, that would make no sense.
 
Jafar said:
I have a feeling as if the IPAD bible that I mostly use is not giving me
the same spiritual feeling as a real bible.

Am I alone in thinking this way?

Is there some thing wrong with me?

How can this be explained?

IPAD bible is very helpful in studying …
Click to expand...
There is nothing wrong in prefering an actual book as opposed to an e-book. This could be a bible or any book. Some like having the hard copy to use and some like the convenience of digital.

I can appreciate both. I like the convenience of online referencing Scripture or just having a library in a small device.

What I really like a hard copy of books for is the books I like alot. This obviously includes the Bible. And I think I appreciate a well constructed, quality, beautifull Bible. If I were to read large sections, or entire books from the Bible, I think I would rather use a nice real book.
 
I feel the same way as the OP.

There is a place for electronic Bibles but nothing takes the place of a finely bound leather and parchment paper Bible. When you put it on the table in a coffee shop you claim the place for Christ.

There is something about holding The Book which is different.

-Tim-
 
It’s great that you are praying with the Bible…I think that you may be suffering from an all too human challenge… Namely, attachment to the superficial… We all struggle with this as it is a human condition/tendency (we are wired that way)… It doesn’t matter if the Bible is on a screen digitally or printed on pages in a book. If you have a preference, go with it…don’t overthink it
 
Tests done on students have suown that they remember better from real books than ebooks. A real book has dimensionality which the ebooks lack.

I myself prefer real books, but go with ebooks when the alternative is nothing 🙂 Or (as I get older) a book with tiny type.

Propping the device up helps me out 🙂
 
You are not alone, I’m also a print book person. In fact, computer screens tire my eyes and I get less reading done. It would happen all the time in high school that the teacher tried to integrate more technology in the class by having us do web quests on the iPads and I was always either the last one finished or the one who had to complete it for homework because I would get tired easily and not be able to read and digest as fast what I read on the iPad.
 
godisgood77 said:
It’s great that you are praying with the Bible…I think that you may be suffering from an all too human challenge… Namely, attachment to the superficial… We all struggle with this as it is a human condition/tendency (we are wired that way)… It doesn’t matter if the Bible is on a screen digitally or printed on pages in a book. If you have a preference, go with it…don’t overthink it
Click to expand...
Superficial? A printed Bible??? This is a very offensive post. The deacon doesn’t process in at the beginning of Mass with a big gold plated iPAD.

In my mind there will never be anything remotely superficial about a physical Bible. It is an intensely personal item, one which has to be chosen on purpose, has beauty and can be reverenced. My Bibles are my most prized possessions, things which will i will personally give to my children and grandchildren as I approach the end of my life.

An app on the other hand… 🤷

-Tim-
 
I don’t feel spiritually “lacking” when I read an e-Bible, but I miss the feel of the leather and the smell of the pages.
 
TimothyH said:
Superficial? A printed Bible??? This is a very offensive post. The deacon doesn’t process in at the beginning of Mass with a big gold plated iPAD.

In my mind there will never be anything remotely superficial about a physical Bible. It is an intensely personal item, one which has to be chosen on purpose, has beauty and can be reverenced. My Bibles are my most prized possessions, things which will i will personally give to my children and grandchildren as I approach the end of my life.

An app on the other hand… 🤷

-Tim-
Click to expand...
Perhaps you misunderstood godisgood77. He/she did not say a printed bible is superficial, but rather the physical forms in which the Word of God might be recorded. Before the books were even committed to writing, they were spoken. Then for a thousand years or more, they were written and copied by hand. Can you imagine how impersonal and mechanical it must have seemed when the Bible was first mass-produced on the printing press? Now print is your gold standard, but who says it must always be so?

Most of us can appreciate the appearance, the feel, the heft, the smell, and even the sound of turning the pages in a printed bible. Just keep in mind that those are physical characteristics. They are not essential. What’s essential is that we receive the message that God wishes to communicate through Sacred Scripture.

You brought up an interesting point of how we are personally connected to our printed bibles. If the book has some history, if we chose it with care, or if it was given to us by someone special, if we have used it with reverence, if it carried us through hard times, these are indeed important and may help us to be more receptive to God’s word… but even so, we should not let ourselves become overly attached to these personal connections to a physical book. If your heirloom Bible were destroyed in a house fire, the Word of God still lives, as magnificent as ever.

A blind person (or someone for whom reading is difficult) might prefer the Bible in audio-book form. I use print bibles but most often use online bibles because they allow quick lookup of related passages, different translations, and commentary. By whatever means the message gets through, let us give thanks and praise to God!
 
Jafar said:
I have a feeling as if the IPAD bible that I mostly use is not giving me
the same spiritual feeling as a real bible.

Am I alone in thinking this way?

Is there some thing wrong with me?

How can this be explained?

IPAD bible is very helpful in studying …
Click to expand...
No, there is nothing wrong with you. I feel the same way. Outside of exceptional circumstances, I read the Bible only in dead-tree format. The same is true of my Breviary.

I think it might have something to do that the Bible and Breviary are built specifically for their purposes. Tablets are not; they are general-purpose and can be used for moral, amoral, or immoral purposes, so as such, they are not specifically sacred devices, whereas books can actually be blessed and consecrated for sacred use.
 
Beryllos said:
Perhaps you misunderstood godisgood77. He/she did not say a printed bible is superficial, but rather the physical forms in which the Word of God might be recorded. Before the books were even committed to writing, they were spoken. Then for a thousand years or more, they were written and copied by hand. Can you imagine how impersonal and mechanical it must have seemed when the Bible was first mass-produced on the printing press? Now print is your gold standard, but who says it must always be so?

Most of us can appreciate the appearance, the feel, the heft, the smell, and even the sound of turning the pages in a printed bible. Just keep in mind that those are physical characteristics. They are not essential. What’s essential is that we receive the message that God wishes to communicate through Sacred Scripture.

You brought up an interesting point of how we are personally connected to our printed bibles. If the book has some history, if we chose it with care, or if it was given to us by someone special, if we have used it with reverence, if it carried us through hard times, these are indeed important and may help us to be more receptive to God’s word… but even so, we should not let ourselves become overly attached to these personal connections to a physical book. If your heirloom Bible were destroyed in a house fire, the Word of God still lives, as magnificent as ever.

A blind person (or someone for whom reading is difficult) might prefer the Bible in audio-book form. I use print bibles but most often use online bibles because they allow quick lookup of related passages, different translations, and commentary. By whatever means the message gets through, let us give thanks and praise to God!
Click to expand...
Thanks for clarifying… You honed in directly on what I mean…
 
Beryllos said:
Perhaps you misunderstood godisgood77. He/she did not say a printed bible is superficial, but rather the physical forms in which the Word of God might be recorded. Before the books were even committed to writing, they were spoken. Then for a thousand years or more, they were written and copied by hand. Can you imagine how impersonal and mechanical it must have seemed when the Bible was first mass-produced on the printing press? Now print is your gold standard, but who says it must always be so?

Most of us can appreciate the appearance, the feel, the heft, the smell, and even the sound of turning the pages in a printed bible. Just keep in mind that those are physical characteristics. They are not essential. What’s essential is that we receive the message that God wishes to communicate through Sacred Scripture.

You brought up an interesting point of how we are personally connected to our printed bibles. If the book has some history, if we chose it with care, or if it was given to us by someone special, if we have used it with reverence, if it carried us through hard times, these are indeed important and may help us to be more receptive to God’s word… but even so, we should not let ourselves become overly attached to these personal connections to a physical book. If your heirloom Bible were destroyed in a house fire, the Word of God still lives, as magnificent as ever.

A blind person (or someone for whom reading is difficult) might prefer the Bible in audio-book form. I use print bibles but most often use online bibles because they allow quick lookup of related passages, different translations, and commentary. By whatever means the message gets through, let us give thanks and praise to God!
Click to expand...
I appreciate your opinion but I understood perfectly.

For me the written word of God in the form of a Bible is more than just a nice book or appreciating fine craftsmanship. It is more than just a “personal connection to a physical book” and I take offense at the use of the term “overly attached.”

People died for having even part of the Bible in their possession. Orthodox Jews reverence even a scrap of paper with any part of Scripture on it.

I use electronic Bibles too. I use the online RSV at quod.lib.umich.edu/r/rsv/, use the cross reference in the NABRE at the USCCB website frequently and have the RSV-CE on my phone. But these will never be what the physical Bible is. It does matter.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion. I kiss the pages of Scripture after my daily reading. I have never kissed my phone or computer monitor screen and dare anyone to suggest that the lectionary should be replaced by an iPAD at Mass and that the deacon should kiss it after proclaiming the Gospel.

-Tim-
 
For me, an electronic version is a hollow convenience. There is just something for me about holding a real book in my hands over an iPhone. Plus, a book’s batteries never go dead.

Now, I will say that night mode (black screen/white text) with the brightness all the way down allows me to sit in bed and read if I’m sleepless in the middle of the night without waking Mrs. tvknight415. That right there makesan e-copy invaluable. Plus, its a lot easier to carry one iPhone than three Bibles when traveling. And, its a handy reference if I’m reading my Douay and want to cross-check how another translation words something or to reference the Ignatius Study Bible or Haydock commentary (via Lighthouse or Verbum) without having to get up. I’d rather have a paper copy, but convenience overrides aesthetics sometimes.

If it works for you to go one or the other, by all means do so. We are physical beings with certain preferences, and for some of us, digital will never replace dead trees.
 
A Bible app on a phone is mingling the profane with the sacred.

Profane does not mean bad. Profane simply means common.

Sacred on the other hand, is something set apart for God alone.

We don’t mingle the chalice with common drinking glasses but we venerate it, treat it special and put it in a safe in the Church. Priests vestments are not kept next to the socks and underwear. We don’t eat lunch at the altar and are very careful about the events we allow to take place within the sacred space of the Church.

The written word of God should be no different. I keep my Bibles on a shelf at home with no other books. I venerate the word of God. That is difficult to do with an app or a website.

This is my opinion. If someone finds Jesus in God’s word on a website or an app then who am I to complain? I just think the printed Bible should be venerated as something sacred, that’s all.

-Tim-
 
I like the Kindle, which I can adjust the font size and provides a voice option as well. Does pretty well with the translinear Latin-English.
 
Jafar said:
I have a feeling as if the IPAD bible that I mostly use is not giving me
the same spiritual feeling as a real bible.

Am I alone in thinking this way?

Is there some thing wrong with me?

How can this be explained?

IPAD bible is very helpful in studying …
Click to expand...
I have a Kindle but read my Bible using a book. I prefer real books to e-readers, Bible or otherwise.
 
rcwitness said:
There is nothing wrong in prefering an actual book as opposed to an e-book. This could be a bible or any book. Some like having the hard copy to use and some like the convenience of digital.

I can appreciate both. I like the convenience of online referencing Scripture or just having a library in a small device.

What I really like a hard copy of books for is the books I like alot. This obviously includes the Bible. And I think I appreciate a well constructed, quality, beautifull Bible. If I were to read large sections, or entire books from the Bible, I think I would rather use a nice real book.
Click to expand...
My thoughts exactly 👍
 
[personal opinion]

When I read Scripture, I am interested only in the text. I don’t really care about the medium on which the text is printed or recorded.

[/personal opinion]
 
I have several different translations on my Kindle and I find them just as handy as my hardbound copies, though the convenience of having a virtual library in it is immensely handy. (Catechisms, ECF, and other books)

What I love best is that the way my life is now I can reach out and access the Word of God just about anywhere…because my Kindle can also be accessed from my smartphone.

I don’t think anything will ever replace a hard copy of the Bible, but it’s a blessing to have it close to hand all the time. http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h244/corona_stellarum/Smilies/Reading_bible.gif
DaveBj said:
[personal opinion]

When I read Scripture, I am interested only in the text. I don’t really care about the medium on which the text is printed or recorded.

[/personal opinion]
Click to expand...
👍
 
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