Are physical Bibles still relevant in the digital age? To answer this question, it is helpful to consider technology’s progress and impact on society. In the Bible, the term book appears much more frequently than the term scroll, yet the transition from scrolls to books occurred only after the Bible was written. Translators chose the word “book” because scrolls are increasingly foreign. With the rise of computers, books began transitioning to digital formats, where one could read entire encyclopedias from a CD on a computer. The Internet and ever-improving smartphones now place extensive libraries in our pockets. Thanks to such advances, the Bible is more accessible than ever. But do more people read it?
Between 2011 and 2021 only 50 percent of adults in the United States used the Bible, with the lowest average in 2020, right when COVID-19 was most active. Here, “use” was defined as reading, listening to, or praying with a Bible at least three to four times a year. If we count just those engaging with their Bible weekly, the percentage drops to 34 percent as of 2021.1 In a context characterized by constant news reports of death tolls, lockdowns, virus mutations, and fear for the future, one might have expected Bible engagement to increase. But it did not—at least not in the United States. Why?
Today’s digital world offers access to much more than just the Bible. YouTube, podcasts, and other streaming services have replaced such traditional media as radio and cable TV. These platforms even allow us to consume content at two or three times the regular speed. Digital books often have audio options for added convenience and time saving. Social media platforms serve as a way to connect with others, where people select highlights of their lives to share with friends and acquaintances. Entire college courses are available free of charge from Ivy League universities. Even in-person shopping has been replaced with next-day delivery or preordered grocery pickup.
Despite these conveniences, Bible study isn’t on the rise, and human connection, education, and overall life satisfaction often stagnate. While technology makes everything more accessible, it also fuels consumerism and adds complexity and noise to our lives, squeezing more activities into the same 24-hour day. One study found that Americans check their phones an average of 144 times a day, spending a daily average of 4 hours and 25 minutes on them.2 Many of us believe that our quality of life has improved because of technology’s benefits, but we must ask ourselves: Has this brought happiness and peace?
Knowing God is not just about consuming and knowing facts; it’s about regularly interacting with Him and experiencing His presence.
Create Versus Consume
Genesis 1:27, 28 teaches us that when God created humanity in His image, He intended for humans to be fruitful, fill the earth, and have dominion. Common to these goals is an inherited creativity that God instilled within humanity, and this creativity comes naturally. When I was a child, I wanted to be an inventor. All I needed was a small notebook and pencil to start scribbling down my dream inventions. I filled the pages with such ideas as rocket-propelled Rollerblades, flying cars, jet packs, and more. Such creative toys as Lego, K-Nex, and Mechano helped spur creativity indoors, along with building forts and tree houses outdoors. As personal computers became available, digital exploration and discovery opened up a new world of possibilities. It also included tension, however. On the one hand, creativity was propelled by learning about computers, exploring graphic design, web design, the Internet, and cybersecurity. On the other hand, gaming and entertainment vied for time and attention.
In my experience the balance between creativity and consumerism significantly impacts success and how people experience life and Christianity. In the social media world, while anyone can become a “creative” and contribute to the consumer-driven popularity of vlogging and reels, most people spend a disproportionately high amount of time as consumers. Only watching and imagining comes at an opportunity cost in which our creativity is diminished. After all, watching others live out their dreams and living like them in our imagination is easier than actively creating change in our own lives. And even if we do change, a consumer mentality is primarily self-focused, whereas God’s intent for creation is ideally about self-giving. One of the primary consequences of a consumer-centric life is that attention spans go down, thinking is limited to what is observed, and memory is impacted. Nobody can be expected to remember hundreds of short clips and updates viewed in rapid succession.
A consumer-centric approach to life has a devastating impact. Most media formats direct and retain our attention by changing shots and content every few seconds. How can we expect the Bible to compete with that when it requires prolonged focus and attention?
A distinction needs to be made here. Engaging with Christianity and the Bible should not be approached with an imaginative consumer mentality. Christianity cannot be experienced vicariously. Christianity is primarily relational, and all relationships require creativity and self-giving to thrive. Similarly, Bible study focused on surface-level content consumption will be unfulfilling compared to what the world offers. Why? Because the Bible is not designed simply to entertain us, but to creatively engage with our hearts, minds, and who we are—transforming us from within. This requires an active kind of engagement as the Holy Spirit dynamically guides us, not just passive reading. It involves asking questions to understand the original intent and meaning, connecting the overarching principles with our present reality.
During the summer I took a school tour to Turkey, where we visited the locations of Revelation’s seven churches. Our Muslim tour guide showed us various statues, pagan temples, and basilicas, telling us their stories and history as he took us from location to location. We learned many interesting facts and connections between these places and history. Fortunately, he also gave us free time at each location, so we incorporated another approach. We decided to explore and focus on Christian details in the broader context of each city. When we observed the details of these sites more closely, we discovered churches and shops where Christian symbols were found. This deeper, more focused approach helped give us better insights into the presence of Christians and how they might have lived within the larger context of each city. As valuable as our tour guide was to give us the facts and details he knew, this did not equip us with the skills to explore and learn independently. Returning without a guide, we might have felt lost or overwhelmed, relying on the details we remembered from the tour. A deeper, more focused study that taught us what to look for, observe, and analyze would have enabled us to appreciate it independently, discovering and gaining new insights.
Many sermons, Sabbath School lessons, and Bible study guides follow a broad topical format. Speakers and authors carefully weave together numerous stories and narratives based on a preselected topic. As a result, much of the communication includes common ideas and themes they already had in mind from the outset. While this has its place, limiting oneself to these tools can result in a superficial engagement with the biblical text, limiting growth in understanding if used exclusively.
Such approaches rarely demonstrate how to thoroughly study and understand a single passage within its own context. When the average person opens their Bible at home, their sense of discovery may rely more on finding beliefs and connections they already know, rather than on discovering new insights and applications within a single passage. Understandably, many find Bible “study” like this boring. This doesn’t mean connections between different passages should not be made, as these can be tremendously valuable. There is immense value, however, in understanding a passage’s immediate context and meaning in context before connecting it with other passages and their meaning.
Getting Practical
So how can we shift from being passive consumers of the Bible to actively engaging with it in the digital age? First, there is much benefit in disconnecting from technology and engaging with a physical Bible. This is especially important if you become distracted when notifications catch your attention. Physical Bibles provide a multisensory experience, allowing us to engage with touch and visual cues, which aid in memory retention. This makes it easier to locate specific chapters and verses on a page. Taking a few minutes each day to disconnect from the digital world can also help improve our ability to focus, which is beneficial in other aspects of life. This is a great starting point for those who don’t have other opportunities for quiet, undistracted focus.
To benefit from digital Bible study technology better, there are a few helpful strategies and resources:
1. Utilize the focus mode available on most Apple and Android devices to limit notifications and distractions when you study.
2. Try such apps and websites as Logos,3 Accordance,4 Blue Letter Bible,5 Step Bible,6 and EGW Writings7 to access a wide range of Bible resources and Ellen G. White’s writings.
3. Audio Bibles such as Bible.is8 and Dwell9 allow you to engage sight and hearing by reading along as you listen. This can help those who struggle with focus.
4. Digital resources make it easier to use concordances accurately. Concordances help us look up words to see the range of possible meanings associated with a Hebrew or Greek word in the Bible. Taking any or all definitions for a word found in a concordance and plugging them into a particular verse where the Hebrew or Greek word occurs risks a fallacy known as illegitimate totality transfer. Always consider the literary context and grammar to determine the best meaning for a word in a particular context. For example, the pronoun “it” in Exodus 20:8, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy,” cannot be substituted with “yourself,” even though the concordance lists this as an option. The grammar requires the pronoun to agree with its antecedent, “Sabbath.” Marble.Bible10 is a valuable tool to make this easier by showing the semantic domain of words and the various ways they can be used. It provides a more accurate approach to understanding which word definitions may fit a specific Biblical context.
5. Using artificial intelligence is a controversial topic when it comes to Bible study. Many solutions here focus on a consumer-oriented approach, using AI to create devotionals or help find texts that align with the user’s beliefs. The issue here is that the AI can produce hallucinations or regurgitate popular errors from its training data. It is also possible, however, for a thoughtfully designed AI app (GPT) to assist you in following a series of simple Bible study steps creatively, prompting you to ask yourself questions to draw your own conclusions rather than simply providing answers. I experimented with creating a GPT specifically for this purpose, and it is freely available here.
In the digital age, being “people of the Book” is not just about the type of format we use (scrolls, books, or ebooks). Being “people of the Book” is about having a genuine and consistent connection with God and His Word. Knowing God is not just about consuming and knowing facts; it’s about regularly interacting with Him and experiencing His presence. This involves listening to Him through His Word, communicating through prayer, and allowing Him to transform us daily. To be “people of the Book” in the digital age, one must consistently experience this creative relationship. How does your practice reflect your priorities here?
1 https://www.barna.com/research/sotb-2021/
2 https://www.pcmag.com/news/americans-check-their-phones-an-alarming-number-of-times-per-day
3 “Get Started With Logos,” Faithlife, 2024, https://www.logos.com/get-started.
4 “Download Accordance,” Oaktree Software, 2024, https://www.accordancebible.com/download-accordance/.
5 “Bible Search and Study Tools,” Blue Letter Bible, 2024, https://www.blueletterbible.org/.
6 “Step Bible: Scripture Tools for Every Person,” Cambridge, 2024, https://www.stepbible.org/.
7 “Ellen G. White Estate: Egw Writings Apps,” Ellen G. White Estate, 2024, https://whiteestate.org/resources/apps/.
8 Bible.Is, “Faith Comes by Hearing,” Faith Comes by Hearing, 2024, https://www.faithcomesbyhearing.com/audio-bible-resources/bible-is.
9 Dwell, “Audio Bible App,” Dwell App, 2024, https://dwellapp.io/.
10 “Marble: Modular Aggregation of Resources on the Bible,” United Bible Societies, 2024, https://marble.bible/.