HomeBible TechBible Study5 Reasons NOT to Take Your Bible to Church

5 Reasons NOT to Take Your Bible to Church

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Some agree that taking one's Bible to church is no longer relevant, especially since most of us carry with us mobile phones that have hundreds of Bible versions on them. Is it still important to take one's physical Bible to church?

5) Your study Bible weighs five pounds or more, and gives your hand a cramp when holding it.https://churchtechtoday.com/5-reasons-not-to-take-your-bible-to-church/

4) Your church provides a Bible in the pew rack, so why bother bringing your own?

3) You have three or more kids to check in each Sunday, and your Bible gets in the way.

2) What Bible?

1) (My favorite reason) You have the entire Old and New Testaments in 41 different versions and 22 different languages in the palm of your hand through your YouVersion.com app on your smart phone.

My kids recently asked me why people pictured in a Bible coloring page were carrying their Bible's to church. Our church provides the kids with Bibles for Sunday school in their classes, so they don't carry their own. I used to take a compact edition in my purse, but now I prefer YouVersion.com on my Blackberry – I can actually look up verses faster and even Tweet verses as I'm reading.

If you'd like to read 5 Reasons to Take Your Bible to Church and weigh in, I'm all ears.

How about you? Do you still take your (paper) Bible to church? Am I sacrilegious? Technology is changing EVERYTHING.

Lauren Hunter
Lauren Hunterhttps://laurenhunter.net
Lauren Hunter is a writer who loves the big picture of God’s journey we are all on together. In 2007, she founded ChurchTechToday, a website for pastors and church leaders to harness technology to improve ministry. Married to her high school sweetheart, Lauren lives in Northern California with her husband and their four children. Her latest book is Leaving Christian Science: 10 Stories of New Faith in Jesus Christ. She can be found online at https://laurenhunter.net.

19 COMMENTS

  1. 5 REAL Reasons Not To Bring A Bible To Church
    There are a few good reasons for bringing a Bible to church. The best I can think of is that you might be able to use it to minister to a friend before or after the service. But I think churches that clobber people for not bringing their Bibles are misguided. In an age when even the smallest churches can put Scriptures up on a screen, there are good reasons to leave your sweet leather-bound beauty at home:
    1) Almost no one took personal Bibles to church until the invention of the printing press 600 years ago. Before then, Bibles were very expensive, so a church often would share one Bible.
    2) Bibles get left in church buildings. Many years ago, when I went to a church that demanded that everyone bring their Bibles, up to 15 Bibles were left behind every week, stored in a closet. In a church of a few hundred, that was a significant percentage of Bibles not being read at home.
    3) Bibles get worn out by carrying them all over, from house to car to church to car to house, sometimes in rain. In poor countries, where most people depend on public transportation, this problem is amplified.
    4) Undisciplined people get distracted from the message by reading unrelated passages–or even looking at maps–to pass the time, when they should be focused on what God is saying to their church.
    5) The reasons people give for the “need” to bring Bibles to church are insufficient excuses to badger non-Bible-bringers. “Unchurched people will be convicted of sin when they see me carrying my Bible.” Does anyone really see you as you carry it from your house to your car? Wearing a good Christian t-shirt, passing out tracts, or even *gasp* witnessing & street preaching do more to get the message out. “I write sermon notes in my Bible.” Try using a notebook so you can use normal-size writing without excessive abbreviations. “It enables you to check what the preacher is saying, like the Bereans.” The Bereans didn’t even have personal Bibles, & they somehow managed to be “noble.”

  2. […] Tech Today recently posted 5 reasons NOT to take your Bible to church: 5) Your study Bible weighs five pounds or more, and gives your hand a cramp when holding […]

  3. Well! Rather an odd posting (though maybe tongue-in-cheek). Reasons NOT to bring a Bible to church? Most of them sound like very poor excuses. Herewith…

    Seven Good Reasons to Bring Your Bible to Church

    1) It shows the Bible is important to you, to the greater glory of God (cf. Rom. 10:17; Heb. 4:12).
    2) It’s testimony to your neighbours, to see you carrying it Sunday morning. Further, it’s an example to others in your church, including the children.
    3) It prepares you to participate in the service, at times when the Scriptures are read.
    4) It encourages the preacher. (The two sounds that most delight him during the message are: the turning of Bible pages, as folks look up the passage(s), and sincere “amens,” when those present appreciate what he is saying.)
    5) It enables you to check what the preacher is saying, like the Bereans did (Acts 17:11). Don’t simply take his word for it. Check to see that what he says is Bible-based.
    6) It allows you to underline or mark things in your Bible that will be helpful to you later.
    7) It equips you to minister to others, before and after the service. Perhaps there’s a verse or a passage you can show someone, for their encouragement and help. (Don’t just leave this to the preacher!)

    • Hi Robert, Thanks for your comment. The post about NOT taking your Bible to church was very tongue-in-cheek and was merely a way to show that mobile phones and other technology gadgets allow folks to take their Bibles with them wherever they go, and have multiple versions as well. The only problem I see is that from the platform, a pastor might be uncertain whether his congregation is following along on You Version or Bible.is, or just texting or reading emails 🙂 I do appreciate your reply, thoughts, and comments! Sincerely in Christ, Lauren

  4. God bless you guys!

    I wanted to let you know about our website called http://www.BibleLockScreen.com which has lock screen backgrounds for the iPhone / iPad with Bible verses on them.

    We have a free native app for iPhone / iPad in the App Store. Just go to iTunes and search “Bible Lock Screens” and you’ll find it. Or check this link: http://itun.es/iF74Tq

    Watch the promo video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0SqwHv5VSA

    If you like it, please consider doing a review!

  5. No one has mentioned the fact of public testimony as folk see you go to church with your Bible under your arm. Keep up the habit of publicly declaring that you are one of the “people of the Book” and…

    underline, put dates next to verses that have had a special impact in your life. Let your “old Bible” be your diary for many years to come. I find it a thrill to read verses that hit me a few (or many) years ago.

  6. No one has mentioned the fact of public testimony as folk see you go to church with your Bible under your arm. Keep up the habit of publicly declaring that you are one of the “people of the Book” and…

    underline, put dates next to verses that have had a special impact in your life. Let your “old Bible” be your diary for many years to come. I find it a thrill to read verses that hit me a few (or many) years ago.

  7. Reading my bible, the paper version, just makes me feel closer to my Lord. It may seem strange but I can imagine myself sitting next to Jesus reading the written word out of a book. I can’t imagine sitting next to Him with a smart phone 🙂

  8. The good thing about taking your own Bible is you can write in it and/or mark pages. I am definately going to check out the Blackberry app you mentioned though. Just discovered your blog & love it!

  9. The first thing our vicar says when beginning to preach is ” Open your bibles!!” How can you follow what the preacher is expanding upon if you don’t have it in front of you? We are also encouraged to have it open, follow it and to keep our ministers accountable by letting them know if we disagree with what they have said about the passage, (after the sermon). Many of us are privileged to have bibles provided in the church, in other communities you have to carry your own as the church can’t afford to buy them for everyone or doesn’t have a regular meeting place where they can be stored – the case across much of Asia.

  10. Yes, I too enjoy You Version. However, I find it interesting the timing of You Version’s updates lately. 🙂
    Have you noticed, it seems to fall on Sunday mornings. I notice right as our Sunday morning scripture reading passage is announced. Fortunately, I select update later. However, that still presents a delay.

    There are times that I do bring in my heavier sword though. As one person mentioned earlier, if I’m in a mood for marking up passages or reading the commentary notes, then yes, I’ll lug along my regular Bible.

    If I’m going to a Bible study and not just Sunday morning worship, then I’m also inclined to bring along my Bible. That’s because it’s common for people to contribute commentary remarks to the discussion.

    Another thought is in terms of leaving a legacy. One of my treasured possessions left behind by my mom is her Bible. Though she passed away when I was a teenager, as an adult now I really enjoy checking out what she underlined and wrote in her Bible. It’s almost like she left behind love letters to me. I value it deeply.

    Just don’t ask me to participate in a sword drill any time soon. Given that I do use You Version and before that other phone Bible software, I’m pretty rusty on being fast on the draw to look up passage locations manually. (I’m technologically spoiled or perhaps blessed is a better word!)

    • Nancy, lug your Bible to church you make it sound like a burden when it should be a joy. and technology is not a blessing if it’s hindering you in the word of God which it seems like when you say don’t ask you to participate in any sword drills. Bible tells you to be ready in any season to give an account why you believe what you believe you also need to know the word how can you know if what is being said is biblically true and not a false teaching that the Lord warned about and how can you witness/share with someone if you cant find the scripture yourself? I would say you need to put down that phone and pick up your Bible.

  11. Hi Lauren,

    I do take my Bible to church on Sundays and when I go to our prayer meeting/Bible study on Thursdays, and whenever I go away for a few days (like this past weekend, I was gone Friday to Monday & took my bible with me).

    The Word of God, printed in the Bible, and reading my Bible is what I look forward to the most every day because it is the Living Word of God & nothing else can replace it for me! I love my New King James Bible so much & my daughter, who is 21 yrs. old, also carries her bible wherever she goes. She also reads in the new King James.

    Of course, if I forget my bible, when I get to church, I do use one of our church’s bibles.

    You should do whatever you think is best for you & if you aren’t sure you’re doing the right thing, pray and ask our Lord to give you His Wisdom about this & He will show you, just listen for His answer!

    In Jesus Christ our Lord & Savior,
    Helen

  12. Hi Bill,

    Just want to say I agree with you completely! I always take my bible to church and I read it at home every day as well, and there is nothing like being in God’s Living Word!!!

    Helen

  13. Great you can read your Bible on your smart phone but you can’t take notes, underline, quick refer to another scripture and go back. God gave you 8 place markers (your fingers) and two thumbs to navigate with. I am a technologist, its what I do for a living and some things like ipads can’t begin to stand up against the printed Word.

  14. Great you can read your Bible on your smart phone but you can’t take notes, underline, quick refer to another scripture and go back. God gave you 8 place markers (your fingers) and two thumbs to navigate with. I am a technologist, its what I do for a living and some things like ipads can’t begin to stand up against the printed Word.

  15. You know something, I don’t even like turning on/opening a bible on any of my mobile devices in a church setting. I find it a bit more settling to listen to the person reading the Word, and wait until that moment where I hear something worth noting to pull it out.

    Of course, it took a long way to get to that point. And I’m still working on writing the note and picking my head back up from the device (doh).

  16. Great article Lauren!

    I too use YouVersion. I see no reason to carry around an extra item when I can access the Word of God from my iPhone. Technology is technology. A bible printed on paper is technology – old technology. New technology allows me to read the Word wherever, and whenever I want. I never carry a bible around with me, but with YouVersion I can. I would like to see a setup where a preacher says “turn in your bibles, or click on the link in today’s eBulletin to the book of…”

    I use my iPhone for worship lead sheets as well. No need to kill more trees. 🙂

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