WILL iPADS
AND TABLETS
REPLACE THE
BIBLE?
At first, the Word of God was written on hard stones and broad bones called tables/tablets, after tables then on scrolls.
Scrolls were the first form of editable record keeping texts, used in Eastern Mediterranean ancient Egyptian civilizations.
Following Jewish tradition, since that time scrolls, which are very durable with examples known to be hundreds of years old such as the 800-year-old Sephardic Sefer Torah from Spain, are copied from one to another. The meticulous process of hand-copying a scroll takes about 2,000 person-hours (about one year at 40 hours per week). Mmm... That sounds very unfriendly. Humanity was saved from this stress when we discovered the senior brother of scrolls - BOOKS. Since this discovery, the Holy Bible has been printed in the form of a book for so many years. Today, the Bible in hard copy is almost negleted after human beings discovered the father of scrolls and books - iPADS and TABLETS.
In recent years technology has made a lot of impossibilities possible. The invention of a lot of technology tools like the ipads and tablets, computers and laptops have made life an easy-to-go journey. Technology is very important in our society today. This is attributed to the limited time in our generation though God never reduced the number of hours in a day. The use of technology in the church today is not an exception at all. From screen projectors to electronic drum set, from super powerful PA systems to marvelous lightening system. One of the viral technology tools that has attracted debate from all angles in the church are the electronic tablets and ipads.
According to most ipad and tablet users, it saves them a great deal of time. Before a hard copy user resists the devil in James 4:7, an ipad user has already drawn nearer to God in James 4:8. Also, according to them, there are a lot of people who have very little of no knowledge at all where to open when they have the hard copy Bible but these ipads and tablets have some special features like the search tool that enhances navigation through out the whole scriptures.
On the contrary, hard copy users always throw one simple question to the ipad and tablet users that most at times cause them to scratch their heads in confusion. "How would you feel if your pastor bangs an ipad on your head with the aim of casting out a stubborn demon? Or in the wilderness where there is no electricity, how can you read the Bible if your device runs out of battery?"
According to them, the disadvantages of the use of ipads and tablets are enormous and totally outweighs that of the hard copy. One of the greatest fears of these hard copy users is that the church of our Living God might one day turn into an iChurch where everything is done using virtual means only. The iPreacher makes a live video and the iCongregation streams the sermon on youtube in the comfort of their homes.
Offertory will be deposited into the church's mobile money account and announcements will be given using the pico speech synthesis. This means that necessarily walking into the church building will be of no use when church can be smooth on the internet. They conclude that technology must be murdered in its infant age in the church before it grow strong.
In my opinion, I think I will go for TABLETS. But the tablet I mean here is a spiritual one. - Proverbs 7:3, the Word of God must be written on the tablets of our hearts. Devices may run out of battery and papers may get torn but the heart is a hiding place. A safe place to keep the Word. As we use iPads and hard copy Bibles, may we also store them in our hearts and nothing can take it out!
Samuel Michael Oduro