It was a first but it will not be the last. On June 2, 2014, Susan LaVine became the first federal official to place her hand on an electronic device instead of on a Bible as she was sworn in as United States ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein. The device, a Kindle Touch according to the Washington Post, was open to the U.S. Constitution as she pledged to uphold and defend that historic document.
Previously practically all public officials used a Bible when taking their oaths of office. A few months ago a New York official used an iPad open to a Bible passage when a printed copy of the Bible could not be found. There are other reports of city officials using a Bible app on iPads for their swearing in ceremonies. But LaVine is the first federal official.
As a former vice president for Microsoft in Seattle, her choice of an electronic device might not be all that surprising. She has lived and worked in a digital world for decades. Increasingly so will the rest of us.
Still seeing a printed copy of the Bible replaced with a Kindle book reader, an iPad or a smartphone galls some people. Using a printed copy of the Bible communicates symbolically, if not directly, to all observing the scene. It indicates a reliance and relationship with God. What the electronic device indicates is a question. Only the one using it actually knows what is on it.
Media took notice
Perhaps that is one reason the public news media took notice of the electronic device when Vice President Joe Biden administered the oath of office to LaVine at the U.S. Embassy in London.
Increasingly churchgoers observe the same trend — electronic devices replacing printed copies of the Bible.
No longer is it uncommon for a pastor to take some type of electronic tablet with him to the pulpit instead of a printed Bible. The pastor easily toggles between Scripture passages, sermon notes, video and audio clips and other resources used for Bible study and preaching.
Some may feel uneasy that the pastor does not use a printed copy of the Word of God but as more and more people live and work in an electronic world the practice will be more and more accepted. Certainly it is easier for the speaker to have so many resources at his fingertips than it is to have a variety of books, printed notes and other items.
Replacing printed books
From seminary classrooms to the Sunday School class, electronic devices are replacing printed books. Professors prepare lectures on electronic devices. They skip between the Hebrew Old Testament, the Greek New Testament and modern-day English translations of the Bible with a swipe of a finger across a screen rather than going from book to book.
Legion are the Sunday School class members who no longer carry a printed Bible with them each Sunday morning. Instead they open their Bible apps on their smartphone for Scripture reading and Bible study. Most Bible apps offer a variety of translations from which to read the designated passage.
Even at major events such as state evangelism conferences or Southern Baptist Convention Pastors Conferences big name personalities frequently take their electronic device from the back pocket of their blue jeans when it is time to read the Scriptures.
Speakers are not the only ones using electronic devices during church services. Instead of taking notes with a pencil and paper, many people type notes into their electronic devices. Some churches encourage people to share reactions with others in real time using their phones and tablets.
This can cause problems. One pastor tells of being reprimanded by a deacon who attended a conference with him. The pastor used an electronic device to read Scripture and take notes during the opening conference session. Afterward the deacon wanted to know why they had come if the pastor was not going to pay attention. The deacon concluded the pastor was busy communicating with friends or roaming the Internet during the various sermons because the pastor seemed absorbed by his electronic tablet.
It was not until the pastor showed him the notes taken from the various sermons that the deacon realized how the pastor used his electronic device.
Unfortunately some people do use their electronic devices to distract them from worship and Bible study. It is possible to sit in a congregation and carry on a digital conversation with someone in the auditorium or across the globe. It is possible to sit quietly and read a novel or explore some website via an electronic device.
But no one has ever found a way to ensure that everyone in an auditorium participates in a worship service or pays attention to the pastor, even before smartphones and tablets existed. Have you ever seen someone asleep in church? Has your mind ever wandered during a sermon?
Word of God itself
Sometimes it is necessary to remind ourselves that it is not the form in which the Word of God is shared that is powerful. It is the Word of God itself. When God promised that His Word would not return void (Isa. 55:11) He did not reference the form His Word would take; only that it would come from His mouth.
The first Bibles were hand copied on vellum scrolls or on papyri. One can imagine some of the monks who had given their lives to meticulously copying Scriptures onto beautiful scrolls complaining about Bibles being printed in mass on a Guttenberg printing press. Yet that was one of the most important steps in getting the Bible into the hands of individuals so the power of God could be experienced personally through reading the Scriptures.
The power of the Bible comes from God Himself, the One who breathed it into existence. The challenge today is to share and proclaim the Word of God as widely as possible in whatever form that communicates.
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