Even Bibles Affected by Technological Revolution

I really don't like to carry things around if I can avoid it, even my Bible to church. It isn't so much that I'm lazy, I just tend to leave them some place or feel like I have to continually take mental notes as to where they are. So for years now I would go to church and look at the big screen which would spoon feed the verses that were central to the sermon of the day.

In the old days, I would like to read with the Pastor, even in a different translation, just to get other perspectives. I would like to read passages around it in order to better understand the context in which it was written. But convenience has consistently beaten this instinct.

Until now. It wasn't planned, but at church yesterday I thought about my little pda that I have been writing so much about lately, and used it to go to a website I was familiar with called "Bible Gateway." I looked at the church bulletin, saw the verses for the day, had them read before the sermon began, and even was able to look at them in a few different translations. The site had dozens of translations available, which would have been very difficult for a person to carry around.

I believe there will always be a place for printed Bibles, I know I prefer to thumb through one at the comfort of home (but it is often with this website near because of the resources it has available). But I also have little doubt that powerful hand held devices that can quickly get me where I want to go, will affect this industry as well. It is a brave new world for everyone and everything, even something as old as the Bible.