Reading your Bible, geek style
A while ago I read and bookmarked a blog post by Joe Suh. Joe’s a co-founder of the social networking site MyChurch.org. He told the story about how he manages to religiously catch up with web feeds throughout his day, but struggles to find the same devotion to reading scripture. It struck a chord, and it’s got me thinking.
The RSS reader, that eternal fountain of information, can be a dangerous thing. Keeping track of hundreds of fascinating blogs and other content sources is made all too easy - I just have to click on the next unread post and absorb the nice fresh pile of words (while the next lot quietly downloads in the background).
So what if reading the Bible could be that easy? I mean, we’re supposed to be redeeming technology for God’s purposes, right? Here’s my new strategy:
- 1. Clear your head. If you’ve been sitting at the PC for a while, get up and get some blood flowing. Pray for understanding and for the Spirit to reveal something new.
2a. Go to thebiblepodcast.org and start listening to a chapter of the New English Translation streamed straight from the website. What I’ve done is subscribe to the podcast’s feed, which prompts me every day that there’s a new chapter ready to listen to. If that sounds like a reasonable idea but you’re not too sure about this whole podcast-feed-RSS-nonsense, we’ll have a nice beginner’s guide to getting into podcasts in another post soon, just for you. 
2b. If you’re not tethered to the computer and one of those more out-and-about types, you could also subscribe to the Bible Podcast in iTunes, sync with your iPod and listen on the go.
3. Serving suggestion: In a new window or tab, open up www.bible.org and jump to today’s passage to read along with the audio. I find this helps me to focus and get a better understanding from the way the text is laid out.
Now I have a feeling that reading your Biblepodcast may be a bit of a cop-out, and it’s surely not for everyone. There’s a lot to be said for your real-life, leather-bound version. If I read one chapter a day this way, it isn’t even going to get me through a third of the Bible in a year. But it’s a whole lot better than no chapters a day.
Let’s hear from you. For fellow victims of information overload out there, what are some of the ways you try to make sure the Word of God doesn’t get blindsided by the thousands of other voices shouting for your attention daily?
January 19th, 2007 at 04:39
I’m glad to know I’m not the only victim of information overload! Thanks for sharing your tips
I think #1 is the most fitting for me. I spend way too much time in front of the PC. Logging off, walking away from the computer, and carrying nothing electronic sounds like the best strategy for me personally.
And my weekly small group should be a good opportunity for me to do that. Clearing my head and praying for the Spirit to reveal something new - now why didn’t I think of that!?
Peace.
joe
January 19th, 2007 at 08:39
Thanks for the link-in to The Bible Podcast. Reading the scripture along with the podcast sounds like a good way to focus in on the text. My only concern is that I tend to make quick slip-of-the-tongue mistakes in the reading, and if too many people follow along with the printed text, they’ll start calling my on it!
January 21st, 2007 at 00:11
I wouldn’t worry too much about that Michael! Thanks for all the hard work you put into the podcast - it’s touching so many lives.
April 14th, 2007 at 20:36
Topher….
you see here’s the thing, all this tech overload while i have been here (in the UK) has done just that to me…. especially been out in the UK largely on my own, you’d think there would be more time for God, you know in all those lonely moments and stuff. But somehow it just don’t seem that way. Anything from all those funky RSS feeds that you taught me so well how to use, to the latest podcasts, whether Christian, news, whatever…
In fact i think my tendency has been to know absolutely everything that is in the news, like first thing i do when i get home is flick on to BBC news (there really are no other better channels!). THen i am on the net, maybe check out the M&G back home… quickly push play on 702’s Africa Report podcast…
And if it is not that, then it is the insane access to all things sport… as we speak, I am browsing iChurch, listening to the cricket on streaming audio, and have the FA Cup football on the TV… oh and of course I have all those instant messenger efforts running as well… and am in the middle of a conversation as I type!
So I so get how quickly time slips away. But I have managed to at least try use the good old technology to my spiritual advantage… like this week when I downloaded 3 sermons on Tuesday night from the Church I was at in Southampton earlier this year, popped them onto my iPod, and listened to them on the tube on the way to work the following 3 days. Any massive spiritual epiphanies? Nope, but I know the potential is there… i just wish they would turn up the volume on the recording, cause it is pretty hard to hear a contemplative preacher above the screaming rail tracks and the reverberating train engine (or whatever it is that drives those things)
oh and kudos to the guys who brought the Bible to my cellphone… many an opportunity on the train to check out some verses… nice one.
But there just aint no substitue for turning off the TV, laptop, iPod, cellphone, sitting on the couch, and talking to God. The band width on that connection is infinite