Our Need for Physical Bibles

Wes Hill starts his recent article in Christianity Today magazine with this sentence: “As I prepare to begin my tenth year as a seminary professor, I’m going to begin the biblical capstone class I’ll be teaching by recommending that my students consider taking up a habit they’re likely unfamiliar with: bringing an actual, physical, printed-and bound Bible to class.” Kudos to Dr. Hill for taking this step. The presence of smartphones and Bible apps, which are not bad things in and of themselves, has led more and more believers to never carry or read an actual paper Bible. Without a physical bible we can easily lose our sense of the Genesis to Revelation narrative of redemption. We are limited in our ability to understand context. It is more difficult to cross-reference passages. We don’t read as deeply on the screen. And, we are more easily distracted. With Christmas coming, why not set each of your kids up with the gift a good, old-fashioned, physical Bible?