The Blessings and Burdens of Bible Study in the Digital Age
The 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries are milestones in the history of Bible study: the first translation of the Bible into English by Wycliffe, the first printing of the Bible by Gutenberg, and the first printing of the New Testament in English by Tyndale. The movement had begun to get Holy Scripture into the hands the people in their native language, to make it accessible to everyone, so that everyone who wished could study the Bible for themselves. We are currently in the midst of a second revolution of sorts. With the advent of the "digital age", not only is the Bible readily available for any who wish, but Bible study tools, basic and advanced, are readily accessible to anyone who owns a computer.
The availability of Bible study software has brought a number of blessings. Tools are now easily accessible to people. Now, instead of having to buy a number of costly, thick volumes that take up a great deal of space, even a few hundred dollars will give a person access to countless reference works without requiring a single bookshelf. Further, Bible study tools are not only more accessible, but easier to use. There is no longer a need to shuffle books around a small desk trying to look back and forth between all the open volumes. Now, a simple click opens a book to just the right spot, and doesn't require any additional space. Bibles and commentaries can be linked together so that they scroll simultaneously. Right clicking a word in a Bible can immediately open a concordance to the word in question. This ease of use also allows a person to quickly and easily gather a wealth of information. Now, an entire digital library can be searched for references to a verse or topic with the utmost ease. Digital Bible study tools have brought accessible, easy to use tools to the fingertips of the masses, allowing us to receive an abundance of information in a matter of seconds.
But these very blessings are at the same time potential burdens. The fact that so much information can be gathered so quickly and easily can lead to a number of problems. It is easy to become inundated with information, to the point that it is difficult to know what to do with it. Time can be wasted trying to sift through resource after resource, some of which might not be very helpful. This can also lead to people simply not using the tools, because the lack of knowledge of how to use them can lead to discouragement. Not only is information overload a potential problem, but there is also a risk that, with more people having more access to more information with less work, people will more easily misuse and abuse what they have. The unfortunate truth is that people have and will continue to twist scripture. Since having information can give the appearance of having knowledge, and knowledge tends to lend credibility, there actually becomes a greater potential for people to misuse the tools, regardless of their intent.
What this inevitably leads to are a number of responsibilities for pastors and lay teachers. The first is that there is a greater need for those who are committed to the sound teaching of scripture and have knowledge of how to accurately use these tools to stay trained in how to best use all the features of digital Bible study tools. Second, there needs to be a commitment to get tools into the hands of people. The potential burdens should not keep us from retreating from the commitment to help people study and apply God's Words for themselves into some sort of intellectual elitism. Instead, our third and most important responsibility is to teach people how to use these tools effectively. If we only go half-way on this step, and give people the ability to amass information without the training to properly and effectively use it, we fail. We should rejoice that people can now, more than ever, truly dive into Bible study, but we must be prepared to help them to make the most of what we've been given.