I’ve always wondered what other people prefer / practice when reading the Book of Mormon or Holy Bible:
- Sit down with a physical, tangible book to read and turn pages.
- Sit in front of a computer or hand held device to read. Scrolling down to read further.
What do you prefer?
Initially I opted for the physical method of sitting down with the actual book. Something lacks from sitting in front of a laptop that can’t be duplicated in electronic form. Reading a real book involves touch of the paper and the ability to hold the scriptures in your hand. Having the actual book with you on Sundays seems to be the better option, as in the case when you’re taking classes the electronic device, in my mind, shouldn’t be used as it can be distracting.
These days I find myself more so using the online scriptures at scriptures.lds.org. Its easier to access than carrying around my quad around and I really don’t like to take that into work. When I first started investigating and more recently when trying to get back into a strong habit of reading / studying in the morning and evening and doing it daily. In the morning I’ll try to take the first 5 or 10 minutes of the day to read a chapter.
Occasionally when I have an extra 5 minutes I also utilize the free eBooks I found on the internet that fit on my blackberry.
The convenience factor is a large factor in using the electronic form of the scriptures. Besides convenience, it is also easier to find a phrase or word in a chapter by searching the page. The search features in scriptures.lds.org also work well.
One trick that I use to harness the search power of google is to do the following:
In the search bar of my browser or at google.com‘s home page I search the scripture site by typing in the search box “site:scriptures.lds.org [insert word or phrase here]” Make sure that you have quotes around a phrase if you are searching for a phrase. For example, if I want to search for “Spiritual Eyes” on scriptures.lds.org I would do this search.
Also, the functionality built in to the scripture site, like clicking on footnotes and the cross-referencing is very useful as well and can be done with great speed than using an actual book.
Either way, I suppose it doesn’t matter about the delivery of the book as long as it is understood and taken in with an open mind and an open heart.
Nice post. I usually prefer the “hard copy” (seems funny to refer to the scriptures this way), but I must admit that the way the website is laid it, reading and studying electronically is at times much more convenient. There have been many times when I might be writing about an incident or experience in my life and have been searching for just the right scripture. Sure, I could go to the Bible dictionary or the topical guide, but using the LDS.org site is AMAZING!
marlajayne,
I am so happy that the is Church embracing the latest technologies and having great resources such as: lds.org, mormon.org, scriptures.lds.org and jesuschrist.lds.org
They are definitely keeping things easily accessible for the world to find! 🙂