Why Powerpoint is Worse than Your Bible
This last weekend I announced that I won’t be putting the Bible verses on our screens anymore during our weekend services. The references, yes, but the verses themselves will need to be read out of your own Bible that you bring with you or that you get from the seat in front of you. I didn’t really have too much time to explain the deeper reason why we are making this change, so I thought I would have a go at it here…
My reason can be summarize in a phrase - “The Medium is the Message.” If you ever study communication theory, this is one of the first slogans you will learn. A Canadian communication theorist named Marshall McLuhan was the author of the slogan and by it he meant that every method we use to communicate necessarily influences the content of the communication. For example, years ago the great philosopher Socrates was concerned about his Greek society moving from the spoken to the written word.
He argued that when a person writes instead of speaks his words, the content of the message is divorced from the person delivering the message. Speaking is better because you can see the gestures a person makes during the communication act and you know the character of the person who is speaking, at least to some degree. In writing, both the gestures and the knowledge of character are gone. My words on a page look the same as a murderer’s and the reader cannot make a distinction between them. The point is the that the method used (writing versus speaking) necessarily influences the message being communicated.
So, what does that have to do with putting the verses on Powerpoint? A lot, really. When you read the verses on a screen controlled by a media operator, you have no ability to go back and forth to remember what was just read. You don’t get to see the context in which the verses appear in the Scriptures. Your ability to question and check the interpretation the preacher is giving is significantly hampered. On the other hand, if you have the Bible open in your hands, you can do all of these things. And who knows, you might even get used to having that Bible in your hands so that when you get up on a Wednesday morning you will do it again.
The point is that there is much to be gained over the long term by having the Bible open in your lap. I know it requires a short term sacrifice. It’s a lot easier to have it on a screen. It’s more convenient. It doesn’t require you to have to carry something more in your hands in addition to your kid’s coats, their bags, your phone, your purse or wallet, and snacks for the moments when hunger strikes you in the middle of the service. But, a little sacrifice now will likely lead to greater gains in the future. So, bring your Bible to church. If you forget, we will have one here for you to use.
#1 from Dorothea on February 17, 2010
Jeff, I think this is a great idea. I remember when I was a child and then when I came back to church as an adult how impressed I was by people who could pick up a bible and find the passages right away. They knew those passages and they knew them in context. That only happens with study and familiarity. The only way to really know the book is to use the book.
I have to admit that I like the passages on powerpoint for all the wrong reasons - I don’t have to carry anything, it’s there, it’s big. And I DON’T like it because it feels disconnected. So I think I’ll learn more and be a better bible reader because I have to actually use the book. Thanks.