Comments on: Stop Bringing Your Bible to Church! (and don’t look at the screen either)

By: The Discipline of Listening to Sermons | Mere Orthodoxy

The Discipline of Listening to Sermons | Mere Orthodoxy — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 19:36:41 +0000

[...] If they read the Scripture passages aloud, don’t read along the first time. Most Protestants only hear Scripture spoken aloud once a week, so maximize the opportunity by ingesting the Word through a different sense than your eyes. If the sermon is exegetical, you will have opportunity enough to set your eyes on the passage. What we want, though, is to hear God in and through Scripture. So we might as well pay attention to hearing Scripture, as they would have in the early church. (I should note that I’m really excited about this book, which looks fantastic. Also, check on John Dyer’s fantastic post on this issue.). [...]

By: SpiritHappy

SpiritHappy — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 17:24:54 +0000

Hi, Thank you for the post. The bible says to meditate on the word. Sadly many Christians do not fully absorb the word. The Bible should be read slowly line by line …Pause..meditate on the word then ..continue.

King David said “I meditate on your word day and night”

Church often becomes like you are watching a play or theater show. It is the “fastfood” “entertain me” mentality why often we do not feel the presense of God.

SpiritHappy works with teens and adult who struggle with depression and one of the things we teach is to slw down back into the natural stillness of God

By: Twitted by davehardy

Twitted by davehardy — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 21:10:06 +0000

[...] This post was Twitted by davehardy [...]

By: Davin

Davin — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 20:46:02 +0000

While I can understand your motivation for internalizing the passage, what I fear is over-zealous pastors that think they can interpret the Bible perfectly and decide to make some changes to the text to make it easier for the congregation to see what they see. It think it is good to have our Bibles out so that we can make sure what our pastors are telling us is correct. Pastors are not without faults. I'll stick with my Bible.

By: Casey Theule

Casey Theule — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 16:23:38 +0000

this is certainly a valuable experiment.

martyn lloyd-jones encouraged a similar excercise when he prohibited his congregation from taking notes.

we can't always have our notes with us, but we always have our brains. let's learn to use 'em!

By: andydarnell

andydarnell — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 02:52:39 +0000

I have to throw my 2 cents in. I'm running computer graphics nearly every Sunday. I've got it all in front of me and yet, because I'm focusing on the next point, I miss it all. I generally have to go back and listen to the weeks sermon a second time to hear the Word and not miss it.

Great post John.

By: Doug P. Baker

Doug P. Baker — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 01:58:45 +0000

Very interesting idea, listening rather than reading along. We use different sets of mental lenses when we are reading than when we are listening. Reading is more critical/deconstructive, while listening is generally more aesthetic. We read for understanding, we listen for pleasure. Reading (even reading along with someone else) is more impersonal, listening is more communal.

Years ago I asked my pastor to tell me each week what he would be preaching on the next Sunday. Then I could memorize it during the week to be prepared to listen. But he so rarely knew, quite often he didn't know what text he would use until Saturday evening. So I gave up asking. But when he was able to tell me, it made me a more receptive audience for his sermon.

By: Fortuitous Bouncing « Man of Depravity

Fortuitous Bouncing « Man of Depravity — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 14:59:17 +0000

[...] Dyer shares some thoughts on bringing your Bible to church and using powerpoint in [...]

By: Chris Ridgeway

Chris Ridgeway — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 02:08:07 +0000

John –

Just found your blog via your recent post the Media Ecology Association list… a group I'm currently a member of because I'm writing a related masters thesis, although I'm doing it from a seminary, which is prolly more unusual.

Believe it or not, I'm particularly looking at the impact of information media on the doctrine of scripture. So your post is pretty awesome.

I haven't found many others as curious as I am about this topic… so it's nice to find your pad. I'll be sure to keep up. If you like, I have a number of posts on media ecology and theology related stuff over on my blog.

By: johndyer

johndyer — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 17:06:52 +0000

Brian, I love that you noticed that. I didn't have it in when I originally wrote this for another publication and audience that wasn't as web-savvy, but I added it because I thought the metaphor was more apt for this blog.

I always want to make sure that whenever we talk about the benefits of a new way of thinking or new technology, that we also remain aware of the short-comings of the new and the benefits that still exist the old.