HARDIN, Ky. (BNc) — He loves the Bible, and Bibles. And he loves making notes in his Bible. So when Daniel Howell, preacher for the Hardin congregation, found a way to make notes on his Kindle Fire through the Olive Tree Bible Reader and store them in several devices and on the cloud, he made the jump: no more paper Bibles.
“My Kindle Fire is essentially my Bible now. No more paper Bible. It’s where I make my notes,” Daniel, who’ll be 26 next month, wrote in a recent blog post. He explained how he does it.
“Olive Tree has released it’s apps for the PC and for Mac. These have changed the game significantly. They were the missing link. The PC and Mac apps will allow you to enter notes using your computer and sync them to Olive Tree’s sync service. By doing this, you have your notes on all of your devices, as well as in the cloud,” Daniel said.
Writing in the paper Bible may be easier, but the disadvantage is that what’s written is hard if not impossible to change. Also, notes can be lost if the Bible is lost or damaged. Then, there’s the advance of technology that will not likely change:
The reality is this: I’m no prophet, but the chances that we’ll go back to some archaic way of living during my lifetime are fairly slim. Technology will likely continue to advance, so whereas I used to use paper, I’ll likely have some sort of digital medium available to me for the rest of my life. Think about that reality for yourself. We will likely progress deeper into digital mediums, not regress back into paper.
“I feel pretty good about making the switch. I feel even better that my notes will be preserved in multiple places, and in easier-to-use, searchable formats as well”, Daniel said.
Daniel represents one among many who are adopting new technologies for study and service. His experience highlights the advantages that digital formats offer to Christians.
2012-02-01 at 2:44 pm
Very interesting. I wonder if you make a note in one translation, does it show up in the other translations that you have.
2012-02-01 at 2:44 pm
I made the jump to paperless early last fall. I purchased an Apple iPad and have had experience with OliveTree software on other platforms. The benefit of making notes, highlighting, underlining (with great flexibility) and then changing those markings is a great plus. I can make notes for specific situations. It is also great for sermon notes, funeral notes, even wedding notes.
The one caveat I learned the hard way. When I upgraded the iOS, I had not backed up my notes with OliveTree. Fortunately, there were not many notes at that time. I not back up to their cloud whenever I make more than a couple of notes.
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2012-02-01 at 9:10 pm
@Don – As long as the note is tied to the reference it shows up in every translation.
@Dave – I’ve preached from devices for a few months (years if you count experimenting with 2nd gen Kindle)… It has taken the PC and MAC apps to get me to fully commit. It’s quite a jump! Hope you like it as much as I do. Sync often!