Monday, September 17, 2012

Digital Scriptures?

I have always been a firm believer in the importance of using actual paper scriptures...the kind with pages you can turn and margins you can write notes in.  Both of my sets of scriptures (the tiny little quad that I got when I was baptized AND my larger print set that I got when I turned 40) are covered in highlights and scribbles and marked with different colors for each time I've read them.  I LOVE my scriptures.  I LOVE that I can see exactly what I was thinking each time I've read a particular chapter in the past.  I LOVE that some passages have been highlighted so many times that they've become kind of a greenish brown color.  I LOVE that they're permanent.  


My scriptures have become very personal and I feel a little lost when I don't have them with me.  So today when I flew out the door to Institute, and realized I didn't have my scriptures with me, I was a little frustrated.  I seriously considered going back home to get them.  But since I was already 10 minutes late, I decided to just get there and make it work.  And then I realized that I have a scripture app on my phone, right in my hand, that I've never actually used.  




I was happily relieved at how easy and quick it was to download everything, find the scripture I needed, and still keep up with the Institute teacher.  And THEN...guess what!  I really wanted to mark one of the scriptures we had talked about.  And it turns out I can do that, too...right on my phone!  

I can even pick different color options and underline stuff!

Wait!  It gets better!  Later in the class, the teacher used a relevant quote that I really liked and knew that I would want to remember it the next time I read this section of the Doctrine and Covenants.  With my paper scriptures, I would normally have written it on a sticky note and just stuck it right on the page.  But with this app, I found a little "NOTE" option when I highlighted which is just like adding my very own digital sticky.  

After spending 90 minutes getting to know this app, I might be converted to digital scriptures. In fact, I came home and told the Scout Master that I need an iPad.  Think it'll work?  :)

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