Church and smartphones

I once joked on this blog about a church in the near future where there will be no bible.I mean no paper bible,a church where everything is electronic. A church where the pastor reads his sermon from his Ipad, the church members read hymns from their android,blackberry or windows smartphones. That kind of church is not far from reality or am I permitted to say it is here afterall you can download a bible application on any of the afore-mentioned devices and the hymns are just texts aren't they?

Then I stop to think that I have really gone to church with this in mind one time or the other;my phone equipped with a bible application (kjv, niv whatever) and the hymn book carefully downloaded in a directory on my phone. I reminisce on one of these particular occasions and I then ask myself the question- Is it right?

When you have your phone with you during church service(especially if it is not in airplane mode) there are many distractions-a mail,a breaking news,the list goes on. This of course will cause distractions, hence the inability to focus completely on the speaker,pastor,or what have you. Some might just say their bible app has to connect to the internet to download each verse upon request but then there is that opportunity for anything to creep in afterall your phone is on.

It is no longer news that smartphones and related technologies have come to stay neither is it that I condemn using mobile tablets in church but then we should evaluate ourselves and try to discover what is good for us.

Furthermore,I will like to not that some churches now paste small bills on their walls reading as

such:

Off your phone and Switch to the network of God.

I don't know if they are entirely right on this issue but then it is not new to find people chatting and surfing the net during church services(I think everyone with a smartphone is guitly of this).

Lastly,we have lost the precious human relationship we used to have due to smartphones,these days we prefer to chat online,make video calls rather than walking down the road or driving that mile to have a personal chat with someone else. As if that was not enough is it rather disgusting to be present physically with someone and all they can do is chat with another person and in the end they ask you,”What were you saying?”. That is what we do to people now we are doing it to God.

God Bless.