The product follows hard on the heels of products like Megavoice
dubbed the ‘God Pod’ a solar powered, hand-held computer that plays a digitally recorded reading of the Bible.
“While mobiles are great for up-to-the-minute information
urgent messages and football scores - we are offering people an opportunity to use the same technology for reflection,”
said Michael Pfundner, Bible Society’s Development Officer. “Just two minutes’ Bible reading, on a crowded
train, can be really helpful on a busy day.”
For church ministers in a counselling situation, bringing
out a leather-bound book can appear scholarly and aloof – “reading a Psalm from a Sony Ericsson is much less threatening,”
explained Michael Pfundner.
The age of the ‘pew Bible’ may be over too, as
churches will no longer need to provide Bibles for visitors, a Bible Society release has said.
Mobile phone users in more than 130 countries will be able
to make use of the service in a choice of translations.
“With the launch of this product the Bible is no longer
a dusty book on a shelf – it becomes part of a person’s daily life and culture, as natural as their personalised
ringtone or mp3s,” said Pfundner.
“We expect demand for VirtualBible™ to come mainly,
but not exclusively from young people for whom accessing information of all kinds on their mobiles is as normal as making
a phone call,” said Michael Pfundner. “It fits in with our mission to make the Bible – and its message accessible
to a generation that reads screens more than books. The words and truth remain the same.”
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