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November 19th, 2010
10:45 AM ET
Bible app hits 10 million downloadsEditor's Note: CNN's Katie Glaeser brings us this report. Can your cell bring you closer to God? Oklahoma based LifeChurch.tv thinks so. Tuesday the church announced more than ten million smartphone users worldwide have downloaded its free Bible application. LifeChurch hopes by having a copy handy, people will be more likely to read scripture. The app, which is based on the church-funded website, YouVersion.com, launched in July of 2008. Since then, users have spent 3.5 billion minutes trolling through Bible passages. Yes- that was billion. During a webcast on YouVersion.com, pastor Bobby Gruenewald announced what he called a “revolution” taking place. “Could this be the generation that’s more engaged with God than any other generation in history?” he asked. YouVersion’s mission is to make God’s word more accessible and they seem to have done just that with their pocket-sized psalms. Tuesday, Gruenewald declared a challenge. He wants his app’s users to generate one billion minutes of Bible reading during January. “We really believe if God’s words can be part of our everyday life… that in itself will transform lives.” Enhancements are expected to roll out over the next few months on the mobile app. Users will soon be able to keep journals, highlight passages, and take part in reading programs broken down by topics of interest. The LifeChurch app is available on Apple, Android, BlackBerry and Palm platforms. |
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The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team.  |
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10 million downloads? That's gotta be #1 in the fiction category.
Some of you made comments on here for the sole purpose of trying to dissuade people from reading Bible. Guess what? Without your or a Christian leader's influence 10 million people have downloaded the Bible anyway! Sure some may have deleted the app, but something or someone drove them to download it in the first place and it’s that "something" or “someone” that you cannot influence or dissuade.
ya i dwnloaded it to shut you and others like you down.
"ya i dwnloaded it to shut you and others like you down."
That's not the Band-Aid® comeback panacea you'd hoped for, I see.
Yes, I downloaded it out of curiosity...and was quickly reminded of why following it felt wrong so long ago.
I can't wait for Jews to disprove the NT with the Iphone.
I proved the existence of invading space aliens with an Atari once...
Two thousand years isn't enough time? Now they'll do it with technology? Wow.
Happy Friday!! Just wanted to say SHUT UP SHUT UP.. to all the people who always have something negative to say about GOD and religion. Maybe today you will walk across the street and and bus blasts into your back... I bet you will pray then u idiots. Anywho have a wonderful day people::))
oh selena you are just too cute.
teehee!
Oh thats right! I forgot that your fake god Jesus preached about how it was okay to pass judgement and wish death on others! So amazing your hypocrisy. Heres a bible verse that you might wanna read that may make you feel a bit ashamed. Heck it may even lead to your suicide one can only hope. Romans 2:1-3, or how bout Mathew 5:43 – 45. Btw notice that he refers to only sons reference to the father. lol Gotta love that good old Roman man love!
But that's just it Selena, we won't pray. We won't fall to our knees and beg Jesus to forgive and save us. No matter what situation I find myself in, I won't suddenly believe God took a rib and created a woman. I won't instantly start believing in one of hundreds of Gods throughout. We don't believe in God because we are worried about the afterlife. I don't believe in God because I care about this life
@Greg – The verses you reference state exactly the opposit to your point. It is not for us to pass judgement. Certainly Jesus never said it was okay for us to judge others. How does "love (agape) the Lord your God with all your heart, all your mind and all your soul and love (agape)your neighbor (everyone) as yourself.", get turned into "judge others"? If we Christ followers are judgemental then we are not living according to scripture.
Selena is a perfect example of an ignorant deity worshiper.
"How does" insert ridiculous nonsense here "get turned into judge others?"
You might ask your fellow dog worshipers the same question.
@Chuck, you are a quick one. He was being sarcastic...
Selena had me at "SHUT UP, SHUT UP", even before the back-busting-bus bit of wishful "thinking"; many thanks for the superlative rant...
And creatures such as Selena, my friends, are why I acquired enough sense to break free of the prison that is religion.
Greg: Your silly reference to "sons" is based on nothing but your ignorance of Greek. The original Greek New Testament uses the word "adelphoi" in the scripture you cite. The singular is adelphos for a boy or man and adelpha for a girl or woman. When speaking of both sons and daughters, Greek uses only the masculine plural. Most Indo-European languages do this. Americans don't know it because we don't typically study languages. You people slay me. You declare your intellectual superiority even as you parade your ignorance!
LOL ya i've downloaded the app once or twice to use to show the hypocrisy of the book. I mean i've felt like its imperative to have the proof right in front of you when some self righteous christian starts spouting off a bunch of b.s. that you can bang em in the face with exactly what their source of reference actually says and show how crazy and misinformed they really are.
Great. Now if people would only read it, and find that Jesus never said it was OK judge, humiliate, discriminate, or kill gays, blacks, athiests, etc.. Conservative churches might wish this had never happened. Most of their power comes from keeping the flock stupid and ignorant
LOL...You act as if the Bible only just became available to the masses last week! LOL..Please!
George Bush does not like Smartphones with Bible applications loaded on them. - KWest
lol
I have one little concern with some of us who are trying to defend those who are criticizing this article or any article like wise. You cannot be angry or disrespect when others are not agreeing and even disrespecting your believe. Love and tolerance always has been an effective way of defending Christianity. Just a suggestion to my fellow Christians. Thanks
@yoseph: Would that more people listen to you. You make an important point but got no responses. I hope that means people are listening to you instead of ignoring you.
Bible paper is great to roll joints.
I collect them out of Hotel rooms and toss 'em into the fireplace...great kindling!
10 million morons]
Athos .... like my comment to Robert. When you stand before Jesus Christ, your judge and you stand before HIM ... He might say perhaps – let me see is this guy one of the "10 million morons" who follow ME? Nope not on the list as referring to those who follow ME (Jesus) .....I think He called them morons" Depart from Me ... yeah, that is what He will say and not only that ... to Hell. So make sure you get your moron message defined and dig deep and find the truth about Jesus Christ. We cannot afford to be in the wrong camp on that day, moron aside.
10 million people who are looking for salvation in the wrong place. only you can save yourself.
save yourself from eternal separation from God? how do we do that?
Considering the company he keeps, separation doesn't seem like something one would need saving from...
Farva-one day you will face Jesus Christ and that is true even if you do not believe it. You cannot wish that fact away. You call us silly even though the Bible has never been disproved and you do not have a better answer for death either. The fool says in his heart there is no God. "If you acknolwedge me before men I will acknowledge you before my father. If you reject me before men I will you before my father." JESUS CHRIST
"you do not have a better answer for death either"
Not even sure what that means? Things live, then die. There's no answer for it; just like everything else, eventually it ends. Only a religious person would need more than that.
"the Bible has never been disproved"
Neither has the Cat in the Hat®. I don't need to disprove the existence of the tooth fairy: all of us who have grown up into adulthood know it is a myth and a lie.
People have been trying to disprove the Bible for two centuries and they have failed! There are no doctrinal discrepancies in the Bible because it is God-inspired! If you are a Christian, life on earth is as BAD as it gets. If you are NOT a Christian, life on earth is as GOOD as it gets!
"People have been trying to disprove the Bible for two centuries and they have failed!"
Sorry, but no one needs to disprove the bible. Do we need to prove that Harry Potter is a fictional character?
Really, not been disproved? I would say that many things in the bible have been disproved. If you just mean that there is nobody that has disproved there is a God? I challenge to disprove there are no leprechauns. Also, if I walk around saying I talked to god should I then ask people to prove I am wrong or should people ask me to prove I am right. Certainly the latter.
Who needs to disprove it? The inconsistencies are blatantly obvious.
@Terre: You kno' dose momma behrs can be vishuss, you betcha!
10 million nuts with more ammunition.
aint it great
Yes, it is!
Robert – You will have a chance to stand before Jesus Christ one day and ask HIM if what you said is true or not. I think the answer will be self-evident to you as you stand there.
I just have one question for Christians. If you believe this book of fables and myths, and truly believe that you will have eternal life after death, why does life on earth stress you out so much. I am referring to getting those job promotions which lead to having more money, which then allows you to have more things, blah blah blah. But then it never really seems to be enough and you work even harder so that you can go on that expensive vacation and sent your kids to the best schools. If I knew with 100% certainty (which Christians advocate) that I would have eternal life after death, I would be at such peace with myself and could care less about having financial wealth and material possessions while having a physical existence on earth.
this is why Jesus says you can't serve God and money- you'll hate one and love the other.
Common Robert. Just because I am a Christian doesn't mean that I don't enjoy things. I like my house, my car, and my job. I enjoy many things which have a cost. So to be obsessed and driven only by money, yeah, that's not good. But to enjoy something and to be successful is not what God was condeming.
because none of them truly believe in that nonsense... they only claim to but deep down they have a gut feeling this is all a fairy tale...
Robert: that is a very valid question. A few answers. We have a sinful nature. All fall short of the glory of GOD. Jesus says "Faith as small as a mustard seed can move mountains" and sometimes we (Christians) lose that eternal persective of God and get lost in the day to day gruge of life. But i have hope for tomorrow that i will do better because of Jesus.
poison.
Careful who you call poison. This one, Jesus of Nazareth, said "do not fear him who can kill the body and can do no more (mere man) .. but this is who you should fear....fear HIM (God) who has the power to throw both body and soul into hell." That would feel awful and how dreadful, like being poisoned or something worst. Come to Jesus in faith ... believing ... and your eyes will be opened and you will find HIM to be the perfect antidote, as many have to the poison in us ... sin.
“When the missionaries came to Africa they had the Bible and we had the land. They said, 'Let us pray.' We closed our eyes. When we opened them we had the Bible and they had the land.” – Bishop Desmond Tutu
Isn't an app for a electronic device science? and doesn't using science totally go against religion? It proves religion wrong as science is rooted in logic as a=b with proofs. but religion states a came from a cosmic force whom you need faith to believe in with no proof. So using an app is equal to not believing in god if you really look at it.
Religion and science are not mutually exclusive.
Yes they are.. Let's start with the first chapter... Oh 6 day creation? No, that's not how it happened...
Specifics of the bible are at odds with science. If you want to take the hard and literal tack, I'm sure you'll find all the discrepancies you want to, but not all scientists reject religion and not all religious folks reject science. Many read the bible allegorically instead of as a rigid historical compendium of fact laid out from minute one.
@Rye,
Allegory would be the only acceptable view of the Bible, with "God" meaning the Laws of Nature or the Laws of Physics.
Aesop's Fables contains as much wisdom and moral guidance... and I know of nobody who thinks that there are really talking foxes or turtles who race rabbits.
@Rye_, yeah you can make anything up if you want to using this method.. it's interesting how Religious people use the "metaphor" excuse when bible makes no sense or is owned by the science, but they don't do that when it comes to miracles supposedly done by Jesus.. he walked on water? oh no, that is meant to be read literally, Mary was a virgin? that also was literal meaning.... 6 day creation? no that is a metaphor... lol excuses, excuses, excuses...
People are funny, I'll give you that.
"Specifics of the bible are at odds with science."
ALL of religion is at odds with science. If you started a lecture with the words, "I believe with my entire being that the tooth fairy is real", you would be laughed off the stage. Your god is no different from the tooth fairy.
You are so wrong about that. I've never gotten a dollar from God.
@Rye: I share your viewpoint. And I wish more people did. The literalists from both sides do nothing to ease the gulf between them and hamper coexistence on all fronts. But I don't really think they care as much about coexistence as conquering. The possibilities of the universe are endless, and I do not count out the possibility of a god having an existence somewhere. The idea that he is a male/female, hindu/jewish, punisher/enabler carpenter/warrior is what we project onto the unknown. Science will never dispel the concept of god unless it proves god to be real and knowable. And religion should never dally in the path of science because it does more to hinder than help.
THIS IS GREAT NEWS!!!! CHRISTIANS will read it for the first time and figure out HOW IMMORAL and MYTHICAL this book is. SOON there will be more ATHEISTS!!!! GOOD NEWS!
If you don't mind me asking GSK, are you an athiest? If so, why?
because nobody has showed me any evidence that an almighty being exists, especially the ones described in those silly books...
http://esoriano.wordpress.com/
just cuz someone downloaded the app doesnt mean they use it. I have over 40 apps, i frequently use maybe half a dozen
It's not an app just for religious folks. The bible is one of the most widely quoted and misquoted books of all time. I use it for easy and accurate reference.