Multimedia Bible Studies

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Radio
The medium of radio began with a focus on education, but later shifted to more of an entertainment focus, which is a situation that multimedia Bible studies can learn from. By the 1930s, most families had a radio in their home, which connected faith to current events and others outside their community because information could be shared in many places over a short amount of time (Legg, 2012). This again stresses the importance of forming a community of believers. Radio was beneficial at first because it was education focused and the church used talkback radio, but in the late 1940s the radio became more entertainment focused (Leonard, 2003). All media today reflects this trend of focusing on entertainment and people’s attention spans have grown smaller if they are not interested by something. Christian radio today is now mostly focused on music stations that uplift up Christians and evangelize to non-Christians, but also includes a small number of talks shows and radio dramas (Andriacco, 2000). Music and entertainment are not bad, but they should not take precedence over the goal of educating others in God’s Word. Multimedia Bible studies should take advantage of inspiring and emotional music, but still ensure that growing in God’s Word is the main focus instead of entertainment.
Film
The early use of film demonstrates the danger of translating the Bible into other media, including multimedia Bible studies. In the year 1910, the church saw evangelical possibilities in the production of film, but they did not get enough control over religious output so they stayed away (Leonard, 2003). However, that does not mean that early films did not serve any purpose in the church’s ministry of Christian education. Films quickly succee...

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