The team behind the megapopular YouVersion Bible app recently surveyed some users who regularly rely on the mobile and tablet app to read the Bible and their poll yielded some stunning results.
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When comparing the responses from YouVersion users to the reactions of everyday Americans who participated in the “Stress in America” study — a separate analysis conducted by the American Psychological Association (APA) — the YouVersion team found that regular Bible readers in their community reported experiencing less stress.
A YouVersion press release has some of the finer details:
The APA survey reports 59 percent of its respondents say terrorism is a very or somewhat significant source of stress. In contrast, 18 percent of Bible App survey respondents say terrorism is the current event that causes them the most stress.
Similarly, the APA survey showed 57 percent of people say the current political climate is a very or somewhat significant source of stress, while 16 percent of YouVersion respondents say the national political climate is the current event that causes them the most stress. […]
In the YouVersion study, 30 percent of respondents say that reading Scripture before a stressful event occurs helps them best deal with stress, and 41 percent say reading Scripture in the moment best helps them find relief. And when they turn to Scripture to deal with stress, 47 percent first look at the Bible App’s Verse of the Day. Others first look up their favorite verses from memory (45 percent), resume reading where they last left off in the Bible (45), or search for a YouVersion Bible Plan (40 percent) to deal with stress.
YouVersion creator Bobby Gruenewald said that the results didn’t surprise him, as he believes “the Bible withstands the test of time” and speaks to the challenges that people face on a daily basis.
And with scripture becoming so accessible via technology, Gruenewald believes that the benefits are paying off.
“People are opening and engaging with it throughout the course of their daily life, no matter where they find themselves,” he said of YouVersion. “We’re thankful to offer access — anytime, anywhere — to this source of timeless wisdom.”
Find out more about YouVersion here.