Issue 5 in their presenting audio Scripture—They must recognize that oral communication will be effective in proportion to its not being shackled, shaped or defined by literate traditions.
The team is probably literate, and they are the active corps of people who desire to communicate God’s message. But their being part of the literate community tends to blind them to how much literate traditions shape their thinking and actions. For example:
- Many literates hold a criteria for “accuracy” that is directly related to the importance that they attribute to the details of the Palestinian background, Jewish customs, the names of people (even minor participants) and names of places. However, people of other cultures couldn’t care less about such things! They are more likely to be open to changing their worldview because someone has demonstrated to them that God truly loves them. We must recognize that their understanding God’s invitation is clouded by someone communicating historical and geographical information.
- A literate criterion for packaging the message is directly related to how the team received the “package”. Styling is directly related to writing with all its apparatuses of format and layout. The team learned from a book. But they must shift out of the literate mind-set. Even though each of the team probably heard many sermons before he or she believed, that person now considers the reading Scripture as the beginning and continuance of his or her spiritual life. However, very few of the people whom they hope will respond to God’s message will believe by reading and only a few will grow spiritually through reading. But many will likely to begin to respond if they hear a clear message. Oral learners are more likely to change their worldview through their hearing God’s message in oral song or chants, dance forms, drama and locally styled speech forms.
A team must accept that oral communication is a totally different mind-set!!! Orality should not be considered an optional side program. It should be the main focus, with printed Scripture a later benefit. Oral communication makes God’s message available to 100% of any language group. Printed Scripture makes it available to 5-25%, even in those societies that are labeled “Literate”.
Issue 6 in their presenting audio Scripture—They must recognize that oral learners will not be listening to the whole New Testament at one listening session, neither are they likely to listen to a whole document at one listening session. Even readers do not read the whole New Testament at one session, and only rarely will they read a whole document at one time.
Oral learners learn best in short sessions. They retain best the teaching on a single topic. They can re-tell a short lesson easily.
Issue 7 in their presenting audio Scripture—They must recognize that their distributing messages does not guarantee results, neither over radio or on hand-held devices. But it does cause many listeners to hear the messages and perhaps it might cause them to ask other people for more information.
Most people will begin to listen because of the novelty of the audio recording in their language. Many listeners probably will listen to pass the time or to be distracted from their daily lives.
- Thus, we have chosen portions for the first and second groups of audio Scripture that we expect might motivate listeners TO WANT TO LEARN, even though they might begin listening only casually.
- Thus we design the presentations so that the listeners can hear the sounds clearly and correctly interpret their meaning. With our presenting the sentences uncluttered with unfocused information, the listeners ARE MORE LIKELY TO RECOGNIZE THE IMPLICATIONS.
Issue 8 in their presenting audio Scripture—They must state or imply that the messages are valid.
We are mistaken to assume that the listeners will easily accept the messages as valid or worthy of consideration. We should assume a certain amount of indifference for most listeners.
- We can communicate validity through the introductory speeches of the contemporary person. Such a person will state or imply that he has evaluated the message as valuable to him. Thus the whole message will likely be credible to the listeners.
- When the listeners think about the implications of the message and those implications are attractive, even in a small way, they will likely accept the message as valid.
