Issue 9 in their presenting audio Scripture—They must recognize that the effectiveness of an audio-recording is closely related to how personable it is. A person who reads aloud a printed text simulates the speech of a Christian leader as he reads to his people. We are mistaken to assume that the listeners will recognize the message as from the Apostles. However, a person who speaks the communication as his own is impersonating an Apostle. Thus, the listeners are likely to feel as if the speaker is talking to them person to person.
Everyone should recognize that some oral effectiveness was lost in the process of drafting the writing long ago. Some unnaturalness was introduced to the oral message by the styles and forms of the Greek language. However, such unnaturalness is perpetrated in the process of someone reading a printed text. The listeners are likely to mistakenly attribute such unnaturalness to the writer having lived long ago. Thus, they are likely to evaluate the message as having little validity for them today.
When someone presents a message to listeners in a situation in which they can see and feel each other, the listeners participate in the communication situation. They “feel” the events of the message. With a person speaking the sentences of Scripture as he impersonates an Apostle, even though the listeners cannot see the speaker, they can “feel” some of his presence and participate with him.
When a living person tells a story, the listeners feel the validity of the message, not just from the words, but also from the storyteller’s person. When a person sings a song in a pleasant way, the listeners allow the message to enter more deeply into their memory. The pleasure of the song seems to add validity to the message. When people hear a group singing a song, the listeners unconsciously accept the message as true, since more people are affirming its validity.
Since live personal interactions cannot happen during an audio presentation, we should attempt to build into the presentation some ways for simulating personal events.
- We suggest that a person speak an introduction to each portion, giving orientation for the listeners.
- To the listeners, such a person is a living person of ‘today’ who is affirming the validity of the portion of God’s message. The person who introduces the audio Scripture will be implying that he has evaluated the message as valuable to him. Thus the listeners will be inclined toward believing the message.
- The person who speaks those introductory parts is speaking as a member of the present-day community who has chosen to follow Jesus.
- He is a human speaking to humans. Oral learners generally adopt changes in their worldview as they respond to a human who validates that such a change will be advantageous.
- He is like the community story-teller who normally reminds the present generation of their cultural values and teaches the next generation, as the members of a family or of a village sit around an evening fire.
- His voice should be different from the voice that has spoken the Scripture portion, since that voice was impersonating the Apostle.
- He should be trained to use voice modulation to help the listeners to ‘feel’ the excitement and urgency of the message. He should avoid a monotone voice.
- He should speak these introductions in a free manner and spontaneously. The script that we suggest should be only a guide.
- We suggest a closing remark for each unit, spoken by the same man who introduced the unit. Those remarks will attempt to cause the listener to talk with another person—any person. Perhaps the speaker might urge the listener to talk to someone, possibly re-telling the message, or perhaps asking someone for more insight or information.
Those closing remarks will imply a kind of urgency toward the listeners adopting of the changes that the passages imply.
This way of communicating is certain to help the listeners to move toward faith in Jesus, since the messages are communicated in the natural style for learning in their culture.
Issue 10 in their presenting audio Scripture—They must facilitate the listeners believing the messages.
Humans make life-changing decisions because another human has presented them with acceptable options. Such options are acceptable because the other human is acceptable as a communicator.
- The same person who introduces the messages should speak again to close the message. He might recommend that the listeners speak to a friend about what he or she has heard or ask someone close to them if they know more about the topic of the message.
- The listeners, through many SMALL DECISIONS about the validity of the messages, will likely choose to make A DEEP COMMITMENT to Jesus. It is known that we all have grown in faith before we committed ourselves, as well as after that experience.
- Even if a listener rejects the first hearing of any message, his or her having thought about it facilitates the acceptance of the next hearing of that message or other messages from the same source.
