The Search for God Page 5.4.1
How Do We Verify Spoken Words?
Have you ever played the game telephone? It’s a fun little game where a group of people sit in a circle. One person starts by whispering in the ear of the person next to them, who then whispers to the person next to them.
This process continues around the circle until the word or phrase comes back to the original author who verifies what was actually said.
The real author verifies what was actually said.
This game demonstrates the difficulty of oral tradition. Humans love stories. We love to live through another’s eyes. We feel the pain, the triumph, we experience the love and folly, we worry for people in well-written stories.
When we have a written book or a movie production, these stories take on a concrete character. However, in an oral tradition, stories often become embellished, we add information or description. Boring parts are tossed, exciting parts are added.
Once again, we make assumptions about God. If God has attributes of knowledge, timelessness, and the desire to communicate, those attributes are going to prompt him to desire clear communication, something that can be shared reliably.
The transmission of communication is either written or oral. When you have an oral tradition and someone questions why something happened 200 years ago, it is often easy to simply add new information that the original person did not provide.
Words are easier to change or forget. Today we can pass along oral tradition in the form of audio recordings, music or biographies, but still, that is concrete. In the ancient world, the only concrete solution was the written word.
When you write something down, multiple people can inspect the document. The original writer can confirm the written words, ensure proper spelling, and so on. When kings gave commands, they would often write down the instructions.
Victors in battles would document their triumphs from hieroglyphs in ancient Egypt to the Vietnam Memorial. Monuments to their greatness that still remain today. The written word commands respect and reminds future generations of history.
Written Words
With the written word, town criers could stand at the street corner announcing, “Thus says the king…” These individuals were authorized to provide that information.
If the person added information or spoke without authorization, beatings, imprisonment, or worse could be the punishment. Even today, if I attempted to speak for the president or the CEO of my company without authorization, I would be in trouble.
However, if I pulled out a letter one of them wrote and read it to the people word for word, I would only get in trouble if the writer labeled the work private or classified.
The written word provides all of the following:
- Consistency
- Authoritative announcements by authorized individuals
- A method for propagation by individuals not directly spoken to
- A more reliable chain of propagation
- Accountability to the author
- A verification method for liars or charlatans
The written word provides consistency. The message of a written book or handout is more difficult to distort.
The faithful, the one who originally penned the communication would be converted by the signs of communication from God and I would suspect, be vigilant and ensure proper transmission to the next generation.
This written text should carry and reveal the seals or acts of God authorizing this individual to speak on God’s behalf. Now, with a written communication in hand, this individual would be able to pass the information down to the next generation.
By doing so, they begin a chain of propagation of the written communication. The teacher would find students they trust who display the proper respect to the content.
This does not prevent improper copying or sloppy penmanship, but the written text allows for comparison and correction of errors. When an author communicates, there is always a chance for misunderstanding.
By writing things down, the author is held accountable. The spoken word can be forgotten or withdrawn easier than something written. If we regard God as the author, he is held to a standard as well.
Finally, the written communication can expose liars and charlatans. This can be more subtle and tricky to determine before reviewing the texts.
However, when someone speaks, something said can be compared to the written word and any new texts can be compared to previous written texts. All these attributes lead to an important concept of orthodoxy.
Each religion claims a right way of thinking and evaluation of the texts. Orthodoxy literally means ortho (straight) and doxa (opinion), and has come to be understood as the right belief.
What Next?
- What is the crucial concept?
- Written tradition allows for the establishment of orthodoxy.
- Why is that significant?
- God would want to create consistent understanding of his communication.
- If you agree, the next steps.
- If you disagree, please consider reading.
References and Links
- Study – The difficulty of oral tradition
- Blue Letter Bible – God has attributes
- Wikipedia – Religious Text