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The
Communication Experience Words are the vehicles that
transport thoughts from one person to another.
We call that process a Communication Experience.
This process is the first thing we will learn on our Biblical
Heritage journey. In order to make sure that we start our journey on the right foot
let's make sure that we share the same
meanings for some new terms -- Source, Signal and Receptor. (1) Source - The person
creating and sending a written or spoken message. (2) Receptor - The
person reading or hearing the Source's message. (3) Signal - The
Source's message composed in written symbols or spoken sounds. Basic Communication Experience
Below is an example of a Communication Experience.
In the above example Bill is the
Source who created a written message - the Signal - and sent it to Jane,
the Receptor.
If Jane understands the message in the way that Bill intended, we
call this a Successful Communication Experience.
If Jane does not understand the message in the way that Bill
intended, it is called an Unsuccessful Communication Experience. If Bill is to have a Successful Communication Experience with Jane, she must be familiar with the symbols (words) and understand what they meant to Bill. If Bill wrote his message in a language unknown to Jane the results would be an Unsuccessful Communication Experience. Words are the vehicles that travel between the Source and Receptor; therefore we must make sure we understand how words work. When it comes to the words of ancient Sources the burden to discover the correct meanings falls on the Receptor's shoulders. Words
Are Like Secret Codes
The letters of the alphabet are the symbols of the message. The letters are combined and attached to bundles of associations to create words. Words, however, are of no value unless someone understands them. Here is an example. What does "tmeckstor" mean to you? I am sure you recognize the symbols -- t-m-e-c-k-s-t-o-r. Since you are fluent in English you can probably pronounce "tmeckstor."
But even though you recognize the letters and can say "tmeckstor,"
I'll bet it doesn't mean anything to you -- at least I hope it doesn't
because I made it up. "Tmeckstor"
doesn't mean anything because neither of us have any attached bundle of
associations for it. When you open your Bible what
symbols do you see? For many
years I used a King James Version of the Bible and all the
letters were English. When
I laid it down by the Dallas Morning News I could see
that they were both written in the same language.
I used the same bundles of association for the words of my King
James Bible
and the local newspaper. Why
shouldn't I, weren't the same words in both? But what happens when the words aren't the same? At the next stop on our biblical heritage journey we will discover that the most ancient biblical texts look very different from most modern Bibles. |
