Comments on: A Wordless Gospel is Like a Digitless Phone Number

By: Karen Keil

Karen Keil — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 17:42:40 +0000

Link to THE VANISHING WORD book online at Amazon for additional information –
http://www.amazon.com/Vanishing-Word-Veneration-Imagery-Postmodern/dp/158134404X/ref=reg_hu-wl_item-added

By: Karen Keil

Karen Keil — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 17:06:46 +0000

This reminds me of the book, The Vanishing Word: The Veneration of Visual Imagery in the Postmodern World (Focal Point Series) (Paperback), by Arthur W. Hunt III (Author), Gene Edward, Jr. Veith (Editor). The book takes a look at words as communication being gradually replaced by graphics and images, and sees it as a disturbing trend. There is something about words as a language that can’t be replaced by other ways. Words forces us to think. Jesus is called the WORD in the Bible and that God created the universe using words.

By: Preaching the Gospel without words « SimonPotamos

Preaching the Gospel without words « SimonPotamos — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 10:17:49 +0000

[...] January 13, 2010 Preaching the Gospel without words Posted by Tapani under Gospel, Humour | Tags: Gospel, preach, words | Leave a Comment HT: Cyberbrethren [...]

By: Pr. Tom Fast

Pr. Tom Fast — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 04:33:15 +0000

Doesn’t the word “gospel” literally mean “good announcement?”

“Call me on the phone. If necessary, call me on the phone.”

By: Rev Allen Yount

Rev Allen Yount — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 02:21:45 +0000

Lol! Or as my dear wife would put it: hehehe. Absolutely love this retort!

By: Lars Walker

Lars Walker — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 23:56:13 +0000

I think a reference to Romans 10:9 would be in order: “That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” That reads to me as if verbal testimony is more than just a last resort.

I heard someone say once that good deeds, without words, only communicate the message, “I am a good person.”

Only explicitly giving the glory to Jesus communicates the gospel.

By: Michael Bryant

Michael Bryant — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 22:06:31 +0000

If we do not use words to preach the gospel, aren’t we then “preaching” a gospel of works? Think about it.

By: Todd

Todd — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 19:12:31 +0000

Certainly the Gospel can’t be preached without words: “And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?”

But the comparison isn’t all that apt. Is a phone number anything but digits? No. But is the Gospel merely words? No. “Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.”

I think the phrase is useful in reminding us, as you note, that people are more apt to listen if we actually show that God loves them (through our own actions), and do not merely preach at them.

It is also true in the degenerate case: it is necessary, so do use words.

By: Randy Keyes

Randy Keyes — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 17:31:16 +0000

How can we just say “I like this” as one would do on facebook, because “I like this.”

By: Mark in Spokane

Mark in Spokane — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 16:43:57 +0000

My understanding of the origins of that phrase is that it comes from St. Francis of Assisi, and was his advice to his friars when they were sent out to be missionaries in lands where they did not speak the native idiom. There is a story in the Franciscan legendarium about a group of friars sent from Italy to Germany who got into serious trouble because the only German they knew was “Ja.” Things went well until they were asked if they were heretics…