We just keep babbling on (Genesis 11:1-9)

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We now live in a world that seems to be be choosing English as a common language even though it may not be someones " mother" tongue. We build giant towers for communication to transmit radio, TV and add to that satellites.
We do this so we can understand each other yet many still honour the language of their historical roots.
When language was taken away from the indigenous people they lost something in the translation and now they are fighting to get it back. And some of us yearn to know what they know. We probably could say this about many cultures.
If we all stayed in the same place and spoke the same, how would we know about the boreal forest, the arctic, the dessert, or the stars, etc.....
Always looking up for answers may not be as good for us as we think......God lives here on earth too.
 
Waterfall said:
We now live in a world that seems to be be choosing English as a common language even though it may not be someones " mother" tongue. We build giant towers for communication to transmit radio, TV and add to that satellites.
We do this so we can understand each other yet many still honour the language of their historical roots.
When language was taken away from the indigenous people they lost something in the translation and now they are fighting to get it back. And some of us yearn to know what they know. We probably could say this about many cultures.
If we all stayed in the same place and spoke the same, how would we know about the boreal forest, the arctic, the dessert, or the stars, etc.....
Always looking up for answers may not be as good for us as we think......God lives here on earth too.
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I honestly think the norm in future will be to know 1 "common language" and at least one local language. Common languages will likely be English, Spanish, and Mandarin (and maybe French, though it is actually less widespread than those 3).

I think of Floor Jansen, my current favorite singer, who is Dutch by birth and first language but speaks and sings fluently in English and also knows Finnish and Swedish (she sings in a Finnish band and her husband is a Swede so she currently lives in Sweden).

Or my wife, who speak 3 different Chinese languages (Mandarin, Shanghainese, and Ningbo) plus is fluent in English.

Or China itself, where many people speak local languages like Cantonese or Shanghainese but use Mandarin with people from outside their area. And there is a common script for all, the characters are just spoken differently depending which language you use.
 
And then there is the Gift of Babbling in tongues -----which is Speaking in an unknown tongue and is 1 of the 9 gifts of the Spirit ------When a Believer is personally praying in tongues they are speaking to God not man and edifying themselves -----so no interpretation is needed --only when tongues are used in a group setting is it necessary to have an interpreter present -----

you can read here ----1 Corinthians 14 ----
Bible Gateway passage: 1 Corinthians 14 - New International Version

I say ---This Babbling edifies the believer when they use it in personal prayer ----which means it fosters encouragement and is building up character to stand strong and sturdy in their Faith walk with Christ -----

Posting here ------
This is the Greek word for edify that is used in the Scripture I posted above ----

HELPS Word-studies
fig. of the building up of character: I build up, edify, encourage.

3618 oikodoméō (from 3624 /oíkos, "a house" and domeō, "to build") – properly, to build a house (home, edifice); (figuratively) to edify – literally, "build someone up," helping them to stand (be strong, "sturdy").
 
revjohn said:
We don't always engage scripture expecting to hear something from it. Sometimes we engage it just long enough to twist it to say what we want it to say.
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I read scripture expecting the spirit of God to grant me insight adequate to the challenge of our time. I have no graven image1 in view when looking into scripture. Following in this way has led me out of the world and into the kingdom. That kingdom being at the heart of my being. Rather, than in some external space.

I understand that the presence of God in me is well able to hear what the scripture is saying in any particular moment of reading or hearing. Trusting that presence as my guide along the journey of life has not disappointed me in any way. It has stripped away my illusions concerning what is real, to reveal what is actually created by God.

As to the practice of twisting scripture to say what we want, I have noticed that institutional Christianity has taken the free flowing spirit of scripture and rendered it static. These propose that there is but one meaning available in scripture. I disagree.
 
I will also suggest, based on experience with a great diversity of persons, that body language often helps us understand what others are trying to say.
 
Waterfall said:
We now live in a world that seems to be be choosing English as a common language
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There is another language at work in our world. It is spoken by highly trained technological persons. Their language shapes the medium in which more and more persons and peoples are living. My imagination suggests that the language of technology will one day manage all of our differences in service to a common purpose. That purpose, at this point being the increase of power and profit. Hopefully, we will reconsider and act to make a difference. To bring into being a new reality. A reality valuing the natural world and all its peoples more than power and profit.

This historical moment is critical. As human being we will choose the way of life or we will persist in the way of death. My priority is the former and my resistance is to the latter. Thank God I am not alone.
 
GeoFee said:
There is another language at work in our world. It is spoken by highly trained technological persons. Their language shapes the medium in which more and more persons and peoples are living. My imagination suggests that the language of technology will one day manage all of our differences in service to a common purpose. That purpose, at this point being the increase of power and profit. Hopefully, we will reconsider and act to make a difference. To bring into being a new reality. A reality valuing the natural world and all its peoples more than power and profit.

This historical moment is critical. As human being we will choose the way of life or we will persist in the way of death. My priority is the former and my resistance is to the latter. Thank God I am not alone.
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One thing that bothers me about the language of technology is we miss the inferences and tone of a conversation. Also the body language as you mentioned above.
 
GeoFee said:
These propose that there is but one meaning available in scripture. I disagree.
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As do I. I belong to a much cherished tradition in our congregation, brought to us by the refugees of yet another rural congregation closing. It is a lectio divina bible study led by a fascinating team of leaders - from our minister, to our minister emeritus, to 3-4 voluntary associate ministers we've acquired, and a lay worship leader. Based on the lectionary, three readings, from three different translations (typically, the NSRV or CEV, the Inclusive Bible, and The Message), with three different questions to contemplate.

The group isn't all that diverse, demographically (it was better when we could meet in person, and we will return to that one day), but man, can we do the "8 people, 9 opinions thing" well! The conversation is lively; disagreements are pleasant, "well, but had you thought of this"?
 
Waterfall said:
One thing that bothers me about the language of technology is we miss the inferences and tone of a conversation. Also the body language as you mentioned above.
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The language of technology includes such items as Zoom, which allow you to see the other, not just hear.
Technology has allowed us to improve our communications, if we so choose to do so.

I wonder why people go to the negative re it, rather than the plus/
 
GeoFee said:
There is another language at work in our world. It is spoken by highly trained technological persons. Their language shapes the medium in which more and more persons and peoples are living. My imagination suggests that the language of technology will one day manage all of our differences in service to a common purpose. That purpose, at this point being the increase of power and profit. Hopefully, we will reconsider and act to make a difference. To bring into being a new reality. A reality valuing the natural world and all its peoples more than power and profit.

This historical moment is critical. As human being we will choose the way of life or we will persist in the way of death. My priority is the former and my resistance is to the latter. Thank God I am not alone.
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Hey @GeoFee

I'm not sure where you are going here. Are you suggesting that only highly trained technical people can work with the technology currently available? If so, can you please give me an example?

Wondercafe2 for example is a free service which costs you nothing to participate in. It , if anything, is an example of providing service to the masses based on a desire for communication.
 
I am really interested in technology as a tool.

My house was (and is) a "house of books". In my childhood, we were an "encyclopedia" family. Not only the encyclopedia and the yearly update edition, but just about every Time-Life series ever published. All of the information, in all of those books, can now be accessed with the touch of the screen of my (very crappy, bottom line Best Buy) phone, if you've got any basic search skills.
 
Also, the phone as a god-send in intercultural communication. Our congregation sponsored a Syrian family, and I did some work with them during their first couple of years; helping Dad to learn to drive, and also get to his agricultural job; taking kids to mosque, and swimming lessons. We used google translate on our phones A LOT. One day, we ran into a hilarious flour/flower discussion...
 
JayneWonders said:
The language of technology includes such items as Zoom, which allow you to see the other, not just hear.
Technology has allowed us to improve our communications, if we so choose to do so.

I wonder why people go to the negative re it, rather than the plus/
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I use technology often, my comment was based on preference not negativity.
 
JayneWonders said:
Hey @GeoFee

I'm not sure where you are going here. Are you suggesting that only highly trained technical people can work with the technology currently available? If so, can you please give me an example?

Wondercafe2 for example is a free service which costs you nothing to participate in. It , if anything, is an example of providing service to the masses based on a desire for communication.
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I am not suggesting that only technical people can work with the available technology. I am suggesting that those who manage the realm of technology are also increasingly liable to manipulation of the population. When I was young we played and worked together as persons in relationship. I now see the young fixated on their cell phones. Not only the young. In the past I got on the bus and had conversations with strangers. Now those strangers are fixated on their cell phones. Are we not being divided and isolated by artificial means?

I was deeply affected by the book "Nineteen Eighty-Four" by George Orwell. He presents technology as the overseer of all human activity. That technology consistently manipulates history to serve the elite at the expense of the multitudes. It seems to me that some persons are seeking the dominance of technology as the means for uniting our diverse populations. Such unity is not quite the same as the unity rising from our interactions as actual human beings. Basically, it is the artificial replacing the natural. Surely we are now all aware where this is leading us?
 
Do you remember playing the telephone game where story got changed as it was passed on?

Ever followed an email across a bunch of people and watched it get changed?

How about heard tell of minstrels telling story in times gone by - a way fables became part of cultural story

It is humans that do this.
Not technology.

Ps. Odds are that person is communicating with someone when sitting on that bus. Maybe somebody on a forum like wondercafe.
 
My preference is for the natural world. I am deeply saddened as human beings are increasingly governed by artificial means. This as our environment is approaching a critical juncture.
 
GeoFee said:
My preference is for the natural world. I am deeply saddened as human beings are increasingly governed by artificial means. This as our environment is approaching a critical juncture.
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Geofee, the first time a hominid tapped a flint nodule to make a blade, we were using technology. The first time a member of our genus blew into a reed to get a sound, we were using technology. The first time a hominid wrapped themselves in an animal skin or started a fire for warmth, we were using technology. The ability to develop and use technology is part of what defines us as a species and we have been "governed by artificial means" since the first time we started a fire or made a tool. In fact, we likely would never have been able to leave Africa without technology.

Yes technology can be destructive and disruptive.

But technology also enables connection that would be impossible without it. I know people around the world that I could never have met without web forums like this one.

Technology allows us to make music beyond what we can make with our own voice. Beethoven, Mozart, Bach, Lennon, Cohen, all benefited from technology called musical instruments.

Technology enables us to heal and cure. We live far longer with technology than without.

So the technology horse left the barn hundreds of thousands of years ago and you and I would not exist without it. If you want to live naked in a tree picking fruit, then by all means go ahead. That's hominids without technology. But that is no longer humanity's natural state, IMHO.
 
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