Blog: Most Unreached People Groups are Illiterate

Desiring God recently wrote:

Over 70 percent of the world’s population consists of people who are oral learners — people who cannot or do not read. Most of the world’s unreached and unengaged people groups are preliterate. They are primarily oral learners who cannot read or write the language that they speak — often because their language has not yet been reduced to writing. Their lives are lived out in an oral fashion. They learn about events in their world, form their opinions, share knowledge, and entertain one another using only the spoken word.

Conclusion:

Our faithfulness to the Great Commission calls us to learn new ways of communicating the Word that are intelligle to those who sit in darkness. We must love the world's least reached peoples enough to share the gospel with them in ways they can understand. It's then when pagans will be won, believers will be discipled, pastors will be equipped, and the church will expand for the glory of Jesus Christ.

Words "carry the freight of truth and beauty"

"I love words. I rarely think of them as efficient, but as precious. God made them to carry the freight of truth and beauty. Nothing is more valuable than God’s truth and beauty."  John Piper

 Often in the field of communication you hear that words are "symbolic".  Though this is a true statement, many post-modern thinkers deconstruct this reality to the point of nonsense.  They would argue that words can mean whatever you want them to mean.  Since there is no true reality, you can bend them and shape them any way you want.

Yet, language was created by God to "carry the freight of truth and beauty."  I love how Piper expresses this reality.  You can almost picture the "train" of words traveling out of our mouths loaded with meaning and message.  Regardless of what language you speak, words are connected with the ideas and concepts that represent the way we view the world.

Naturally, we don't know how to speak of "beauty and truth" in a God honoring manner.  The Proverbs say, "The heart of the righteous ponders how to answer, but the mouth of the wicked pours out evil things."  As harsh as this sounds, we are all born into sin and fall in the category of "the wicked."  Unfortunately, we don't see ourselves as wicked people.  Thanks to Hollywood, "the wicked" often look like horned creatures with blood dripping from their mouths.  Yet, the Bible clearly teaches "we have all fallen short of the glory of God" and that "none are righteous."  Romans chapter three explains why this is considered "wicked" and "evil" - because "no one seeks God" on their own.  Sure, we are religious and spiritual creatures, but only to the end of pleasing ourselves and not God.

Romans three addresses how this "wickedness" affects our words.

"Their throat is an open grave;

they use their tongues to deceive.”

“The venom of asps is under their lips.”

“Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”

 This does not mean that someone who does not know Christ does not see and recognize beauty and truth.  It does mean, however, that they fail to see that it comes from God.  As it says in verse 11, "No one understands; no one seeks for God." 

The Christian does not arrogantly state that only we can see "beauty and truth", however, by God's grace, we are able to give God the glory for such things.  We seek to load our words with meaning and understanding that honors God.  Do we always succeed in doing so?  Unfortunately, we don't.  But when our words "fall short of the glory of God" and are derailed, we should quickly look to the "author and finisher" of our faith for forgiveness and direction.  He is the source of all good things - even words.