{"id":1035,"date":"2012-11-15T14:58:00","date_gmt":"2012-11-15T14:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/beta.dminlgp.com\/back-to-the-basics\/"},"modified":"2012-11-15T14:58:00","modified_gmt":"2012-11-15T14:58:00","slug":"back-to-the-basics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/back-to-the-basics\/","title":{"rendered":"Back to the Basics"},"content":{"rendered":"

It is a day of great celebration in India and I hear the sounds of random fireworks. Millions of Indians all over India and the world are celebrating one of the most popular annual festivals of Hindus. It is Deepavali or ‘Diwali’ in short, the \u201cfestival of lights\u201d.<\/span> India knows how to celebrate a festival.\u00a0 <\/span>There are many interpretations for Diwali but the most popular one commemorates an ancient mythology of the annihilation of Narakasura<\/em> a ten headed demon by Krishna.\u00a0 It sends out a powerful message that\u00a0Good can and will ultimately overcome Evil no matter how seemingly powerful and daunting Evil may be. \u00a0Evil is temporal while Good is enduring and eternal. The Positive forces of\u00a0Light will ultimately\u00a0overcome darkness.\u00a0 The explosive sound of fireworks replicate the huge ‘bang’ the \u2018thud\u2019 that was supposed to have reverberated and heard all over the world when the demon dropped dead.\u00a0 People everywhere young and old who were oppressed by evil and obsessed with the fear of darkness were to have heard the sound and seen the sparks. \u00a0Millennia later that message is celebrated and communicated today in its most traditional and archaic form and of course, now with a touch of technology too.<\/span><\/p>\n

No one knows when the tradition of fireworks began. But Symbols, acts of rituals and celebrations are a powerful means of both communication and unification for the Hindus.\u00a0 Indians are a complex mix of ethnic groups, languages and cultures.\u00a0 India is a nation of nations. People may be divided by many differences but still remain united at the core by religion and culture. \u00a0Despite Hinduism not having a universal meaning for all of its diverse followers, its symbols and images unite them.\u00a0\u00a0 Amidst all the social and cultural complexity there does exist a homogeneity that binds the Hindu. The threads are the ancient images, steeples, carvings and paintings that have survived and passed down for many centuries. They once communicated stories about God but over time have become objects of worship. <\/span><\/p>\n

A social history of the media: From Gutenburg to the Internet<\/span><\/em> helped clarify certain doubts that I have struggled with all my life.\u00a0 First, how can one believe in many gods? \u00a0Secondly how can one worship an image? The images that once as a medium communicated the sacred stories of Man\u2019s beliefs became sacred themselves. Over centuries, images that translated God became God.\u00a0 This revelation has set in my heart a greater measure of sympathy for the millions of Indians who worship millions of \u00a0images and idols as gods and goddesses.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

A significant number of these people would find their place in the earliest spots on the time line of \u00a0the history of the media.\u00a0 These are among the millions who are yet to be impacted by the Trio (Briggs, page 17) living in regions where the \u2018tyranny of distance\u2019 still rules; and masses of people whom the Trinity (Briggs, page 210) is yet to touch. \u00a0\u00a0They march to a different time and to a different intellect and they still do it at a snail\u2019s pace compared to the rest of the world. I want to do something in my lifetime to shape the lives of these people and help them discover their destiny in Jesus by finding the best way to communicate the Message. They wait for the Good News<\/em>. When it is communicated well, they hear it and embrace it.<\/span><\/p>\n

The other day a friend commented: \u201cThe church in India is growing. Look what technology and media must be doing\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0 I got to thinking about that statement.\u00a0 The church in India in good measure, is growing among those who are not touched by modern technology. No ship, no train, No print, no radio, no telephone, no TV, no cable, no fiber optics, no cell phone, no internet, no facebook, no twitter, no tumbler.\u00a0\u00a0 It\u2019s the good old primitive technology that is still working for them. \u00a0Face to face, person to person, changed life to change life. Good old discipleship, good old mantra: \u201cGo, preach, baptize, make disciples, teach\u201d. \u00a0That\u2019s what is working.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

I am not trying to convince anyone that this is the only way it should be done. No, don\u2019t get me wrong. I do believe in the power of the media and the fact that there\u2019s no turning back, there\u2019s no slowing down from the point where technology brought it to. The second half of The Social History of the Media by Briggs and Burke<\/em> totally convinces me of this reality. \u00a0What I am trying to say is that this medium is the most relevant and therefore most effective and productive for these people in this particular context.\u00a0 Ultimately it is all about two things, first people and then effective communication. Media is the \u201chow\u201d; it is the method, the medium.\u00a0 It will be unfortunate if one comes to believe that the \u2018medium is (purely)<\/em> the message\u2019 (The Medium is the Message n.d), and rests one\u2019s laurels on the medium forgetting to communicate the message.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span>Peter, Asa Briggs and Burke. A social history of the media: From Gutenburg to the INternet.<\/em> Oxford: Oxford: Blackwell Publshers, 2010.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_medium_is_the_message<\/a> (accessed November 13, 2012).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It is a day of great celebration in India and I hear the sounds of random fireworks. Millions of Indians all over India and the world are celebrating one of the most popular annual festivals of Hindus. It is Deepavali or ‘Diwali’ in short, the \u201cfestival of lights\u201d. India knows how to celebrate a festival.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[389,2],"class_list":["post-1035","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-briggs","tag-dminlgp","cohort-lgp3"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1035","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/47"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1035"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1035\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}