The following video shows how a message gets degraded over time simply by copying. Yikes!
Fidelity Matters
- Thread starter LearningToLetGo
- Start date
LearningToLetGo, many of your posts are so though-provoking that I need to look up word definitions so I can logically wrap my head around their premise.
fidelity- faithfulness to a person, cause or belief demonstrated by continuing loyalty and support
In essence, the fidelity of the initial drawing was greatly obscured over repeated renderings. Before the advent of the written word, information was passed down through the generations through word of mouth, or "myths".
myth- a traditional story, especially one concerning the early history of a people or explaining some natural or social phenomenon and typically involving supernatural events.
Traditional stories gave rise to, for example, poetry where words were precisely memorized in order to be passed down. The difference between the myths of old and the drawing video, was that the receiver of the drawing was not precisely coached on any deviations from the original. The receiver of the drawing was allowed to "interpret' that which they received, resulting in deviations.
Hence, we can surmise that myths or traditional stories were more acurately passed down and received to again be passed down to layer generations.
Interesting, LearningToLetGo!
fidelity- faithfulness to a person, cause or belief demonstrated by continuing loyalty and support
In essence, the fidelity of the initial drawing was greatly obscured over repeated renderings. Before the advent of the written word, information was passed down through the generations through word of mouth, or "myths".
myth- a traditional story, especially one concerning the early history of a people or explaining some natural or social phenomenon and typically involving supernatural events.
Traditional stories gave rise to, for example, poetry where words were precisely memorized in order to be passed down. The difference between the myths of old and the drawing video, was that the receiver of the drawing was not precisely coached on any deviations from the original. The receiver of the drawing was allowed to "interpret' that which they received, resulting in deviations.
Hence, we can surmise that myths or traditional stories were more acurately passed down and received to again be passed down to layer generations.
Interesting, LearningToLetGo!
You're right! That's what makes God's word so remarkable. Check a translation of Isaiah from the Dead Sea scrolls (copied in the second century BC) with the Book of Isaiah in your Bible. They're identical.
You are correct. We have the written word and can confirm that it has been copied with high fidelity (i.e. great attention to detail, e.g. accuracy) through the ages.
Before the written word we only had spoken word. Since there is no way to confirm the accuracy over time of the spoken word, we are left with no verifiable proof of its accuracy. This is where faith comes in. We have faith that the oral traditions remained as true to their source as the written do now.
