Saturday, May 11, 2013

A Competent Communicator



         Talking about someone who demonstrates competent communication within a particular context, I could think of Jesus, the central figure of Christianity.  In one specific situation, his effective skills of ethical communication was fully displayed. 

         The Bible records (in the book of John, chapter 8) the incident where a woman was caught in adultery and was brought to Jesus.  The Pharisees made her stand before the crowd and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery.  In the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women.  Now what do you say?” 

         According to the Bible, Jesus did not answer the question immediately; instead he bent down and wrote something on the ground.  When they kept on asking him, he stood up and said to them, “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone on her.”  After saying, he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

         Having heard what Jesus has said, the crowd began to go away one at a time, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there.  Jesus stood up and asked her, “Woman, where are they?  Has no one condemn you?”  “No one, sir,” she replied.  “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared.  “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

         What a touching story!  Through his skills of communication, Jesus stopped the crowd to inflict discrimination, degrading, intimidating, exploitative, physical harmful practices on the woman.  Instead, he demonstrated and promoted the spirit of forgiving, fairness and justice.  Jesus has provided a model for us to follow, as far as ethical communication is concerned. 



3 comments:

  1. Wong,

    I absolutely agree that Jesus is a competent communicator. On many occasions the Bible give us examples of how Jesus was a great communicator. He was able to speak to crowds of thousands at a time. He was able to communicate with his apostles as well. This was possibly his most important communication. This is the reason that Christianity is here today. Without the apostles writing down the stories we would not have access to them today.

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  2. Wong,
    Yes, Jesus was a great communicator. It would be great if we all had the knowledge, temperment and skill that Jesus had. We can try to walk in his footsteps and as humans we somtimes fail and then try again.
    Leslie Porter

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  3. Yes, I agree. Jesus was/is the ultimate competent communicator. He was a great teacher and listener, He wasn't judgemental and was always providing relevant information. Whenever He spoke it was with a purpose.

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