Jay Adams writes about the skill of picturing truth in sermons, and why contemporary congregations need more help in this regard than their predecessors.
…let me stress the importance of working harder than ever at learning how to picture truth. In biblical times, the listeners’ imaginations were much more highly trained than the average listener’s is today. They had to be because they had to use their imaginations so much more frequently than we do. They had no photography, no TV, no movies, no picture books, etc., to do the job for them. Instead, they themselves had to picture in their minds what they heard. Biblical writers and preachers were well aware of this and fairly freckled their messages with imagery of every kind. If in that day they recognized the necessity for imagery, how much more so is imagery in preaching needed today when the listener’s imagination is weak and flabby from disuse? In this day of untrained imaginations, we must work all the more to assist the listener; otherwise, he will not be able to fill in the gaps for himself. Indeed, we see him bored, dozing, and wavering in the pew. He complains that the sermon was “dry.” Such complaints are not altogether groundless.
Two factors are essential to good imagery in preaching:
1. An ability to see;
2. An ability to make others see.
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