Theocratic Aid To Kingdom Publishers

Lesson 55

RELEVANCY

King Solomon, blessed by Jehovah with an abundance of wisdom, said: "Surely the serpent will bite without enchantment; and a babbler is no better. The words of a • wise man's mouth are gracious; but the lips of a fool will swallow up himself. The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness: and the end of his talk is mischievous madness. A fool also is full of words [multiplieth words, margin] ." —Eccl. 10:11-14.

The noun "babbler" as there used is indeed descriptive of a familiar character. A babbler is one who literally allows

the words to run out of his mouth without purpose, meaning or objective. Such a one darkens information by words without knowledge. Rather than thinking that one will be 'heard for his much speaking', the wise speaker will confine himself to utterances that are pertinent and timely to the subject matter under discussion: he will speak words that are "in season". (Isa. 50: 4) Babblers speak words, whether appropriate or not, and are offensive to God and intelligent men. If one is to be an approved Theocratic minister, if he hopes to properly present the Kingdom message to the people at their doors, if he is to conduct helpful back-calls and instructive book studies, he must give heed to the wise words spoken by King Solomon and avoid the blunder of babbling. To do this he must become a master of the art of relevancy.

Observing relevancy literally means the practice of speaking or writing words directly bearing upon or pertaining to a specific and definite proposition. It may be likened to the straight highway over which all coherent speech must pass, not only in formal discourses before audiences, but in private conversation as well. The only purpose of speech is to convey thought to others, and each word or phrase or sentence must contribute toward that thought objective. The practice of so ordering one's words that they form a straight highway to the thought or climax of a proposition is the art of relevancy. To be profitable the words and thoughts uttered must be relevant to the matter under consideration.

The first thing that one must do without fail is to set the objective; that is, have the thought to be conveyed clear in mind before he opens his mouth to speak. Technically speaking, the thought or objective is called the proposition. Failing to set this desired destination before one starts down the "speech highway", he will become hopelessly lost and sidetracked and he, much less his audience, will never arrive at the goal.

Even though one has carefully determined the exact point he wishes to make, the task is not always easy. Many times a listener will inject a counter proposition into the middle of one's argument, or raise a contentious question to stir up strife or sidetrack the persuader from the straight course he has set for his argument. It might even be a query that would ordinarily be proper, but perhaps irrelevant to the particular discussion. In either event, never stop to go into a consideration of side issues or irrelevancies, but tactfully brush them aside or postpone their discussion, and continue according to plan, maintaining relevancy. If one stops to answer and discuss matters raised by his listeners he will have yielded the floor and Lost the mastery of the situation and in all probability will never reach his original destination; all because he did not insist upon keeping the discussion relevant. Remember, keep your own mind as well as the mind of your listener square in the middle of your highway leading to your objective.

Once the speaker has the general proposition or central thought in mind he is in position to pick out the route he desires to follow. The first step in this connection is probably the most important, because at this point irrelevancy is most likely to creep in to later disrupt the argument. That first step is a thorough analysis of the subject. Lay the whole subject bare. Go to the very heart of the matter and determine the fundamental principles upon which it is based. View it from every aspect, pro and con. Determine those things that are relevant and those that are irrelevant. This can be accomplished only by studying and thinking clearly and searchingly on the proposition for yourself. To rely on the reasoning of another man, whose arguments you may have read, without proving it for yourself, is a mistake that will probably defeat your purpose in the end. As soon as a speaker who has thus failed to prepare begins to speak his mental lethargy is evident to his hearers, and all hopes of convincing them vanish.

If one has diligently analyzed his proposition, thinking it out, he will have gleaned many ideas, some more important than others. The selection of the ideas to be used must proceed with care. This, of course, will be influenced by the time element. Select the number of points that can be developed properly in the time allotted. A very common mistake with inexperienced, and sometimes experienced, speakers is to try to give a twenty-minute talk in five or ten minutes. Do not "cram" the talk, but recognize the time limitation and plan accordingly. Select the most important ideas, and only those ideas that will definitely put you nearer to the final objective. As each idea unfolds it should advance the listeners, in a straight march, step by step, nearer to the ultimate goal. Do not charge headlong with a rush of ideas in rapid succession, or the audience will be left stranded; but there is an art in steadily pushing ahead in a straight line of relevant argument until, at the end of the speech, the destination will have been reached by both speaker and listener.

As an aid to maintaining relevancy the speaker should keep the issue before the mind of the audience throughout the talk. He should make a conscious effort toward this end by the repetition of key words or phrases that throw attention to the central idea, constantly emphasizing and calling attention to it. This will help the speaker to hold contact with his audience and keep the main objective clearly before them and their attention focused upon it, and, hence, not permit their minds to wander into irrelevant bypaths.

After the climax of the argument has been reached, the speaker should be able to stand at his final destination with his audience and, in effect (by recapitulation or summary type conclusion), say to his listeners: "Look down that straight road to where we started. I have built a straight highway every inch of the way from there to where we now stand. You have followed because what has been said is true and right, and it was proved to you as we traveled along. The route is plain and easily followed.

I have thus established the thought I set out to convey to you." Thus by the shunning of crossroads, side roads and detours, and sticking to the main highway previously decided upon, the speaker has advanced to his destination or completed a successful argument because he insisted upon relevancy from both himself and his audience

Jehovah's witnesses will observe God's command to preach, and, while so engaged, will not babble or "turn aside to the right hand or to the left" for irrelevancies. (Deut. 5:32) They will avoid the ungodliness of vain babbling. —2 Tim. 2:16.