In the Beginning was Information

3. Apobetic information density: This is a measure of the heightof the purpose attained after information has been received. Thefollowing episode which occurred during the time of the Spartansdescribes various apobetic information densities:Example: When there was famine in one of the regions ruled bythe Spartans, the local residents dispatched an eloquent messengerto Sparta. He addressed them at length and – in his own opinion– convincingly, to ask for a gift of wheat. The Spartans, however,dismissed him, because they had forgotten his introductionand thus did not understand the conclusion. Another messengerwas sent soon afterwards. His modus operandi was quite different:He brought an empty bag which he opened for everybody to see,and said concisely: “This bag is empty, please put something in it.”This messenger obtained the required wheat, but the Spartans commentedthat he was too verbose. It was obvious that the bag wasempty and needed to be filled; he should use fewer words when hecame again.This episode illustrates that the first messenger did not attain hispurpose in spite of the meaningful contents of his speech, while thesecond one was immediately successful with his concise but strikinginformation input. We thus have two distinct densities of apobeticinformation, and the suggestion of the Spartans to the secondspeaker would have resulted in an even higher value.When considering ourselves as recipients of the message of theBible, we can arrive at the highest possible apobetic density ofinformation. We refer to the one verse, namely John 3:36: “Whoeverbelieves in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects theSon will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.” This concisepiece of information with its overwhelming depth of meaningcould only appear in the Bible where high semantic informationdensities are expected. Just as overwhelming is the stated purpose:eternal life! Nothing has a greater value – in the words of Jesusthe whole world is worthless in this respect (Matthew 16:26) – sothat anybody who has entrusted himself in faith to Jesus hasachieved the highest possible apobetic information density.157