I recently purchased the New Testament on CD to listen to while I am driving. I bought the English Standard Version. I really like it because it is only narration without music or sound effects. It’s hard for me to listen to a dramatized version or versions with music because I find myself analyzing the musical scores, the instrumentation, and not listening to the Scriptures. I enjoy listening to the ESV. I have listened to many of the discs over and over. One day as I was listening to the Gospel of Luke. The narrator was reading chapter 22. I love this portion of Luke. This day I did not like what I heard.
And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is… given …ban ban mu ne na na na… This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.”
What? “…ban ban mu ne na na na…” What is this? Did I hear this right. I listened again. “…ban ban mu ne na na na…” Having some experience with sound editing I knew what it was but I did not want to believe that I heard it on my disc. It couldn’t have been in a more awkward place. The Lord’s Supper! When narrators make a mistake they will say something that will allow them to get back into the flow of the narration. Sometimes they will say something like “…1234…4321…” and pick up the narration. The sound engineers will edit and remove all of this and you get a nice clean final product. This narrator (Max McLean) used “…ban ban mu ne na na na…” They missed this one. I started thinking about solutions. I could “rip” the cd to an mp3 file and then edit chapter 22 and take out the “…ban ban mu ne na na na…” and then everything would be perfect.
That’s when I realized we can’t “edit” and “clean up” everything that happens in our lives. We seem to strive for a nice clean final product. We make mistakes. We are human. We sin. The way I see it we have two options. We can cover things up or we can come before our Heavenly Father and say to Him… “…ban ban mu ne na na na…” and receive His mercy and forgiveness.
Since that realization I now listen to my disc with Luke 22 on it with a smile. I thank God that He fully loves us in our raw and unedited version.
1517 AD Blog 