Things I Think…
1.All of our voices are individual and unique…yet they are also an amalgam, a choir if you will.
I’ve never had an original thought in my life.
My thoughts are a compendium of all the strange voices in my head.
J.I. Packer and Jerry Lee Lewis, Charles Bowden and Archbishop Ramsey, Steve Brown and Merle Haggard, Hank Williams and N.T. Wright and the MacDonalds, George and Norm. There are personal friends like Dr. Duane and Dr. Mike ,and my cat, Liam.
I hear my mom when I don’t really want to…
There are many more than these, but you get the point.
All of this is overshadowed by the voice of God in Scripture
I rarely credit any of them when I write because they are all a part of me…sometimes so much so that I don’t know where they end and “I” begin.
I am amused by the thought of crediting Jerry Lee and Jim Packer in the same piece…I digress
I say all this for a couple of reasons….
2. Any faith tradition that ignores the complexity of humanity and boils it down to black and white, good or bad…is woefully deficient in understanding the human psyche and how we were created…
3. I think it reasonable to propose that we hear more voices in a week than Abraham or Jesus heard in their entire lives…making it harder to sort out which voice we should give priority to…
4. To think it took almost a quarter century for me to understand that a lot of Christians prefer abusive authoritarian leaders…. I could have pursued a fulfilling career in animal husbandry or selling baked goods, but no….
5. It also took me a quarter century to understand how much some “Christian” men despise women…in the first century pious Jews would thank God that they weren’t a dog, a woman, or a Samaritan….now they thank Him that they aren’t a woman or a foreigner, but they can handle dogs…they submit…
6. The bigger shock is Christian women allowing this infection to fester and often supporting it…next step may be a kennel…
7. It’s hard to be patriotic when your country commits war crimes…at least for me…
8. I’m no more interested in representing the Christian left than I am in supporting the Christian right…I’m interested in the ethos of Christ and how it intersects with secular politics…but only so I can be clear about which way Jesus would go…
9. Waiting for the day when the church realizes that real power and strength was what Jesus exhibited on the cross…
10. You are growing in grace and security when you don’t care if Goodreads tells all your friends that you read theology and comic books…
8, 9, and 10!!
Thanks, Linn!
All good “things,” Michael.
#1 has got me thinking about who the voices in my head belong to. Yours is one of them, along with pastors I’ve sat under, certain pop, rock, country and classical musicians, teachers with whom I’ve worked alongside, Steve Brown, Alistair Begg, my parents, and maybe even a couple of old-school pro wrestlers.
CK,
Those voices meld with our own and ours will meld with others…I wonder what the legacy of my voice will be…
That means the voices that we take from took from other voices as well but somewhere back in the line there must have been original thoughts someone had so there must be possibility however slim or rare that we think original thoughts of our own otherwise there has never been an original thought.
I used to try to be patriotic; now I’ve stopped trying.
Michael and CK…interesting intersection of voices!
Captain Kevin…curious…what old-school pro wrestlers? Pro wrestling is one of my guilty pleasures, with my interest going back to the 1970s AWA.
#1 Thought…interesting! I would have to think for a while who and what has gone into forming my voice and thoughts.
Something AI could probably easily do: George MacDonald read with the voice of Norm McDonald, including the timing perfect pauses and emphasized words. I read your whole post and that is the idea that stuck with me. That’s because your other thoughts are pretty common to me. But not a jarringly lol version of Unspoken Sermons.
@ Nr. 5 up top:
The Apostle Paul hated women too.
7. It’s been a couple years now and waiting for someone to notice that I’m being a smartass when I wear my red/white/blue on the 4th by way of a Toronto Blue Jays hat.
Dan from Georgia,
70’s here too. For me it was NWA Los Angeles (Wrestling from the Olympic). Favorites were John Tolos, Freddie Blassie (before he became a manager), Victor Rivera… Guilty pleasure indeed.
Reminds me of:
Freddie Blassie’s legacy song
Pencil Neck Geeks
A Dr. Demento fave, who’s still living in my hometown.
Back in the day we did a TV pilot for Phil Spector hosted by the good Dr who no doubt heard us playing at the local Women’s Club.
About that time a local city passed a law banning amplified music and a cat leash ordinance. No wonder I’m crazy.
Terry,
I’ll never be able to read George now without hearing Norm…that’s funny… 🙂
Muff,
I think you’re misreading Paul…
Dallas,
My godson just got back from Canada and brought me a patriotic Canadian hat which I’ve been wearing even though I look like a fool in any hat…
JD, 🤪
Michael,
It’s just a surprise that the amalgamation of voices in your head hasn’t resulted in you writing in Meow as opposed to English.
Kevin H,
Meow is my private prayer language…
Just make sure that you always have a cat on the ready to interpret when you meow in tongues.
Captain Kevin…
I remember Freddie Blassie from his time in the WWF. The I really am not familiar with most of the rosters of West Coast promotions. The AWA was king of the Upper Midwest. Was also familiar with the old WCCW from Texas (Von Erich’s, Freebirds, etc). Ric Flair was a legend we in the Upper Midwest only hear rumors of.
It’s probably a helpful exercise to enumerate the various voices we’ve got in our individual choruses. There is likely some real surprises when we take stock. I like the suggestion, if indeed it was one.
Scripture is filled with examples of domineering authoritarian leaders and in many circles, they are held up as paragons of spirituality and godliness, by men most of the time. Naturally.
Jesus is held up as the antithesis of that model. No wonder he’s in the far back seat of the Christian station wagon these days.
filbertz,
I was taking stock of my mind the other day and thought it a good exercise…if a bit scary… 🙂
Haystack Calhoun’s buried in a piano case and the Bo Bo Brazil cocoa butt. I’ll raise you a Dick Lane rookie card.
The Los Angeles Thunderbirds vs the Bay Area Bombers.
During a day game at Chavez Ravine, one could leave one’s car at the 76 Station and have them do a lube, oil and filter and fill the tank with fuel during the game.
There are some enormous claims of light and darkness – good and evil – truth and lies asserted here. I won’t read this without those anchors. Still I won’t reject the appeal of #2.
Discernment is never optional.
Alan,
For my part, I’m not making claims on the spiritual veracity of all the voices I hear…just recognizing them and what they tell me about common anthropology and the search for God.
Discernment is a whole different topic…which I will address when my thoughts are not as scathing…
JD, the combo of Dick Lane’s commentary and Jimmy Lennon’s in-ring announcements was gold!
Thunderbirds…Go! Go! Go!
I grew up on old school WWF wrestling, Jimmy Snuka, Bob Backlund, Magnificent Muraco, The Masked Superstar and The Wild Samoans. My favorite manager was the Grand Wizard. I also watched Mid South wrestling, World Class, Jim Crockett promotions (Mid-Atlantic) and the AWA. To me Mid South was the best, Bill Watts knew how to create and build realistic storylines. Mid South had Hacksaw Butch Reed, JYD, The Freebirds, Magnum T.A. and the Rock N Roll Express and the Midnight Express.
Reinaldo…I remember all those characters from watching the WWF programs in the 1980s. Also loved the Mid South and NWA wrestlers you mentioned. Loved Magnum T.A. and the Rock N Roll Express.
My voices have been molded largely by music I enjoy, Christian beliefs/morality, and some conservative AND progressive schools of thought.
Many of my paintings have titles based on song lyrics or titles that I enjoy. As a believer (since my early 20s), I was “raised” on Chuck Swindoll. Early on I indulged in some “faith” teachings (Hagin et al), which I ditched after a short time. Also early on in the Christian life I have noticed the stark contrast between Christian teaching on morality and basic decency in how we treat others, to that which is actually practiced among many believers. How many believers can talk about loving God and loving people and then turn around and trash their fellow human beings is beyond me.
As far as professional rasslin’ in concerned, and many will find this strange, but many pro wresting announcers are really top-notch communicators and wordsmiths, and my vocabulary was enhanced by listening to the hosts. Also that I pick up easily on new and interesting words in my readings.
Michael at 8:53 am,
I think Paul is way over-rated, and I take him with only so many grains of salt.
My heresy knows no bounds.
Christian women who support the subjugation of women have made a conscious choice to give up their human rights in order to be a “kept” woman. These women sought out a high- earning alpha male for a husband. Some people call them “Trad Wives” today, but there has always been a large segment of women in America that “chose” this arrangement. In the past, many women were not encouraged to go to college , and if they did, it was with the intention of earning a “Mrs.Degree”, so society has actively encouraged the Trad Wife mentality. Today,most women realize that divorce or widowhood is very likely , and they are reluctant to give away all of their own agency. Intelligent Christian women understand this, and they are wise to be more like the Proverbs 31 woman than a like a submissive ” Trad Wife” who may someday be cast aside and come to ruin.