John Lennon - Imagine

"Can He love me?" the former Beatle asked Oral Roberts. "I want out of hell."
An excerpt from The Gospel According to the Beatles by Steve Turner | posted 1/03/2007
Referenced here.

John Lennon's Imagine is an anthem of religion-free utopia. Funny, but in a strange way it almost feels irreverent to take it apart and think it through. Lennon's philosophy lifted him to a sort of messianic level in his own right, martyrdom and all.

That said, I have very mixed feelings when I listen to this song. You can start it if you want...we'll chat along the way...

(To listen while reading, right click on the song title below and click "Open link in new tab/window.")

Imagine

Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today...

The article referenced above talks about a season of Lennon's life where he reached out to faith and Jesus and preachers, much to the chagrin of Yoko Ono (his wife). He had a deep seated fear of hell that he had to act on by reaching out to spiritual mentors. Lennon's "born again" period only lasted a season, though, and then he became pretty antagonistic to things of faith and church.

I see this opening verse coming from that place of fear. If that's true, the whole thing becomes fairly pathetic. A grown man trying to imagine away the fate he fears after death. I'm not mocking John though. He's writing honestly. Maybe if the whole world would embrace this "living for today" idea, it would validate his rejection of faith.

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace...

Verse 2 takes aim at countries as well as religion. "Lennon commented that Imagine was an 'anti-religious, anti-nationalistic, anti-conventional, anti-capitalistic [song], but because it's sugar-coated, it's accepted.'" (here) Yes! The sugar coating is the kum-ba-yah quality of the song that makes everyone who hears it pine for utopia. Everyone becomes "dreamers" like John talks about in the chorus next.


But, as he says in the quote, Lennon is taking aim at religion, nationalism, convention and capitalism in a very direct, confrontational manner! This song is intense! It sugar coats with peace the aggressive overthrow of the global institutions of humanity! And is there merit?

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one


Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...

One of the intriguing aspects of the song here is that John is appealing to the noblest desires in all of humanity...to care for one another and share selflessly. But, by his own words, he has coupled that desire with a very specific set of religious and political beliefs, really just because he wants to. He's saying, in effect, "If you believe in Jesus and America, you're causing the pain and violence in the world." I just can't disagree more!

First of all, separate "religion" from genuine faith. The world is full of religions that are sets of rules that do tend to separate people like John sings about. So I'm with him on that, and honestly, that could explain the rest of the song! Jesus' greatest anger came out against the religious people of his day! So I'm with JL there. But to reject genuine faith is to throw the Baby Jesus out with the bath water.

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one

For anyone sitting on a barstool and mad at the world because you've been burned by "God-lovin' Americans", I'm sorry. I really am. I've been burned a couple of times myself, but I see a very clear difference between the archaic relgiosity in the system and the vibrant, compassionate faith that I believe comes from God's heart.

My challenge is this, seek out genuine faith. Maybe even ask God to show you where it exists and who you can hang out with to experience it. Then ask yourself, "Is this person (or are these people) the cause of the pain and suffering in the world?" My take is that there will always be evil, but that genuine faith in Jesus brings hope and life into very dark places.

My take, also, is that the dark spiritual things are real but do not need to be imagined away. In Jesus, the power of God comes and brings a sound mind that doesn't need to be numbed and medicated to make the pain and fear go away. From the sincerest place in my heart, I know that to be true.