Imagine

As of late, I have recently been working on my repertoire of songs I am using to perform at a friends coffee shop. I have wanted to do a few oldies and some new songs that people would recognize and hopefully sing along with. I have been working towards doing a few songs by The Beatles and have come across "Imagine". I have always known this song to be a great song but never really paid attention much to the lyrics all that indepth. At first glance, one could say that John Lennon or The Beatles were very anti-God or anti-Christianity but some of the lyrics. In actuality, I think John Lennon just wasn't all that fond of religion. He speaks of the world being without many of the religious ideals that we have. It seems as though we have lost much progress in humanity by getting caught up on the idea of people who drink alcohol are bad people or people who dress a certain way or act a certain way are not Christians or good people. I think John Lennon was revealing how backwards our society is. It is easy for us to look at someone who drinks and smokes and tell them that they aren't loved by God but have no problem paying our mega church pastors huge salaries. Don't get me wrong, I think pastors have huge responsibilities and should be paid decently but if you are making more than most of your congregation does on average then that is a problem. With alcohol use for example, Jesus used wine to feast with when he turned water to wine. Jesus uses wine to represent his very blood at the last supper. When did Jesus ever ask for money? When did He ever tell people to go around asking for money to buy nice, flashy gifts and clothes? As I remember, Jesus pushed over tables of merchants and money changers who were making money in His temple. I think it is sad and depressing how the church becomes so backwards from the true teachings of Jesus Christ. Somehow we have taken the teachings of Christ and perverted them into winning a war on terrorism, gaining political status, and making tons of money for our own selfish needs.