The ironic lyrics

In this post I will discuss the lyrics to the famous (and massively covered) song Imagine, by John Lennon. First, let me state this: I have the utmost respect for John Lennon and his incredible talent as a songwriter and musician. I am just old enough to have grown up when the Beatles were gaining popularity, and it helped that I have a brother who is six years older than me as his vinyl collection included the wonderful album Rubber Soul – which is in our vinyl collection today.

The reason for my opening statement is because if you do an Internet search about that song, you will find certain people and religous groups stating that the song is anti-religion or even athiest in nature. I am not one of those people and in fact, I will show what I think is the most ironic thing about the lyrics – namely that the song paints a perfect picture of heaven. Remember, this is my opinion, I am not forcing anybody to agree.

First, the lyrics and chorus:

[Verse 1] 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.

[Verse 2] 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.

[Chorus] 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.

[Verse 3] 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.

[Repeat chorus, end]

First some initial observations before I tie it all together:

From Verse 1, I imagine (no pun intended) the religous right are are taking offense at the suggestion that there is no heaven or hell. Lennon is not stating or arguing that heaven or hell do not exist. The lyrics do not read “There is no heaven…there is no hell” – Christians believe in a heaven and hell. I don’t know what Lennon believes, but he is offering up a proposal here. You don’t have to accept it.

From Verse 2 and the chorus, Lennon is envisioning a world where we are all one people. We aren’t divided by boarders, countries, multitudes of religions. We won’t need to kill each other (as in all the wars we see today over ownership of land). He wants a world where we live our life in peace and we live as one.

From Verse 3 we are reminded that there are people with many posessions, people who want more (greed) and at the opposite end of the spectrum, there are people who don’t even know where their next meal will come from. Imagine if none of us had our own possesions and that all people shared the world. I feel Lennon is telling us, “look, our earth has everything that everybody could possibly need – let’s share the world and not be in a situatation where we have the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’.”

Through the lyrics, there is an overriding theme of all people living in unity and harmony:

• Imagine all the people. Living for today.
• Imagine all the people. Living life in peace.
• Imagine all the people. Sharing all the world.
• I hope someday you will join us. And the world will live as one.

Switch gears. Ask a Christian about what they think about heaven and then go ask a theologian to interpret what the bible says about heaven. For the Christian, at least for me, my one word description of heaven is ‘perfect.’ Without going into all the theology (but I hope to on other posts), sin does not exist in heaven. Why does that matter? For the Christian, sin is the reason for all the pain and suffering we experience today (and no, it is not God punishing you. Definitely hope to do a post about that later). Pick your pain and suffering and the Christian can give a one word answer for the reason: sin. When sin is removed from the equation, there is no longer any cancer, there is no hatred, there is no anger, no fighting, all will love each other perfectly, we don’t have pride, we aren’t jealous, no more mass shootings, no more hunger, no more wars – the list is endless when you take away all the things that cause the world to be in the condition it is in today. As a result of sin being removed, the result is a perfect world.

In heaven, all of our needs will be provided forever by God. Actually, all your needs are met by God today. You may not feel that way as you work 60 hours a week to put food on the table. Sadly, having to work is another side effect of sin. We were not meant to have jobs. We were not meant to have weeds in our gardens. So, we toil and work hard – yet, look at what you have. Through the fog of sin, God still provides.

Let me get back on topic here. Heaven will be a place for all who believe in Jesus as their Lord and Savior. In heaven, we are all one people…in a perfect world (you see where I am taking this, right?). As one people, we won’t need religions any more – we will be living a perfect life with our perfect God. What more could you ask for?!

Possesions in heaven? If God is providing you everything you need, we won’t need any possessions. So, that Lexus I am coveting today – won’t need that in heaven. That bigger amplifier and speakers for the music room – won’t need that either.

In heaven, your body will be perfect – since sin is the cause of all things bad in our world any ailment you have from back pain, to colds, to cancer, to heart attacks – with sin gone, all that goes away too. And here’s a funny thought – heaven is eternal. What does that mean – you won’t need a clock anymore! God is eternal – meaning no beginning and no end. It’s not like God had an alarm clock and thousands of years ago it went off and He thought, “oh, I better create the world now.” The notion of linear time was created for us when God created the world. When you enter the perfect heaven with God, you will be living eternally – we could call that “living for today” – albeit it is hard for us to wrap our minds around eternity and living where time does not exist so we will just call that eternity “today.”

What does John Lennon say in his lyrics:

• Imagine all the people. Living for today. As I just noted, heaven is eternal – forever. One perfect and forever day. You will be living for “today.”
• Imagine all the people. Living life in peace. Sin will be gone in heaven. We won’t have any anger. There will be no wars. We will truly be living life in peace.
• Imagine all the people. Sharing all the world. In heaven, God will provide everything you need. You won’t be coveting or needing anything. So, all in heaven will share in what heaven has to offer – we will be sharing all the world.
• And no religion too. In heaven we won’t be split by having a multitude of religions. We will all be of the same mind with God. Who needs a religion in that situation.

It sure looks to me like Lennon is describing and asking us to imagine a perfect world where all pain and suffering are gone. To the Christian, that is heaven and Lennon does a great job of describing it.

We will finish on this note. From the Christian point of view, sin is the cause of all things bad in this world. For the Christian, the certain hope of being in this perfect heaven comes from their gift of faith in Jesus Christ. Though the Christian is suffering with everybody today, when their physical life on this earth ends, they will be in heaven with God. Not everybody professes to be a Christian. Perhaps people who are not Christians have their own definition of heaven and reason for what they believe (I point to the bible as my reference book. It was written by eye witnesses to what Christ did.). But, a prayer for all Christians (and this is God’s wish too), is that for those who do not believe in Jesus Christ, that someday they will come to faith in Jesus Christ so we will all share in the perfect joy that is heaven.

Or, to put it how John Lennon put it: I hope someday you will join us. And the world will live as one.