Imagine
Last night at the Olympic Opening Ceremony Yoko Ono read the words to Imagine written by John Lennon many years ago. Then the song was sung. I cannot agree with all the words but I will include them and then comment.
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...
Imagine there's no countries,
It isn't hard to do,
Nothing to kill or die for,
No religion too,
Imagine all the people
living life in peace...
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...
You may say I'm a dreamer,
but I'm not the only one,
I hope some day you'll join us,
And the world will live as one.
Should we imagine that there is no heaven? I guess it all depends on your concept of heaven. We have faith that our souls will be with God after we die but we don't know all the details. That is a matter of faith. One could say that we would have heaven in this world if all the people shared a world where there was nothing to fight over, no hunger, no greed. That could be boring! We all need a little stress to maintain life. Is there a balance somewhere?
I have no problem believing there is no "hell below us". It is in the here and now -- just watch the news or read the newspapers! Our gracious God is not going to banish folks to eternal damnation...at least I don't think so! We may feel that some should be but we are not the final judge!
I'm not so sure about "no religion". There is a difference between having beliefs and religiosity. Religiosity is what the extremists practice. There are extremists in Christianity, Islam and Judaism and they are not peacemakers! I feel that God (as I know Him) made all the people and how each individual knows Him is not for us to judge.
I guess it boils down to "Imagine all the people sharing all the world". My hope is that someday we might do that!
Today I have watched three women's hockey games. Fun watching since only the Russian team did not have a player who had played for UMD or the Gophers. UMD has representatives on all but 2 of the teams. How about that?
Lois Newman
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...
Imagine there's no countries,
It isn't hard to do,
Nothing to kill or die for,
No religion too,
Imagine all the people
living life in peace...
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...
You may say I'm a dreamer,
but I'm not the only one,
I hope some day you'll join us,
And the world will live as one.
Should we imagine that there is no heaven? I guess it all depends on your concept of heaven. We have faith that our souls will be with God after we die but we don't know all the details. That is a matter of faith. One could say that we would have heaven in this world if all the people shared a world where there was nothing to fight over, no hunger, no greed. That could be boring! We all need a little stress to maintain life. Is there a balance somewhere?
I have no problem believing there is no "hell below us". It is in the here and now -- just watch the news or read the newspapers! Our gracious God is not going to banish folks to eternal damnation...at least I don't think so! We may feel that some should be but we are not the final judge!
I'm not so sure about "no religion". There is a difference between having beliefs and religiosity. Religiosity is what the extremists practice. There are extremists in Christianity, Islam and Judaism and they are not peacemakers! I feel that God (as I know Him) made all the people and how each individual knows Him is not for us to judge.
I guess it boils down to "Imagine all the people sharing all the world". My hope is that someday we might do that!
Today I have watched three women's hockey games. Fun watching since only the Russian team did not have a player who had played for UMD or the Gophers. UMD has representatives on all but 2 of the teams. How about that?
Lois Newman
posted by Lois at 11:16 AM
1 Comments:
Lois...so glad to see you got the
blog bug! I look forward to reading and enjoying your writing.
I really liked your "Imagine" comments. I agree that from that song we need to take away the thought "Imagine all the people,
sharing all the world"!! I'm sorry I missed it...haven't watched any of the Olympics yet. I've always liked the song. -- Linda
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