John Lennon and God

John Lennon once said, "People always got the image I was an anti-Christ or anti-religion. I'm not. I'm a most religious fellow. I was brought up a Christian and I only now understand some of the things that Christ was saying in those parables."

Most people believe in God's existence. It's hard not to, with creation staring us in the face. Still, there are some who deny their God-given common sense and believe the unscientific thought that nothing created everything. Atheists can't have their cake and eat it too. Either something made everything, or nothing made it.

Lennon was no such fool. He knew that something made everything and that "something" he believed was God. He even called himself a "religious fellow." He not only believed in the existence of God, but he had gained some sort of understanding as to the meaning for the parables of Jesus. He said,

"I believe in God, but not as one thing, not as an old man in the sky. I believe that what people call God is something in all of us. I believe that what Jesus and Mohammed and Buddha and all the rest said was right. It's just that the translations have gone wrong."

His perception of "God" being "something is all of us" is easy to understand. Human beings are not like animals, or birds, insects and fish. Sure, animals, birds, insects and fish all have eyes, a mouth, blood, a stomach, an appetite, and will to live, and we all bed down at night. But there is something absolutely unique about the human race. We are moral beings. Fish don’t have court systems. Neither do animals insects or birds.

If one of their kind transgresses some moral law, they don't seek retribution. They don’t have a judge and jury and punish a guilty one of their kind. But man certainly does. He will go to the ends of the earth and spend billions of dollars to bring the guilty to justice. This is because we are made in the image of God. We have His likeness engraved upon us in that we know right from wrong. Lennon therefore understandably expressed this uniqueness as being "God" in all of us. He said,

"We're all God. I'm not a god or the God, but we're all God and we're all potentially divine-and potentially evil."

He didn't mean that we were the Creator, or that we were even a lesser god. He was saying that we have the propensity to do good and evil, and we have a God-given inner knowledge of when moral boundaries are crossed.

The Bible explains this as the "work of the law" being written upon our hearts (see Romans 2:15). This is a reference to the moral Law (the Ten Commandments). This work of the Law is the echo of the human conscience. None of us can plead ignorant as to the basic issues of right and wrong. Rather than say that it is "God" within us, the Scriptures tell us that it's His divine stamp rather than His divine presence.

For the Piranha Bowl:
http://www.youtube.com/user/thewayofthemaster?blend=3&ob=4#p/u/0/TCSUKIhjevo