What messages we don't really hear in songs we really love to listen to... [a light-bulb moment]

I love listening to music... it helps me relax and just appreciate a quiet, solitary moment. But I got to thinking, how many songs have I deemed to be my favorites and yet I don't really know the message behind them? What are they REALLY saying? Before today, watching Sam Tsui's rendition of John Lennon's Imagine, I was happily oblivious. But today is the day for some eye-opening, I guess...

I watched the music video but then Sam Tsui, cute and talented guy that he is, doesn't do much for me and so I took the time to really go through the song lyrics... and then it hit me, the message. And I literally felt my whole body start to reject the song. The first line alone, for any CHRISTIAN, would be unimaginable concept. What? NO HEAVEN? If there's no heaven, then doesn't it mean NO GOD? Why would there be a value given to heaven if we didn't associate it with GOD, right? And then it continued on to say, no hell below us... no hell? So we can pretty much do whatever we want with no fear of repercussions, right? nothing to counter our actions, so we are pretty much left with our imagination going wild.


THAT is a very fearful suggestion to me. I get the idea of having no religion to govern us, I don't like religion, per se, I believe FAITH is what's required not the structure we call religion. Like, my religion is not CHRISTIANITY, for being a CHRISTIAN is a way of living and not a group one can belong to superficially.


Imagine was one of my fave songs... the melody and John Lennon were reason enough for me that time to come to appreciate it's value, that I used to belt it out in the shower and on karaoke sessions at home or with friends. But then this... And so this question becomes bigger in my head, "Just how many songs have I liked but been oblivious to, message-wise?"

hmmm, let's see the whole lyrics, shall we?

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
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace

You may say that 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

You may say that 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

It's only the first stanza that's really a problem for me, the second is okay, since it pretty much says that even though we come from different countries and cultures, we are one humanity. Nothing to kill is good, too.... so should I just ignore the first stanza and just go along with the rest of the song? Should I just ignore what it says and just focus on the melody and my liking for the artist? Or should I be more discreet when it comes to my choices, even to the littlest [and others would think, irrelevant] choices? What does my principles dictate me to do?


I am a firm believer that compromise is poison to both principles and beliefs. If you start compromising your beliefs and your principles, pretty soon you'll warp them and find yourself lost and not even knowing who you are and what you stand for in life. I can respect other people's choice.. their beliefs and the way they conduct their lives according to their principles... God gave them that much choice, who am I to judge them or stop them? I think even if we don't agree on things, as long as we respect each other's choices, we can live semi-peacefully. I believe that PEACE in this world will never be achieved for our Prince of Peace is yet to come back. But until HE comes...


So, I think it's important to be consistent with however it is that I'm trying to live my life to be. My works, my deeds, my character, my life is my testimony to my beliefs and principles. So if I am verbally open about my FAITH, then at least I should try to make ALL things in my life be in perfect harmony to that professed FAITH. I assure you, I will fall off tract countless times... but I will dust myself up and try again. Others might say it's overkill, it's just but a little insignificant thing... but all BIG things are made up of small things. I gotta start small to make the whole picture be the way I want it to be, right?


This is not just about the song... the song represents all other little things I've been doing, I've been letting in with my life that is not consistent to the BIG PICTURE that I wanted ME to be.