Thursday, October 7, 2010

The Second Coming of John Lennon

This Saturday would have been John Lennon’s 70th birthday. His widow Yoko Ono was recently asked by the Associated Press, “One hundred years from now, what do you want people to know about John Lennon?”

She replied, “First of all, I'm not sure if I'm not going to be there. Things are changing in this world so much, and it might be like we're all going to live as long as we want to. And also John might come back. We don't know anything. So I'm not going to answer that question.”

John might come back?! What? How? When? In what form? A resurrected Lennon? Lennon coming in the sky with diamonds? It brings to mind Lennon’s famous quip that the Beatles were more popular than Jesus. Now Lennon’s widow is trying to make her dead husband into Jesus.

It is more likely she is thinking about cloning John. But who knows? She did not want to elaborate. But she clearly has been giving it some thought. 

Lennon’s famous humanist anthem “Imagine” was based on one of Yoko’s poems. It clearly sketched their beliefs: no religion, no countries, no possessions. No heaven, no hell – no afterlife. Imagine there’s no Lennon.

So I think it likely that she is planning to undergo some gene therapy that allows her to live forever. She probably also has in mind some “Jurassic Park” type of experiment using her husband’s DNA that will return the extinct Beatle to earth.

In any case, it sounds like Yoko has the all-too-human tendency to deny the reality of death – both hers and her husband’s. It is a natural instinct. Some think it is the impetus behind all religion.

I think it is eternity in our hearts. Three thousand years ago, Solomon wrote, “Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God's work from beginning to end.”

There is an instinct for eternity in human beings. Scientists have recently labeled it “the God gene.” If denied the normal religious channels of expression, it will find other ways to make its presence known. I call it the natural revelation of God in the human soul.

According to the Bible, John Lennon is coming back. All of us are. Physical death is not the end. It is called Resurrection Day. “The dead shall be raised.” What that means is anybody’s guess. Yoko dreams of being reunited with her deceased loved one. She’s a dreamer; but she’s not the only one.
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Photo is the John Lennon Imagine Memorial in Central Park.

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