(The following post is re-blogged with permission from Rob Grayson's blog, "Faith Meets World." You can view the original post here)
What if Jesus really meant it when he said “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you”?
What if the church was never meant to be a place where you go on a Sunday to be entertained by a hip band and cajoled and motivated by a paid speaker?
What if the cross was not God’s idea, but rather something we demanded and God went along with?
What if Adam and Eve were not two historical individuals who were conned by a talking snake, but rather archetypes of the entire human race?
What if the Bible is not a perfect text downloaded directly by God, but rather a collection of divinely inspired but nonetheless very human texts that reveal as much about humanity as they do about God?
What if most of Jesus’ prophetic utterances in Matthew 24 were fulfilled in Jerusalem in AD 70?
What if God really is more concerned about social justice and world peace than he is about doctrinal conformance?
What if God’s will is actually that you stop agonising over God’s will and get on with living your life to the best of your ability?
What if God already forgave your sin, rather than requiring you to pray a particular kind of prayer and be a good boy or girl before he would let you into heaven?
What if the concept of an eternal, agonising hell is our invention rather than something God would ever even contemplate?
What if sin were something that needed to be healed rather than atoned for?
What if all this were true… can you imagine it?
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 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 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
(Lyrics from the song Imagine, by John Lennon)