Growing up in the sixties, I was influenced by the Beatles in a big way. The first Beatles album released in the United States was entitled "Meet The Beatles". I bought my copy at a local discount department store and played it frequently on a little portable record player my mother had bought. I loved the dramatic chiaroscuro lighting effect used by the photographer who designed the album cover.

Of the four "mop tops", my personal favorite was Paul McCartney, but I thought they were all pretty cool. When I was in grade school, I would stand out on our front porch (my own little "stage"), holding a badminton racket and pretending that it was a guitar or bass guitar, and that I was one of the Beatles. (I'd never heard of "air guitar" back in those days.)

I was never really a Beatles fanatic, the way some folks were, but I did enjoy their music, some of which was brilliant from a musical point of view. However, as time went by, their song lyrics got increasingly stranger and stranger. When I heard lyrics to songs such as "Come Together", I couldn't help thinking that only someone who was high on drugs would write such a song or think that it made sense. As someone who had never experimented with illegal drugs, I found it hard to relate to such surreal lyrics.

By the time the early seventies rolled around, I had experienced an encounter with God which caused me to accept and embrace Jesus Christ as my Savior. This caused me to see the music of the Beatles and the ex-Beatles in a new light. This was particularly true in the case of music written and sung by John Lennon.

When I heard the lyrics to the John Lennon song Imagine, it made me realize how different his values were from my own values.

On one level, I understood the song's appeal. Talking about a "brotherhood of man" where the world would "live as one" sounded mighty nice, on a superficial level.

The trouble with the song Imagine was that John Lennon's idea of a utopian world was apparently one in which a socialistic one-world government ruled over everyone, and in which belief in heaven and hell (and even "religion" itself) was considered obsolete.

Many people had understandably taken offense earlier when John had arrogantly stated to the press that the Beatles were more popular than Jesus Christ. Some have said that John was "misunderstood" when he made that statement. Perhaps that's true, but it seemed to me that it was a ridiculous statement for John to make. The Beatles were enormously popular at the time, but their popularity had not endured for centuries, the way that Christ's "popularity" had. Therefore, the total number of people who were or who had been big "fans" of Jesus Christ far surpassed anything the Beatles ever dreamed of.

John didn't seem to grasp the difference between the relatively shallow level of devotion most people felt for the Beatles and the deep level of devotion Christ had inspired. The last time I checked, no Beatles fan had ever willingly died a martyr's death as the result of a passionate commitment to the Beatles or their music. Numerous people had made such sacrifices for the sake of Christ. But that huge and obvious discrepancy did not prevent John from making such a statement. So it wasn't a complete surprise when he continued his offensive against Christianity by writing and singing a song which made it sound as if Christianity was the problem with the world, not the solution to the world's problems.

In his book The Gospel According To The Beatles, Steve Turner says that the Beatles' lyrics often reflected a hunger for transcendence". There is some truth to that. Then again, saying that they were hungry for the truth is not the same as saying that they found what they were looking for. On the contrary, despite the fact that they grew up in a culture in which Christianity was the predominant religion, the Beatles seem to have gone out of their way to reject Christianity in favor of just about any alternative which offered the illusion of spirituality without the self-sacrifice and self-discipline required by biblical Christianity.

John Lennon's naivete about the corrupt nature of the human heart was plainly apparent in the lyrics of the song Imagine. He wanted peace and international brotherhood, but history had shown that governments which rejected the influence of religion were often characterized by oppressive despotism and disregard for the intrinsic value of human life. Religion (particularly monotheistic religion which is fundamentally different from the Hinduism which strongly influenced George Harrison) has the potential to undermine the tendency towards despotism by reminding leaders who might otherwise be inclined to rule as despots that God will ultimately hold them accountable for their actions.

Of course, there are those who have professed Christianity without having any real understanding of what it means to be a Christian. On some occasions, such people have ruled as despots. Such instances go a long way in explaining why some people have associated Christianity with injustice and violence. But anyone who takes the time to read the scriptures and to seek understanding knows that the actions of such people ought not to be associated with genuine biblical Christianity.

John Lennon should have spent more time reading history books. Joseph Stalin's mass executions of his political enemies (known as the Great Purge) and the Soviet Union's evil persecution of Christians and others with whom they disagreed should have made John think twice before advocating the abolition of religion in the name of achieving peace in the world.

None of these observations are meant to suggest that Mark David Chapman was justified in murdering John Lennon. No matter how subversive and ridiculous Lennon's views were, he still had the right to express those views without being shot to death.

Nevertheless, in light of John's opposition to the fundamental tenets of the Christian faith, I find it exceedingly strange that John's song Imagine is often played in public places during the Christmas season, and equally strange that another one of John's songs wishes people a "merry, merry Christmas" in spite of the fact that he was openly opposed to religion and in spite of the fact that Christmas is the most religious of all holidays (with the possible exception of Easter). John Lennon, it seems to me, was one very confused guy, which is hardly surprising in light of his frequent drug use.

One can "imagine" anything one wishes to imagine, but imagining doesn't make it so. People have imagined horses with wings, but I don't recall seeing any during my lifetime. Imagination, properly managed, is a wonderful thing; but it can also be a source of confusion and deception.

Imagine how surprised John Lennon must have been when he died and discovered that there really was a heaven and a hell.

The Beatles were enormously creative. By definition, art must demonstrate great creativity in order to be accurately described as great. But there is more to great art than great creativity. Art which is truly great not only demonstrates great creativity. It also speaks the truth! One can speak the truth in extremely creative and metaphorical ways, as Tolkien did in "The Lord of The Rings" and as C.S. Lewis did in his "Space Trilogy" and in "The Screwtape Letters" and in the "Chronicles of Narnia". But one must still speak the truth. Artists are no more exempt from accountability to God than anyone else

All of which leads me to the main topic of this article.

Thanks in part to the influence of people such as the Beatles, popular music and art and literature became increasingly creative during the late sixties, the seventies and subsequent decades. But there was an inverse relationship between the quality of the art itself and the quality of the values often being promoted with that art.

In terms of morality, popular culture took a real nosedive. Thanks to the ridiculous notion that rock music has some kind of duty to push the envelope and to continue to shock people who believe in conventional morality, the moral decline of popular music continues even to this day.

This is particularly evident in the abominable lyrics which are prevalent in styles of music such as punk rock, heavy metal and hip hop. There are now substantial number of people who seem to think it is the ultimate act of cleverness to write lyrics in which one incessantly uses a slang word which describes a person who commits incest with his maternal parent. Such people strike me not merely as immoral, but also as indescribably stupid and lacking in real imagination!

However, it would be irrational, in my opinion, to demonize particular music styles on account of their frequent association with ungodly lyrics and lifestyles. I know of no scriptural basis for believing that one style of music is morally preferable to another.

By way of analogy, if it turned out that disproportionately immoral people had a disproportionate preference for bright colors, it would not logically follow that their love of bright colors had caused them to be immoral, or that their immorality had caused them to love bright colors. Colors, like styles of music and art, are morally neutral.

Thanks to the cultural changes initiated by "Jesus movement" musicians back in the early seventies when I was still in high school, numerous Christian musicians have shown that one can glorify God with virtually any style of music, in a manner which is capable of planting seeds of faith in minds and hearts. The same can be said of other manifestations of popular culture, such as visual art, cinematography and literature. There is no legitimate form of art which God cannot redeem and use for his purposes.

In our world today, spiritual forces battle with one another for control over the hearts and minds of people everywhere. The arts are one of the primary tools with which forces on both sides of the culture wars are able to wield influence.

There is already a lot of good music and art and literature being produced by Christians today. High quality music, art and literature has the potential to really shake things up and to help initiate a massive return to the fundamental Christian values which were once dominant in our society. Unfortunately, due to a variety of factors, a lot of that potential goes untapped. That has got to change. Now is as good a time as any. I don't presume to have all of the answers, but I am determined to do my part in order to help to return America to a time when creativity and faith were not considered by ordinary citizens to be mutually exclusive. Such a goal is achievable. All it takes is strong faith in God and the right kind of imagination.

Imagine a web site which features the very best in Christian art, music, poetry, literature, drama, arts and crafts and more.

Imagine a web site which regularly features thought-provoking articles designed to encourage the Church to make the most of the talents of all of its members, particularly when engaged in the important task of reaching the lost for Jesus Christ.

Imagine a web site which empowers artistically talented Christians in numerous ways, so that they can overcome the obstacles which have often prevented them from making a real and positive impact on the world.

Imagine that the church could stop bickering about relatively trivial doctrinal differences of opinion and focus instead on saving dying souls and rescuing the spiritually dying culture which is painfully apparent to anyone who cares to look beyond the walls of the Church. Imagine a web site which focuses on helping to make that happen.

For more specific information about the mission of ArtisticChristians.com, read our Mission Statement.

... Mark W. Pettigrew
    Webmaster and Christian Renaissance Man