Imagine There’s No Heaven After the Paris Attacks

Imagine there’s no heaven
It’s easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky

That John Lennon’s song played at the scene of the Paris attacks was understandable.

I understand some of the pain and fear of a terrorist attack. My husband was in New York City at the Trade Center site on 9-11, and I woke up November 14th, 2015 immediately thinking of Paris knowing the fear, confusion, and anger the French must have woken up with that morning – if they had been able to sleep at all.

When people use religion as a weapon, especially when it involves a violent terrorist attack on innocent civilians, it’s easy to blame religion rather than the one detonating the weapon.

It’s easy to point fingers at faith, an invisible, intangible idea that will not defend itself. It becomes an even easier target than human victims as it is victimized twice: once by the evil doer who detonates the weapons and then by those who point fingers and spout views like those expressed in John Lennon’s “Imagine,” pulling others in to the false belief that…

If there is no religion, there will be peace in the world.

But pointing fingers takes the easy way out. It makes people feel better by blaming something that some will wrongly see as a common enemy, ignoring that there is usually more than what meets the eye.

When going through a divorce, it’s easy to point fingers at the abandoner. There is no Good excuse for having an affair, for abandoning responsibilities for leaving your spouse to carry the burden.

There is even less excuse for turning your back, even part time, on your children.

It’s easy to point fingers at the departing spouse and point out real wrongs.

It’s harder to look within ourselves and see where we have gone wrong. What harmful words were uttered aloud or under our breaths. What lustful looks were given to that movie star, that lead singer, that guy in the grocery store? What big house, better car, tropical family vacation did we long for?

What should we have done differently that might have changed our spouses?

The difficult questions often go unasked and go, even more often, unaddressed as we point fingers and make feeble attempts to “get on with life.”

Pointing fingers at religion,

imagining there’s no Heaven,

does the same thing.

The truth is though,

there is a Heaven

and there is a Hell.

and religion is not to blame

but people are.

And we need to take a good long look in the mirror and ask questions of ourselves.

In our politically correct world, we must ask about our attitudes regarding religion. Many people will say they believe in God, they follow a certain religion but that their religion is no better than anyone else’s. They mistake the meaning of COEXIST for equality and, while coexisting is important, it’s also important to remember that not all religions have equal value.

If you follow a religion

that is equal in value to every other religion,

what’s the point in following your religion?

Isn’t it hypocritical to say you’re a believer but don’t believe that what you say you believe in is any better than what anyone else believes?

Think about that.

And then keep asking questions about your faith.

Is it that having no religion would make the world a better place or is it that having our actions reflect the dictates of our religion would make the world would be a better place?

If we followed the 10 Commandments, if we believed Thou Shall Not Kill meant more than just a physical death, if we believed that it also referred to a crushing of the spirit how would our world be changed?

If we believed Thou Shall Not Covet referred to lust of any kind,  and we gave until it made us uncomfortable because there are those who cannot live without our help, if we were willing to inflict blindness to avoid lusting after someone who is not our spouse, how would our world be changed?

If we actually followed the two greatest commandments Jesus gave us, “Love thy neighbor as thyself,” and “Love the Lord thy God above all” how would our world be changed?

Is religion the problem or is it the way we, in our imperfect humanness, act, think, feel when we forget or imagine there is no religion?

It is important to show evil doers that we won’t cower in fear, that we are brave even when we are afraid, that we will be faith-filled even when Hope is attacked. It is important to keep shopping, to keep going out to eat, to attend concerts and sports stadium, and to just have fun, but that can’t be all there is.

Imagine all the people
Living for today…

That is exactly what “they” want us to do, those who point fingers at religion, those who use religion as a weapon. They want us to turn from all that is Good about our Faith, to turn to darkness.

And many will fall to that call.

But there is a Heaven, and there is a Hell, and after the Paris attacks, after every attack on Christians that we do not hear about but that terrorize so many innocents throughout the world, victims and terrorists wake up on the other side of life and face that reality.

So while we celebrate life and spit in the eyes of evil doers, let us not lose sight of what is most important.

Let us not lose our faith. Let us not point fingers at our religion and all that is Good in it. Let us show the world that we can Love in all circumstances, that we can be a Light in the darkness, that we can chase the darkness away only with Light, not with more darkness.

It is important to realize that there is a Heaven and there is a Hell and that each of us will go to only one of the two.

Celebrate life, mourn the victims, be aware, but be careful to not blame religion. Be careful to ask yourself the hard questions and discover how you can be a Light so others are drawn to faith instead of pointing fingers at it.

Never Lose Your Faith. Christ is Good. The Holy Spirit is STRONG, and The Father Will Judge.

Be awake. Be Good.

Be more like your Christian Religion calls you to be and never imagine less.

song photo credit

photo credit

God Bless…

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