Category: News & Pop Culture

the Beatles were a Christian band

photo by headphonaught

from e-mail…

The Telegraph ran an article yesterday that reports John Lennon called the Beatles a Christian band and that he himself was a big fan of Jesus Christ.

The statements were part of a 1969 interview with The Beatles front man while he was taking part in a bed-in for peace with Yoko Ono.

As for his infamous statement about the Beatles being bigger than Jesus at the time (which I would tend to agree with)…

“It’s just an expression meaning the Beatles seem to me to have more influence over youth than Christ,” he says. “Now I wasn’t saying that was a good idea, ‘cos I’m one of Christ’s biggest fans. And if I can turn the focus on the Beatles on to Christ’s message, then that’s what we’re here to do.”

He blames “the hypocrites” for being too “uptight” in reacting to his comments. “If the Beatles get on the side of Christ, which they always were, and let people know that, then maybe the churches won’t be full, but there’ll be a lot of Christians dancing in the dance halls. Whatever they celebrate, God and Christ, I don’t think it matters as long as they’re aware of Him and His message.”

Reminds me of a couple things…

  • “Christian is a great noun but a poor adjective.”
  • And perhaps “Jesus is the only way to God – but there are many ways to get to Jesus.”
  • Someone once asked Gandhi if he was a Christian. His reported response was, “Ask the poor. They’ll tell you who the Christians are.”
  • My dad shared some of his thoughts on what a Christian is on the latest Something Beautiful Podcast.
  • Jamie Moffett also shared some of his thoughts and ideas on Something Beautiful 1.6.

I have a feeling that many people are going to get up in arms and upset because John Lennon claimed to be a fan of Christ and suggested that the Beatles might have been a Christian band.

I wonder what the root of the issue is. Is it because Lennon claimed the Beatles were “bigger than Christ.” Is it because they used drugs? Is it because they sang about love and peace? Is it because they hung out with the Maharishi? Is it because John Lennon sang, “Imagine no religion… imagine there’s no heaven?” Or is there something deeper going on?

What about you? How would YOU define “Christian.” How would you explain the Christian “religion?” Does belief in heaven, hell and religion make you a Christian? Does dis-belief in those things make you a non-Christian?

Related ::
Telegraph :: ‘Bigger than Jesus? The Beatles were a Christian band’
SSL :: Christian is a poor adjective

Big oil… but what about Big Ag?

Gas prices have actually started to drop – ever so slightly in our neck of the woods. I doubt it will continue much more.

Now that more and more folks are turning to public transportation when and where they can and reducing their consumption of oil intake — the powers that be realize they can getaway with $4 gas – but probably not much more…. for now.

But as gas prices have risen – so has the price of food – and yet no one’s made much of a stink about “big ag.” Could it be because everyone’s too busy making a fuss about “big oil?” Or is it because big ag keeps pointing the finger at big oil?

Either way, Herrick Kimball, the Deliberate Agrarian, seems to think big ag’s profits are a greater concern.

Personally I am far more concerned with the huge profits currently being made by big agricultural industries (BigAg) than I am with BigOil. Food is an absolute necessity for every human on earth. Oil is not.

Food production and distribution is, of course, intertwined with fossil fuels, but not inextricably, Believe it or not, civilization can (and will) survive without an overabundance of crude oil. We have around six thousand years of pre-oil human history to prove that. People are resourceful. They can adapt to such changes. At least some can.

But food is another story. There are currently millions of people in the world facing significant hardship, malnutrition, and even starvation over this matter of food. Why? Because they and their countries are dependent on BigAg’s food, the cost of which is rising at alarming rates. And all the while, the BigAg corporations are making record profits.

I tend to agree. What about you? Be sure and read the rest of his post.

Related ::
DART – Dallas Area Rapid Transit
DART’s Chairman Report May 08
The Deliberate Agrarian :: Big Ag…Big Profits…Big Problems
SSL :: simply living simple
SSL :: simply living simple pt 2

A National Tragedy?!

The Insider – another junk celebrity/entertainment show just said, “ABC News broke into regular programming to report the news… as the country comes to grip with a national tragedy.”

ARE YOU SERIOUS?! Ted Kennedy has a brain tumor and it’s become a national tragedy?!

I feel sorry for him and the family, but a Senator from Massachusetts who’s served since 1962, gets a brain tumor and it’s a national tragedy? Yet 100,000 are dead or dying in China and Burma and more than 3000 soldiers have died in Iraq and a politician getting a brain tumor is a national tragedy?

Am I just too cynical or am I missing something?

The U.S. housing crisis

In case you haven’t been paying attention, or just simply ignored the crisis, NPR’s This American Life had a great summary and explanation of the current mortgage/housing crisis in the U.S.

Here’s a very brief summary as I understand it. Basically there’s suddenly been all this new money in the world. The amount of money being spent worldwide doubled over the last 6 years.

Poor countries were becoming richer and richer by making things like TVs and selling oil so suddenly there’s LOADS of money with no place to invest. And what good is money if you can’t invest it to make more money for you? So we end up with twice as much money looking for investments but not twice as many places to invest into.

Alan Greenspan kept the fed interest rate at 1% – so that folks couldn’t make money off of us treasury bonds. The show says basically, Greenspan said, “Screw the international pool of money – we’re not going to help you make money off our treasury bonds.” Ha!

So the investors looked for other places to invest – like the US housing market. And investors were willing to take a risk on mortgage loans in order to make well more than 1% on their investments.
But of course the investors don’t want to worry with the hassle of individual loans so folks on Wall Street found a way around the issues and hassle of individual loans. Folks would sign on to a mortgage at 5-10% and then those loans are sold to small banks who then sell them to a guy on Wall Street.

That guy on Wall Street now has several thousand loans with big fat checks coming in every month – and will be scheduled to come in for the next 30 years. So he turns around and sells shares of his investment to all these folks with loads of new money, aka mortgage bank securities.

By 2003, just about everyone who could qualify for a loan could get one – yet the money was just getting started. So the loan qualifications and guidelines got looser and looser till folks could get half-a-million dollar loan without any proof of income.

Of course the more loans you give out, the stronger your security will be.

“We almost couldn’t produce to help keep the appetite of our investors happy.”

And the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

Of course this is just a brief summary of a one-hour program. Listen online for the real details and what really started the crisis.