Imagine There's No Pergatory

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27857596/



Read that ^^^



Twenty eight years after the death of John Lennon, the Vatican, in a beautiful display of mercy and goodwill, has decided to pardon him. Yes, John Lennon is absolved. Not of all his sins, mind you, just of his more public ones, mainly his off color comment, comparing the popularity of the Beatles to that of Jesus Christ.



First of all, I am pretty sure this shouldn't warrant the title of news. When Lennon was storming the castle doors of Christianly courtesy and respectful propriety in the 1960's, there were significantly more important things happening than a popularity contest between a rock band and the pinnacle figure of the largest religion in the world. Things that the Beatles, through their music, attempted to draw attention to. The Cold War, the Vietnam War. But Lennon's comment topped headlines. Now, fifty years after the fabulous four made it big, they are still snatching headlines away, although today it was a teetering financial market, and 18 more dead in an Iraqi blast. The Vatican's pardon was one of the most popular stories today, and I can't help but feel as though we are letting the trivial distract us from the immediately important.



And anyway, John Lennon didn't need the Vatican's pardon anyway. Historically speaking Jesus's following slowly, and hundreds and thousands of years after his death. I am almost certain the amount of people who knew of him while he was alive, first preaching at the Galilee, was significantly smaller than the number of people who knew about the Beatles when the embarked upon their first American tour. Lennon wasn't being sacrilegious, he was merely pointing out the vast advancements in technology since the time of Jesus. A whole new wave of communication tools and technology brought a whole number to the word popular.