Is Love All You Need? Jesus v. Lennon
On June 25, 1967, the Beatles participated in the first worldwide TV special called “Our World”. During this special, the Beatles introduced “All You Need is Love”; one of their most famous and recognizable songs. In it, John Lennon with Paul McCartney spelled out the mantra of the anti-war-pro-peace-youth of their day with the slogan: “Love is all you need”.
The “love” of the sixties generation has become the philosophical foundation of our moral scene which affirms, “if it feels good, then do it”; accordingly, love is suppose to be of the non-judgmental variety. For example, as long as two lovers are cohabitating out of “love”, then it is intolerant and unloving to openly speak against it.
Love of this kind is a license to practice, or behave any way we want never mind the moral implications; specifically, because there is only one moral guide – love that feels good and is non-judgmental. According to this line of reasoning, neighbor has no ability to judge another person.
Is Lennon and those like him right? Who would have the audacity to disagree with the countless masses who believe “love is all you need”? Enter Jesus of Nazareth, Son of God. The Gospel Accounts reveal that He taught that love is not extended in a vacuum, there are at the very least two relationships involved which are necessary components to living out love.
When asked about the “greatest commandment” that God had given to mankind in the Scriptures, Jesus said the following words:
You shall love the Lord you God with all you heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love you neighbor as yourself. (Matt. 22.36-39, Mark 12.29-31; Deut. 6.4-5, Lev. 19.18)
Jesus said that living out love is built upon two relationships: (1) our relationship with God, (2) our relationship with our neighbor. In this way, Jesus summarizes the commandments and themes of the Old Testament regarding God, his Word, and our life in balance to them.[1]
According to Jesus, the Scriptures teach that “feeling” is not enough; but instead, a relationship with God and neighbor is based upon a love (agape) that (1) does what is right as the Lord’s Scriptures teach it, and (2) does what is in the best interest of another, independent of a desire to receive anything in return.
Despite its popularity, Lennon’s song needs revision. Love is not all we need; we need love that is lived out in the framework of God’s Word, our relationship with Him, and our relationship with our neighbor:
By this we know we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments… whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected… if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. (1 John 2.3, 5, see vv. 3-7; 4.11)
Contrary to the belief of some well intended souls, love and commands are not mutually exclusive. Commands are issued from God’s love, and we obey these commandments out our love to Him, and consequently, we love others because we have experienced God’s love and want others to be enraptured in this love. For those seeking a biblical Christian experience, this is the love we need.
SOURCES
- D. Turner and D.L. Bock, Matthew and Mark (Carol Stream, Ill.: Tyndale, 2005) 287. “After citing these two texts, Jesus stated that all of the law and prophets depend (lit. “hang”) on them. In other words, the entire OT may be viewed as an exposition of the ideals expressed in these two verses.”
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The Beatles were searching for a lasting meaning for their lives and they wanted to see if the Sexual Revolution of the 1960’s was a piece of the puzzle that was missing for them. It reminds me of Solomon’s search in this area in the Book of Ecclesiastes.
‘King Solomon and the Iron Worker’ by Christian Schussele, 1863
I have written on the Book of Ecclesiastes and the subject of the meaning of our lives on several occasions on this blog. In this series on Ecclesiastes I hope to show how secular humanist man can not hope to find a lasting meaning to his life in a closed system without bringing God back into the picture. This is the same exact case with Solomon in the Book of Ecclesiastes. Three thousand years ago, Solomon took a look at life “under the sun” in his book of Ecclesiastes. Christian scholar Ravi Zacharias has noted, “The key to understanding the Book of Ecclesiastes is the term ‘under the sun.’ What that literally means is you lock God out of a closed system, and you are left with only this world of time plus chance plus matter.”
HERE BELOW IS SOLOMON’S SEARCH IN THE AREA OF THE 6 “L” WORDS. He looked into learning (1:16-18), laughter, ladies, luxuries, and liquor (2:1-3, 8, 10, 11), and labor (2:4-6, 18-20). TODAY WE WANT TO LOOK AT SOLOMON’S SEARCH INTO THE WORD “LADIES.”
Ecclesiastes 2:8-10The Message (MSG)
I piled up silver and gold,
loot from kings and kingdoms.
I gathered a chorus of singers to entertain me with song,
and—most exquisite of all pleasures—
voluptuous maidens for my bed.
9-10 Oh, how I prospered! I left all my predecessors in Jerusalem far behind, left them behind in the dust. What’s more, I kept a clear head through it all. Everything I wanted I took—I never said no to myself. I gave in to every impulse, held back nothing. I sucked the marrow of pleasure out of every task—my reward to myself for a hard day’s work!
1 Kings 11:1-3 English Standard Version (ESV)
11 Now King Solomon loved many foreign women, along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women, 2 from the nations concerning which the Lord had said to the people of Israel, “You shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods.” Solomon clung to these in love. 3 He had 700 wives, who were princesses, and 300 concubines. And his wives turned away his heart.
Francis Schaeffer observed concerning Solomon, “You can not know woman but knowing 1000 women.”
King Solomon in Ecclesiastes 2:11 sums up his search for meaning in the area of the Sexual Revolution with these words, “…behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.”
How about today’s most well known playboy Hugh Hefner? Schaeffer said that Hefner’s goal with the “playboy mentality is just to smash the puritanical ethnic.” My pastor, Adrian Rogers of Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, Tennessee noticed an article where Hugh Hefner said he would be willing to trade all of his riches for the experience of just falling in love with one girl of his dreams and getting married. Rogers went on to say that the playboy lifestyle was bankrupt of lasting satisfaction and that God’s plan of marriage was best. In fact, the Book of Ecclesiastes shows that Solomon came to the conclusion that nothing in life gives true satisfaction without God including knowledge (1:16-18), ladies and liquor (2:1-3, 8, 10, 11), and great building projects (2:4-6, 18-20). You can only find a lasting meaning to your life by looking above the sun and bring God back into the picture.
Solomon’s experiment was a search for meaning to life “under the sun.” Then in last few words in the Book of Ecclesiastes he looks above the sun and brings God back into the picture: “The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: Fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.”
The answer to find meaning in life is found in putting your faith and trust in Jesus Christ. The Bible is true from cover to cover and can be trusted.
Off the internet I found these words from a sermon, “Ecclesiastes 2 — The Quest For Meaning,” dated January 20, 2013:
Of course we have seen this pursuit of finding meaning in pleasure continue full steam in the latter half of the 20th century. Hugh Hefner built his Playboy Empire. Drugs and Alcohol have proliferated in pursuit of a pleasure that allows one to drop out from this reality. Multiple Marriages combined with Multiple divorces have characterized our culture’s mad pursuit of pleasure. The gaming industry which is a multi-billion dollar industry is pursued in the name of pleasure. Our obsession with sports and entertainment outlets to the neglect of all other considerations reveals that 21st century man is still characterized as one who seeks to find his or her meaning of life in the pursuit of pleasure.
Now, pleasure, in and of itself, is not evil, as it is practiced consistent with God’s Law-Word, but pleasure will not give meaning if it is pursued as an end in itself as the Teacher tells us.
And yet we continue to embrace pleasure as a way to find meaning.
Ravi Zacharias says something that we here in this wealthy nation should take special note of:
“I am absolutely convinced that meaninglessness does not come from being weary of pain; meaninglessness comes from being weary of pleasure.”
Paul McCartney (1/9) – Wingspan
At 5:18 mark Paul says At a a certain age you start to think “Wow, I have to get serious. I can’t just be a playboy all of my life.” HERE PAUL IS SHOWING HOW EMPTY HE FOUND THE PLAYBOY EXPERIENCE AND HOW HE WANTED SOMETHING MORE MEANINGFUL!!!!!!!!!
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JOHN LENNON – All You Need Is Love
BEATLES: JOHN LENNON, ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE Trailer
John Lennon was a creative talent who inspired a legacy of songs that would define the 1960s. ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE follows John through his life as he performs with the Beatles, falls in love, and ultimately meets his tragic and untimely death. With never before seen footage, sit down with John and Yoko for a rare fifteen-minute interview, from 1968, as they discuss their first meeting and the artistic respect they have for each other.
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Across the universe- all we need is love
Actually all you need is Christ and Christ demonstrated perfect love for you when he died on the cross to pay for your sins.
The Beatles All You Need is Love (HQ).mp4
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I have featured many artists on my blog and here are links to them.
Marina Abramovic, Ida Applebroog, Matthew Barney, Aubrey Beardsley, Larry Bell, Wallace Berman, Peter Blake, Derek Boshier, Pauline Boty, Brenda Bury, Allora & Calzadilla, Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Heinz Edelmann, Olafur Eliasson, Tracey Emin, Jan Fabre, Makoto Fujimura, Hamish Fulton, Ellen Gallaugher, Ryan Gander, Francoise Gilot, John Giorno, Rodney Graham, Cai Guo-Qiang, Brion Gysin, Jann Haworth, Arturo Herrera, Oliver Herring, David Hockney, David Hooker, Nancy Holt, Roni Horn, Peter Howson, Robert Indiana, Jasper Johns, Martin Karplus, Margaret Keane, Mike Kelley, Peter Kien, Jeff Koons, Annie Leibovitz, John Lennon, Richard Linder, Sally Mann, Kerry James Marshall, Trey McCarley, Linda McCartney, Paul McCartney, Paul McCarthy, Josiah McElheny, Barry McGee, Richard Merkin, Nicholas Monro, Yoko Ono, Tony Oursler, John Outterbridge, Nam June Paik, Eduardo Paolozzi, George Petty, William Pope L., Gerhard Richter, Anna Margaret Rose, James Rosenquist, Susan Rothenberg, Georges Rouault, Richard Serra, Shahzia Sikander, Raqub Shaw, Thomas Shutte, Grace Slick, Saul Steinberg, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Stuart Sutcliffe, Mika Tajima,Richard Tuttle, Luc Tuymans, Alberto Vargas, Banks Violett, H.C. Westermann, Fred Wilson, Krzysztof Wodiczko, Ronnie Wood, Andrew Wyeth, Jamie Wyeth, Bill Wyman, David Wynne, Andrea Zittel,
Today’s featured artist is Grace Slick
Grace Slick Profile – CBS 08/03/09
Jefferson Airplane – Somebody To Love (Live at Woodstock Music & Art Fair, 1969)
Grace Slick shows her artwork on CNN during the 40th anniversery of Woodstock
Jefferson Airplane – White Rabbit (HQ) ~ (ReEdit)
Starship – “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now” – ORIGINAL VIDEO – HQ
John Lennon by Grace Slick
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| Grace Slick at Wentworth Gallery focuses on art in a post-rock ‘n’ roll career |
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 by By Skip SheffieldFormer Jefferson Airplane lead singer Grace Slick will greet her public and talk about her flourishing career in art from 6 to 9 p.m. Saturday at Wentworth Gallery at Town Center at Boca Raton. Slick will also appear from 6 to 9 tonight at Wentworth Gallery in the Gardens Mall in Palm Beach Gardens.Grace Slick was always feisty and outspoken as front woman of Jefferson Airplane and Starship, and she is no shrinking violet at age 65.She gave up performing in 1998 because she felt it was silly for a woman her age to sing rock music and try and act like a teenager. She had her first public art show in Fort Lauderdale in 1989, and art is where she channels her creative energy now.“There a lot of us former rock people who are doing art now,” he offers by telephone from Malibu, California. “My old bandmate Marty Balin is doing quite well. So is Ronnie Wood of the Rolling Stones, and so was Jerry Garcia before he died.” |
| Slick first painted furry animals (the white rabbit is still a favorite) and beautiful nudes. Her agent suggested she begin doing portraits of musicians she knew, and she has obliged with portraits of Jim Morrison, Jerry Garcia, Janis Joplin and Sting.
“I let my agent deal with the so-called art world,” she says. “He makes suggestions and sets up my appearances. I just paint every day as the spirit strikes.” Slick was born Grace Wing Oct. 30, 1939 in Evanston, Illinois, but she was raised in San Francisco. She attended the University of Miami in 1958-1959, but admits she was more a partier than a scholar. After graduating from Finch College she returned to San Francisco and married Gerald “Jerry” Slick, a cinematographer. She joined Jefferson Airplane in 1966, replacing original singer Signe Anderson, and sang two of the group’s signature songs, “White Rabbit” and “Somebody to Love.” Slick divorced and remarried and divorced and became an outspoken anti-war activist as well as a self-admitted rowdy drunk. In 1971 she and Jefferson Airplane guitarist Paul Kantner had a daughter, China Wing Kantner, with whom Slick remains close. “China is now working on a Ph.D,” Slick reveals proudly. “Her special study is spirituality.” Although she performed with former bandmates Marty Balin and Paul Kantner for a post-9/11 concert, Slick says she is officially retired from public performance. “I don’t walk to be one of those old relics doing the oldies circuit,” she protests. “There are a few signature groups that can get away with it. The Rolling Stones need it, evidently, and they are still one of the best rock ‘n’ roll groups in the world. I’m going to be 66 next month, for God sakes. Art is my focus now. I do it all the time. I’m just grateful some people like it well enough to buy it. |
Andy Warhol &; Grace Slick
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Janis Joplin, Grace Slick,
Based on her tempestuous rock-star career as lead singer for Jefferson Airplane in the 1960s, no one would expect Grace Slick to be shy or demure, even at age 73.
And sure enough, she isn’t.
“I’ve lived a good life,” she said by phone from her Malibu home. “Now I’m an old broad.”
In her second career as an artist, Slick produces paintings just as colorful and provocative as her songs. She’ll appear Saturday, May 18, at the Norcal Modern Gallery in Healdsburg, which is hosting her “Once Upon a Time” exhibit.
Her work is filled with “Alice in Wonderland” images reminiscent of Slick’s 1967 hit, “White Rabbit,” but her interest in art, and Alice, predates her rock and roll career, she said.
“I knew I could draw when I was very little. I used to draw angels when I was about 5,” she said.
“The story of ‘Alice in Wonderland’ was the only one that was read to me where some Prince Charming doesn’t come along and save her,” Slick said. “She has a lot of guts. She does it all herself. She doesn’t stop.”
While Slick’s income comes from her music royalties, she doesn’t deny the commercial appeal of her iconic White Rabbit paintings.
“People will, for obvious reasons, buy pictures of white rabbits from me. Now I’m getting real good at drawing rabbits,” Slick said.
“I have an agent, and his job is to sell stuff,” she added. “He finds that my portraits of other rock musicians also sell, and I enjoy doing that, too.”
Slick wrote “White Rabbit” while in a Bay Area Band called The Great Society, formed in 1965. After joining Jefferson Airplane the following year, she recorded the song for the “Surrealistic Pillow” album.
She also performed in the band’s later incarnations — Jefferson Starship, from 1981 to 1984, and Starship, until 1988. She retired from rock and roll in 1989, and began painting in the mid-1990s.
Her first art show was in Florida in 2000, and she has had more than 100 exhibits since then, creating fanciful images with bright acrylic paints.
“I like really heavy, knock-your-brains-out color,” Slick said. “I paint in acrylic, because it’s fast, and I don’t have a lot of time left to sit around and let oil paint dry.”
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1965 by Grace Slick
Jimi Hendrix by Grace slick artist
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The Daily Hatch 
Posted on January 19, 2011 by Jovan Payes
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