Celebrities, God bless them, they try, they really try. In their latest attempt to ‘encourage,’ if that’s the right word, their fans across the globe they decided to sing the song “Imagine” by John Lennon. It’s a musical number that talks about having no religion, heaven or God, no borders and no possessions, sung by people who live in multimillion-dollar mansions. Basically, it’s a song devoid of depth and hope. It has not been well-received. 

Led by Wonder Woman star Gal Gadot, a compilation of celebrities each try their hand at singing the tune to the public. Some include Kirstan Wiig, Natalie Portman, Amy Adams, Sarah Silverman, Jimmy Fallon and variety of other rather famous faces. 

As James Wood tweeted, “#Imagine you have finally corralled every person who has ever wronged you into one room. #Imagine you have amphitheater-level speakers in that room. Imagine you can shed your ethical ambivalence and you play this video. On a loop. Until they die. #Imagine.”

Another user wrote, “These people are probably collectively worth a few billion dollars. Open your checkbook. Or at least learn to carry a tune.”

As your humble commentator, I can confirm that I could not sit through the entire thing. It is rather cringy to see celebrities attempting to pull together a tune. And for what end, no one really knows for sure.

Gadot said that she was feeling “philosophical” over the last couple of days. That’s probably fairly easy with a net worth of around $10-15 million dollars and another blockbuster movie on the way with the Wonder Woman sequel. Several of the others in the videos had net worths north of $60 million. 

Needless to say, it was a rather tone-deaf exercise. 

While there is nothing wrong with encouraging others, why sing “Imagine?” After all, the song may have a pretty melody, but the lyrics are devoid of hope in a chaotic time.

The song begins with, “Imagine there’s no heaven. It’s easy if you try. No hell below us. Above us only sky. Imagine all people living for today. Imagine there’s not countries. It isn’t hard to do. Nothing to kill or die for, and no religion too. Imagine all the people living life in peace. You may say I’m a dreamer, But I’m not the only one. … Imagine no possessions, I wonder if you can. No need for greed or hunger, a brotherhood of man. Imagine all the people sharing all the world.”

Perhaps these celebrities should practice what they preach. Open up their homes so that they can share their possessions and security with those that have none. Imagine all the meals they could buy by donating thousands or millions of dollars to charities that are reaching out to those in need or pay the salaries of local restaurant workers, rather than singing an empty platitude to the masses from their own secure compounds.

But the most troubling aspect of the song is its lack of belief. How can you be encouraged spiritually if there is no God, no heaven and thus no hope of a life beyond this earth? Something similar to what Lennon describes does exist, but it is found through a relationship with Jesus Christ, not the off-key singing of celebrities. Are we supposed to put our trust in them? The people who pretend to be others for a living? I think I’ll follow a humble Jewish carpenter any day of the week.

As a child, I always had a vivid imagination. But the idea that we would imagine a world without God is soul crushing and it’s like staring into the precipice of hell, devoid of light, faith, hope and the love of our Heavenly Father.

 

Follow Brittany on Twitter @brittanyraymer.

 

Screenshots from Twitter