In 1971, John Lennon released the song Imagine. In
that song, he created a human existence in which there was no heaven, no hell,
people living only for the moment, no countries, nothing to die for, no
religion, only a life of peace, no possessions, no greed, no hunger, only a
brotherhood of man. (Tim
Hawkins’ version is better.) Lennon probably hadn’t developed a deep
philosophical or theological understanding of the imagination, but he
understood its power. His song has probably had a more direct influence on
people than that of a dozen trained philosophers of the same time. Through art,
Lennon connected people intellectually and emotionally to a vision of the
world, probably being a contributing factor to many communists in the West
still living in our day. His world is a living hell, but those with wicked
imaginations see it as a utopia.
At the heart of the corrupted body Solomon describes in
Proverbs 6.16-19 is the heart that devises wicked imaginations (KJV). The
Hebrew word translated “imaginations” could be “thoughts” or “plans,” but I
believe “imaginations” captures more of what Solomon wants us to hear.
Our first thought about imaginations is probably one of
wispy fantasies that have no basis in reality. These are the unreal fictions
conjured up in the overly active minds of children and adults who act like
children who want to escape reality. While imagination can be used to escape
reality, our imaginations are God’s gift to us that, when disciplined and
healthy, help us to apprehend reality and shape it as a part of our dominion
mission. The imagination, simply put, is a faculty of the heart that has the
ability to create images. These images can be anything from a simple object
such as a rock to the complex fairy-tale fantasy world of The Lord of the
Rings. Imagination fuels the role-playing of a child who has connected with
a good story as well as empowers scientists or engineers who are exploring new
technologies in their fields. Imagination forms objects out of the mud and
inspires us to put a man on the moon. Imagination is not mere vapid fantasy or
fiction (though there is nothing wrong with either per se), but it is a
creative faculty that draws us into the future and seeks to mold the world
according to the constructs formed in our minds and hearts.
Our imagination images that which is in God himself, not
merely his raw ability to create in his mind, but his eternally begotten
Imagination, the Son. Through his Imagination, his Image, everything that is
was made. He is not a wispy, non-existent fantasy but a Person. In everything
that is made, all the physical realities around us as well as the story of
history with all of its characters, twists, and turns, his eternal Imagination
is revealed. His Imagination is reality, a reality in which each object in the creation
relates to the other objects as they ought. The creation of his Imagination is
good.
Our imagination is derived from God so that we don’t create
like him, that is, out of nothing. We work with what God gives us. A healthy
imagination “enables
us to see the world as it is, not as we wish it to be.” Our imaginations
are creative and do reshape the world, but they should do so according to the
reality revealed by God. Our imaginations are only truly fruitful when we work
with the patterns of creation and providence. Even when the characters in our
stories, for instance, are fantastic, they are good stories when they harmonize
with and elucidate some aspect of God’s grand narrative. These stories ring
true to us because in them we apprehend reality in ways much deeper than if we
are given a list of factual propositions. As Shakespeare communicated in A
Midsummer’s Night Dream (as interpreted through Dr. Malcom Guite), “Imagination
apprehends more than cool reason ever comprehends.”
Our imagination constructs new worlds. While those worlds
ought to cohere with the way God puts the world together, they often don’t.
John Lennon is not the only one with wicked imaginations. The heart’s wicked
imaginations have fueled man’s rebellion against God from the beginning. The
serpent, the man, and the woman constructed a world in their minds and tried to
make a new reality. The people on the plain of Shinar imagined a unified world
connecting heaven and earth with their tower (Gen 11). Jewish leaders imagined
a world in which Jesus wasn’t king, and they plotted and killed him.
Wicked imaginations continue to construct alternate
realities. Men are “inventors of evil” (Rom 1.30). Every idol created has its
genesis in a wicked imagination. The history of philosophy divorced from God’s
revelation is a playground of wicked imaginations about reality. Evolutionary biology
begins with and fills in the evidential gaps with its wicked imaginations.
Hollywood and news media imagine worlds for which they create narratives that
they want you to accept as reality and draw you in to love this world and work
to create it. Whether through visual images or through “romance stories,”
pornography taps into your imagination to create an unreal world.
Wicked imaginations are not harmless because what begins in
the heart expresses itself in haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed
innocent blood, and feet that run to evil. Wicked imaginations are the impetus
for creating a Godless world.
Wicked imaginations shape you as an individual as well as
shape cultures. That is why each of us individually and all of us collectively
must guard our hearts with all vigilance, casting down imaginations and every
high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing into
captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ (2Cor 10.4-5). We must
cultivate the heart and its imaginations so that we may see the world as it is,
submit to God’s reality, and work to create what is true, good, and beautiful.
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