Heaven and Hell

Last week marked the death of legendary rock and roll singer Ronnie James Dio at age 67.

That typically would not be enough to make this blog, but it jogged a memory of an article I read about Dio, as he was simply known, some years ago.


A little background for those readers who never heard of Dio and don't feel like they're missing much. He sang for several rock bands in the 1970s and 80s, most famously replacing Ozzy Osbourne as the lead singer of Black Sabbath. Dio went on to a highly successful solo career as well. He is credited with originating the devil horns gesture (seen at right) and gained a fair bit of notoriety with the cover art on his Holy Diver album (below).


All that being said, the article I remembered was from HM magazine. They used to do a series of interviews with famous musicians that covered a lot of territory, but ultimately included their views on the Bible, Jesus and Christianity. Here's a link to the interview, if you're so inclined as to read it in its entirety.

But the part that I always remembered was his spiritual relativism, if you will. You see, Ronnie had what was probably the classic Italian Catholic upbringing. And he says the morals he learned were essential ... and by the way, by all accounts Dio was one of the nicest "stars" you might ever want to meet, at least with the fans.

But Dio is also very open about his religious feelings and says this, "My feelings are that the teachings were great, but in my mind, my religious beliefs are that you are God, and you are Jesus Christ, and you are the devil, and I am, and all the people I know around me are. But I don’t need to go to some place and listen to somebody else to tell me whether I’m good or bad, or whether I’m right or wrong. I am my shrine. You are your shrine. We are all Jesus Christ, and again, I have no problem with anyone thinking Jesus Christ is this deity, someone up there. It’s cool.”

I went back and looked at Dio's career and lyrics in light of that statement again this week. And the results are fascinating. One of his signature songs was the title track of his debut album with Black Sabbath, Heaven and Hell. Here are the lyrics:

Sing me a song, you're a singer
Do me a wrong, you're a bringer of evil
The devil is never a maker
The less that you give, you're a taker
So it's on and on and on, it's heaven and hell, oh well

The lover of life's not a sinner
The ending is just a beginner
The closer you get to the meaning
The sooner you'll know that you're dreaming
So it's on and on and on, oh it's on and on and on
It goes on and on and on, heaven and hell
I can tell, fool, fool!

Well if it seems to be real, it's illusion
For every moment of truth, there's confusion in life
Love can be seen as the answer, but nobody bleeds for the dancer
And it's on and on, on and on and on....

They say that life's a carousel
Spinning fast, you've got to ride it well
The world is full of kings and queens
Who blind your eyes and steal your dreams
Its heaven and hell, oh well
And they'll tell you black is really white
The moon is just the sun at night
And when you walk in golden halls
You get to keep the gold that falls
Its heaven and hell, oh no!
Fool, fool!
You've got to bleed for the dancer!
Fool, fool!
Look for the answer!


Re-reading the interview and then listening to Dio sing these lyrics, I feel like maybe he wasn't as mysterious a rock and roll figure as many thought.

Ronnie had seen agents of heaven acting like agents of hell within the walls of his church growing up. And then he no doubt found fellow artists and musicians with reputations worthy of hell to be the most heavenly people he ever met. So life began to blur that line between heaven and hell, so much so, I'm not sure even Dio knew which side he was on anymore.

In the interview, he talks about the controversial Holy Diver album cover as well. He says this, "The question I was always asked about that album was, ‘Why do you have a monster, or a devil figure, killing a priest?’ And my reply has always been, as far as I’m concerned, it was a priest killing a monster. It’s all in what you’re told. I wanted to do it that way, because I wanted people to ask me that question, so I could say, ‘Why don’t you look inside the package?’ That was the whole point of it. Why couldn’t that devil look like he could be God. Why couldn’t he? Do we really know what God looks like? No, we don’t. We have no idea."

And the irony is not lost on me that even as I type this, Ronnie James Dio now knows, for better or worse, who is the devil and who is God, what is heaven and what is hell.

And my admonition to you and myself is simply this: Don't let the injustices and inequities of this world cloud your vision for right and wrong. The semantics will be debated from now until eternity, but in the end there does exist just one Heaven and just one Hell. And your allegiance, or lack thereof, commits you to one side or the other.

Jesus puts it this way in Matthew 12:30: "He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters.