I think we can all recall the words John Lennon spoke with regards to the success of the Beatles. "We're bigger than Jesus," he said… and he's probably right. Well in my eyes anyway (and since this is my page, it's my eyes that really count, right? Right!)
First of all Christ has never recorded a hit song… you know, a piece of music so brilliant that it was able to touch the lives of many and unite the world in song. John Lennon, on the other hand recorded numerous hit songs… both with the Beatles and during his own solo career. Besides, when the apostles betrayed Jesus, he was immediately crucified; when the Beatles broke up, John went on to have a successful solo career before he was shot.
There was only one book written about Christ, and most of it was false (*gasp* they taught me that in Catholic school!) The deal with the bible is that the life of Jesus is said to be recorded in the books of the four Evangelists, Mathew, Mark, Luke, and John. However, these four (far from the Fab four, I might add) probably didn't even know Christ. They are said to be highly educated men (doctors, lawyers, and tax collectors) who had a certain political standpoint in which they created stories about the life of Jesus in order to reinforce their ideas. For example, St. Luke was supportive of women's rights and throughout his Gospel we can see Jesus associating with women, which was not common for men of the era to do. In contrast, there are a countless amount of books written about John Lennon, and the information in those ones is far more accurate than the information presented in the bible. Furthermore, a lot of John Lennon biographies were written by people who either knew him and have done extensive research on him; not some bloke who wants to promote world peace and just throws Mr. Lennon's name in so it looks better.
And finally, their message. Both these icons had messages for the world. Actually the messages were similar. Christ's was to love your neighbor as you love yourself, while John's was "love is all we need" and "give peace a chance". However, it's in the way the individuals chose to promote their prophecies. Perhaps if Christ went out and recorded a bunch of wicked songs, toured for a few years, and totally revolutionized music, he might've had a chance against John Lennon. But, since he decided to scare the shit out of everyone by performing a bunch of miracles and ordering people to do things that were considered taboo at the time, he comes up a bit short.
As my eyes clearly see it (with the help of my beloved contact lenses), it's obvious who wins here. Of course, I can't directly say so because I don't want to get my ass kicked by all those damned Jesus people!