Saturday, January 24, 2009

Art and the Gospel

The LORD is the Supremely Creative God...He merely spoke and who knows how many billions of galaxies appeared out of nothing, except by the Word of His power! Any creativity that we see in His image-bearers, believing and non-believing, only flows from the spring of His own Creative Genius. I fear that many followers of Christ have lost the connection between the soul and the arts and the power of the Gospel. As a result, many in our day fear any use of art as a window for the Gospel into the soul. For many, to talk about the subject invites charges of icon worship. Personally, I have experienced great benefits in my soul by spending some time studying Rembrandt's "The Return of the Prodigal Son" that is housed at the Hermitage in St Petersburg, Russia and Bruni's "The Brazen Serpent" housed in the Russian Museum. I also believe that music is a unique tool of the Holy Spirit to open our eyes and ears to the wonder of the Gospel. I find it interesting that when Elisha was asked to prophecy at one point in his ministry, his response was to ask that a musician might be brought to him...and it was as the musician began to play that the Spirit fell upon him and he prophesied (2 Kings 3:15). There is no substitute for the Word of God, but certainly as image-bearers we ought to give more attention to the place of The Arts and their relationship to the development of the soul-life. Don't believe me? Go to iTunes and download Aaron Keyes' song, "Not Guilty Anymore." Listen through it a few times and tell me your soul is not transformed.

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