Why Christians Need Art

Some Christians don't really seem to find art necessary or even advisable. I know several people who are especially wary of portraying Christ or God as a visible image because this would put God in a box. Worse yet we could conjure up this inaccurate view of God in our minds and He could end up looking like the famous but unrealistic Jesus painting. *gasp* Idolatry! Plus art in general is rarely beneficial for the Christian to view. 'Secular' art such as movies, music, or film often are filled with trash and there are few things worth partaking of. It is safer to leave God out of art because the idea of art is often in some silent and some spoken ways associated with godlessness. God is not present in movies where sin is portrayed, even if there is a unique and beautiful storyline, because repentance and redemption
were not shown. It's a good idea to leave God out of art, and even better to leave ourselves out of art.

The question discussed in class yesterday was do Christians need art? My question would be: how could we not? I think we lose something very beautiful and vital to a certain aspect of our faith if we leave art out of it. I understand the hesitation with portraying God, I see why some would think it's dangerous but there are so many different portrayals of Jesus and I don't think anyone has claimed to create an accurate one. Even though we can't create an accurate picture of God that doesn't mean we don't gain something from trying. God is a Creator and He made us in His image. We have been created to create, in a sense. If we ignore that I think we'll miss out on a great avenue to connect with the world and those outside of our faith.

Our creativity will only expand as we are introduced to new methods and ideas and we'd lose some of the most mind-blowing and interesting if we ignored non-christian media. I liked it when Don Hudson said "The only effective denial of God is silence; even art that denies God cannot deny God." Basing what we partake of by whether or not it has a 'Christian' label is honestly quite ridiculous. Do we not trust God enough to keep our faith intact when we encounter challenging ideas? Maybe their are some limits we need to set for ourselves but I think its unwise to rule out non-christian media entirely.