Christianity and/vs Art

A lot of people only consider art forms to be "Christian" if they center around Jesus, reference the bible, or try to convert or preach in some sort of way. I think this is completely false, and also a reason why 'Christian" art forms have maybe become discredited or insignificant in today s culture. People do not want to be preached at or converted when they are trying to appreciate art. Sometimes spiritual healing, revelations, conversions, and awakenings might happen through art, but mostly when the arts true purpose is not solely to do one of these things. Good art will portray things about the artist even if they are not intentionally placed into the art. If an artist is doing the work that is true to him/herself, then God will shine through this naturally. (not that i am saying no art should be made around Jesus or referencing the Bible, there is a lot of magnificent art made by these means.)

This is where it comes in that it is a bad thing when Christians try to separate themselves with art that isn't specifically labeled as "christian". When Christians go through art forms that were made for no malicious reason and try to pick out pieces that they believe send a bad message, they are in a sense killing the art because of what it is not and ignoring all that it truly is. The examples that Leeper gave in class relating to childrens television was the critique of Spongebob and the Teletubbies, saying they supported and taught children homosexuality. Regardless of the quality of these shows to begin with, when someone says that a show has malicious intent, even if only based on one small comment or insinuation, it is downplaying the actual point of the show to begin with because people only focus on or remember that one critique or accusation. Christians should learn to appreciate all sorts of art forms, not just the art directed towards children, for what they were meant to be more before picking it apart for everything it is not, only to seem more "holy" themselves.