9.26.2003
From the Desk of Gamaliel
I was listening this past week to a young enthusiast who was lamenting the lack of Pharisee contributions to the art world. He complained that it is nearly impossible to find exhibits of good Pharisee artwork. His complaint is legitimate and I would like to explain why that is to be expected.
The first fact is that the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is a totally liberal, godless organization dedicated to stamping out Christianity. They have no intention of promoting anything that is even remotely Christian, let alone Pharisee art. This has been clearly documented in a host of publications and needs nothing added from my perspective. NEA animosity to the Christian worldview is the main reason that Christians have been forced out of the arts community.
To be perfectly honest, however, a True Christian should have no desire to be associated with such a crowd in the first place. God has called us to “come out from among them and be separate.” He tells us to “touch not the unclean thing.” So it stands to reason that we should abandon the NEA. A God-fearing person would no sooner associate with the corrupt folk of the arts community than he would hang out in a bar. Such practice violates the practice of godly Christian Separation.
The uneasy consequence of this is that by leaving an already corrupt organization the NEA has only become more corrupt. Some Christians point to this as unfortunate because they feel that Christians should be salt and light in a corrupt world, providing a godly influence from within. My opinion is it only serves to prove the point that they were not worth being associated with in the first place. We need to “leave Ephraim alone because they have joined themselves to idols.”
There are a couple possible solutions. One is to start a totally separate Christian Endowment for the Arts with no connection to worldly arts organizations. We maintain a “Christian Ghetto” mentality of being totally separate from the world. We should not seek to mingle side by side with the heathen but proudly display that we are separate and distinct from them.
The other is to continue to be persecuted for the cause of Christ. Christian art doesn’t have to be high quality to be persecuted. All it needs is to have the name “Christian” associated with it and the world will mock us for our poor artistic quality and lack of insight. They do this because they don’t understand that God is honored by the effort, not by the final quality of the output.
Some churches have tried to go a third route and that is to incorporate art as part of their worship centers. I applaud this in the occasional Thomas Kincade painting hung in the church foyer but this isn’t what these churches are doing. One of the most egregiously excessive abusers of this notion is Westwinds Community Church who has gone to excess in their artistic display. Worship buildings should be plain and simple. They should enhance the preaching of the word, not detract from it. The pastor, Ron Martoia, is a known liberal who has some rather radical notions about how to conduct the ministry.
So what is a dedicated Pharisee to do? We should continue to boycott all industries that hire primarily non-Christian artists like Disney, SKG-Dreamworks and everything except VeggieTales. Of course now that they have gone bankrupt and sold out, it is probably only a matter of time before they go worldly too. Hannah-Barbera has attempted to pander to a Christian audience but their attempts aren’t going to work because they also try to reach secular people. All this does is water down the hard truth of the gospel.
GAMALIEL/RJP
He told them still another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough.”
MATTHEW 13:33 (NIV)
I was listening this past week to a young enthusiast who was lamenting the lack of Pharisee contributions to the art world. He complained that it is nearly impossible to find exhibits of good Pharisee artwork. His complaint is legitimate and I would like to explain why that is to be expected.
The first fact is that the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is a totally liberal, godless organization dedicated to stamping out Christianity. They have no intention of promoting anything that is even remotely Christian, let alone Pharisee art. This has been clearly documented in a host of publications and needs nothing added from my perspective. NEA animosity to the Christian worldview is the main reason that Christians have been forced out of the arts community.
To be perfectly honest, however, a True Christian should have no desire to be associated with such a crowd in the first place. God has called us to “come out from among them and be separate.” He tells us to “touch not the unclean thing.” So it stands to reason that we should abandon the NEA. A God-fearing person would no sooner associate with the corrupt folk of the arts community than he would hang out in a bar. Such practice violates the practice of godly Christian Separation.
The uneasy consequence of this is that by leaving an already corrupt organization the NEA has only become more corrupt. Some Christians point to this as unfortunate because they feel that Christians should be salt and light in a corrupt world, providing a godly influence from within. My opinion is it only serves to prove the point that they were not worth being associated with in the first place. We need to “leave Ephraim alone because they have joined themselves to idols.”
There are a couple possible solutions. One is to start a totally separate Christian Endowment for the Arts with no connection to worldly arts organizations. We maintain a “Christian Ghetto” mentality of being totally separate from the world. We should not seek to mingle side by side with the heathen but proudly display that we are separate and distinct from them.
The other is to continue to be persecuted for the cause of Christ. Christian art doesn’t have to be high quality to be persecuted. All it needs is to have the name “Christian” associated with it and the world will mock us for our poor artistic quality and lack of insight. They do this because they don’t understand that God is honored by the effort, not by the final quality of the output.
Some churches have tried to go a third route and that is to incorporate art as part of their worship centers. I applaud this in the occasional Thomas Kincade painting hung in the church foyer but this isn’t what these churches are doing. One of the most egregiously excessive abusers of this notion is Westwinds Community Church who has gone to excess in their artistic display. Worship buildings should be plain and simple. They should enhance the preaching of the word, not detract from it. The pastor, Ron Martoia, is a known liberal who has some rather radical notions about how to conduct the ministry.
So what is a dedicated Pharisee to do? We should continue to boycott all industries that hire primarily non-Christian artists like Disney, SKG-Dreamworks and everything except VeggieTales. Of course now that they have gone bankrupt and sold out, it is probably only a matter of time before they go worldly too. Hannah-Barbera has attempted to pander to a Christian audience but their attempts aren’t going to work because they also try to reach secular people. All this does is water down the hard truth of the gospel.
GAMALIEL/RJP
He told them still another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough.”
MATTHEW 13:33 (NIV)
