Beauty comes from God. The most beautiful thing you have ever seen is beautiful because it reflects God. The most hideous thing you have ever seen is hideous because it distorts God’s nature. Part of our task in the Great Commission, connected to the Cultural Commission, is to create beauty.
Christians are generally familiar with Jesus’ mandate for the church, what we usually call the Great Commission, but fewer Christians are familiar with the Cultural Commission. Fewer still see the connection between these two commissions. Yet, neither has been rescinded. On the contrary, both remain active expressions of God’s purpose
We have written about the transformation of Singapore from a poor, densely populated city-state to one of the most beautiful, prosperous cities in the world in half a century. It is truly a city in a garden. The story of Chicago, Illinois has some parallels. The Great Chicago Fire raged
God created; He is the first artist. He made us in His image, which includes imagination, the ability to be creative. He is the primary creator, we are the secondary creators. The cultural mandate directs us to take what God has made and to do something with it. Someone who
What often passes for worship music may be missing the mark. Beauty, truth, and goodness form the “cultural trinity.” These three virtues, working together, mimic the Creator, the three-in-one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. One God, three persons, unity and diversity in community, and inseparable. Truth is beautiful and
Easter is a great time to reflect that the tyranny we see growing in our world today—with its gnawing sense of unease—is a direct consequence of our living in a post-truth culture. If truth is gone, what’s left? Raw power, the Darwinian hypothesis of “survival of the fittest.” We have
Krzysztof Mizera creates art in a stained-glass window – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7768903 Daniel Borstein was director of the United States Library of Congress. He wrote a book about human creativity and the arts entitled The Creators which he begins with a question: Where did the impulse for
Artists have a unique opportunity to glorify God and bless the world. God is beautiful, and His beauty draws us into worshiping Him. He is beautiful, He is good; all truth comes from Him. Truth, Beauty and Goodness comprise the culture of the kingdom of God. The nations are waiting
Years ago, singing “Joy to the World,” I had a “revelation.” The third stanza startled me; it included an imperative: “No more let sins and sorrows grow!” And the imperative is elaborated as to scope. How far are we to “no more let sins and sorrows grow”? “As far as
Because we live in a moral universe, the application of the moral law makes a difference. Ethical monotheism breaks the cycle of poverty and contributes to the development of nations, the transforming of pagan nations into civilized nations. The proclamation of the good God and the obligations of a moral
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