We must realize that the Reformation world view leads in the direction of government freedom. But the humanist world view with inevitable certainty leads in the direction of statism. This is so because humanists, having no god, must put something at the center, and it is inevitably society, government, or the state.
Christianity is not just involved with “salvation”, but with the total man in the total world. The Christian message begins with the existence of God forever, and then with creation. It does not begin with salvation. We must be thankful for salvation, but the Christian message is more than that. Man has a value because he is made in the image of God.
In passing we should note this curious mark of our age: The only absolute allowed is the absolute insistence that there is no absolute.
As Christians, we must see that just because an artist -even a great artist- portrays a worldview in writing or on canvas, it does not mean that we should automatically accept that worldview. Good art heightens the impact of that worldview, but it does not make it true.
We were free to create, as long as we never forgot that we are slaves to Jesus.
And with truth comes beauty and with this beauty a freedom before God.
The Lord calls us to love all people, including those who are enemies of the gospel and those who blaspheme. This may not be comfortable, and it may not be easy, but this is the gospel of Christ, for He loved His enemies so much that He died to save us.
A quiet disposition and a heart giving thanks at any given moment is the real test of the extent to which we love God at that moment.
No totalitarian authority nor authoritarian state can tolerate those who have an absolute by which to judge that state and its actions.
As a Christian we know why a work of art has value. Why? First, because a work of art is a work of creativity, and creativity has value because God is the Creator. The first sentence in the Bible is the declaration that the Creator created: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Today we have a weakness in our education process in failing to understand the natural associations between the disciplines. We tend to study all our disciplines in unrelated parallel lines. This tends to be true in both Christian and secular education. This is one of the reasons why evangelical Christians have been taken by surprise at the tremendous shift that has come in our generation.
Culture and the freedoms of people are fragile. Without a sufficient base, when such pressures come only time is needed – and often not a great deal of time – before there is a collapse.
How can art be sufficiently meaningful? If it is offered up merely before men, then it does not have a sufficient integration point.
I am not a Bible-believing Christian in the fullest sense simply by believing the right doctrines, but as I live in practice in this supernatural world.
As a Christian I do not have to find my validity in my status, or by thinking myself above other men. My validity and my status are found in being before the God who is there.
Here is a simple but profound rule: If there are no absolutes by which to judge society, then society is absolute.
Second, an art work has value as a creation because man is made in the image of God, and therefore man not only can love and think and feel emotion but also has the capacity to create. Being in the image of the Creator, we are called upon to have creativity.