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Commentary on "God as Artist"
BEN AND DELINA McPHAULL
Day 1: Sabbath Afternoon, March 10, 2012 - Introduction
This week the author’s goal is to establish that God is a creative artist who appreciates beauty. There is nothing overtly wrong, theologically, with the premise of the lesson. There are some underlying assumptions and places where Adventist theology leads to wrong conclusions. I’d like to call attention to those, as well as provide a biblical perspective.
Today’s lesson states, in several places, that many Christians are ambivalent about the arts. Without giving historic or current evidence of this, we must assume that she is excluding Johann Sebastian Bach, Leonardo da Vinci and various medieval artists (Christians) who used their gifts for God’s glory. Christians have always been an integral part of the arts. Ambivalent is not the right word to describe their level of involvement.
Questions to consider
- Whether or not Christians in general are ambivalent towards the arts, in what ways have Adventists diminished or restricted art and the arts?
Ellen White makes emphatic statements about various forms of art—music, singing, instruments, dancing, photography, architecture and religious symbols. Here are a few examples:
The instrument you now have will serve the purpose as an aid to your voices. You might invest many hundreds or thousands of dollars in an instrument of music that would produce pleasing sounds but it would be to you an idol. It would not be an agency to convict and convert souls. The human voice that sings the praises of God from a heart filled with gratitude and thanksgiving is far more pleasing to him than the melody of all the musical instruments ever invented by human hands. {GCDB January 28, 1893, par. 24}
Music was made to serve a holy purpose, to lift the thoughts to that which is pure, noble, and elevating, and to awaken in the soul devotion and gratitude to God. What a contrast between the ancient custom and the uses to which music is now too often devoted! How many employ this gift to exalt self, instead of using it to glorify God! A love for music leads the unwary to unite with world lovers in pleasure gatherings where God has forbidden His children to go. Thus that which is a great blessing, when rightly used, becomes one of the most successful agencies by which Satan allures the mind from duty and from the contemplation of eternal things. {MYP 293.1}
In some of our churches I have heard solos that were altogether unsuitable for the service of the Lord’s house. The long-drawn-out notes and the peculiar sounds common in operatic singing are not pleasing to the angels. They delight to hear the simple songs of praise sung in a natural tone. The songs in which every word is uttered clearly, in a musical tone, are the songs that they join us in singing. They take up the refrain that is sung from the heart with the spirit and the understanding.—Manuscript 91, 1903. {Ev 510.5}
The theater is a poor place of resort for the strengthening of virtuous principles. Rather, its influence is highly injurious to both health and morals. The lady’s attendant remarked that it was somewhat trying to be deprived of sleep night after night until two and sometimes three o’clock in the morning, and then spend a large portion of the day in bed. The divinely-appointed order of day and night is disregarded, health is sacrificed, for the amusement of those who are lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. The effect is demoralizing to all concerned. Two or three evenings a week spent in attending balls, or theatric or operatic entertainments, will enervate both mind and body, and prevent the development of that strength of character which is essential to usefulness in society. The only safe amusements are such as will not banish serious and religious thoughts; the only safe places of resort are those to which we can take Jesus with us. {RH November 6, 1883, par. 4}
- How might her writings have influenced the way art is viewed and pursued within Adventist culture?
- What part did Ellen White’s viewpoint have in shaping the possible ambivalence towards the arts that the author detects?
Copyright 2012 BibleStudiesForAdventists.com. All rights reserved. Revised March 8, 2012. This website is published by Life Assurance Ministries, Camp Verde, Arizona, USA, the publisher of Proclamation! Magazine. Contact email: BibleStudiesForAdventists@gmail.com.
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