Here’s a second reason why faith without art is dead.
Creating art is proof that we are made in the image of God.
Our God is the Master Artist – and his love for creativity and beauty is evident everywhere we look around us at what he has made. Why did he design fruit the way he did? Look long and hard at a strawberry. Now look again. Notice its symmetry, its shape, its colors, its texture, its balance.
Isaac Newton said the human thumb was enough to convince him of God’s existence. For me, a bowl of strawberry shortcake does the trick.
Sure, we need food, we need fuel. But why go through the trouble of packaging it like this? The Bible tells us in Genesis 2:9 that God “…made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground – trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food.”
The ‘good for food’ part makes sense, but why the ‘pleasing to the eye’ part? Why all this bother to create such detail and precision in its presentation?
To put it simply, because God loves us. This strawberry tells us that he is a God of wisdom and beauty and creativity – and these are things which he wanted to share with us so that we would enjoy them as well – which tells us that he is a God of love.
In Genesis 1, we see God standing back from his handiwork, like a painter stepping back from his canvas, and saying to himself over and over again, “This is good.” Then in Genesis 2, God turns the work of creation over to us, so to speak. He commands us to step inside the garden he has made and work it and take care of it – to make it even more fruitful and beautiful.
Humans made in the image of the Master Artist will themselves create beauty where none existed before.
To be made in the image of God separates us from every other form of life which God has made. The human genome is 96% similar to that of a chimp, but what a difference that 4% makes. To be created in the image of God means that human beings are
- relational,
- rational,
- responsible
- and reflective.
Humans made in the image of the Master Artist will themselves create beauty where none existed before.
It’s in our capacity for reflection from which the impulse for art springs. No other creature on all God’s earth creates art. My cat does not create etch-a-sketch designs in the litter box. This is something utterly unique to human life. And why not – we alone are created in the image of God.
Therefore faith – which is deficient in art – denies a supreme aspect of our humanity. Pass the whipped cream, please.
