What is wrong with art?

Question

I have lots of paintings in my house, and I love going to musicals and plays. I myself am a theatre actress. I notice that many members of my family who are Protestant Christian are offended by my art collection and they always think the shows I do are offensive and they tell me not to do them anymore.

The last straw was when I took my best friend to see WICKED for her birthday. WICKED is a musical about the life and times of the Wicked Witch of the West. It's fictional. They are highly against such kinds of performance.

I've noticed many forms of art are offensive to those with a conservative mind. But I never understood why. Where in the bible does it say that these things are evil? Do they not know that it's just art?

Answer 1

It's a general, very Protestant/Puritan, attitude of Christians not being allowed to have fun. For some reasons Catholics seem not to have that sort of hang-up. It's not really the Bible but this ingrained feeling that humans are only there to prepare for the afterlife. I blame Luther's Catechism "Why are we on this earth? - To love God, our lord, to serve him, love him, and honour him." This would of course exclude frivolous pursuits like the arts in any shape or form, unless it's religious.

Answer 2

Art is such a subjective topic. I've been through this before. The best advice I can give you is to take the criticism in stride and defend your position; to you it IS art.



What I find interesting is that most of the people are not personally offended by the art, but offended by what is deemed unholy about the art. Nudity, provacative nature, death, worldy cultures.... To people like you and me, we can appreciate the artistic value without compromising whatever our individual beliefs are.



Do what you love, hang what you like, collect what you connect to. Your family and friends will just have to learn to accept it.



If you want to, try and get a better understanding of their position. Find out what they dislike specifically about the work. How is it offensive? What is depicted that would be disapproved by God? If you ask them individually you might find some people who can't answer those questions.



Don't forget; a lot of people just join in popular belief for the ease. Don't fall into that trap!

Answer 3

Art expands the mind, so does non christian music, and christians dont like anything that makes people question and think.

Back in the 1600s, going to a Shakspearian type play was considered evil, because people pretended to be someone else.



I dont believe anything is secular because God, to me is the force of nature that drives all people. Unfortunately, some people are a little to evil for thier own good *christiansareinsane*

Answer 4

Somehow they think that people cannot distinguish between fact and fiction, and will believe everything they see and hear. It's like saying if you portray a prostitute in a play, you'll go out and turn a few tricks after your curtain call.



Try reminding them the talents of painting, acting, singing and so forth are bestowed by God and not to be wasted. Even Jesus used fictional parables to make his points.

Answer 5

It seems that your family has not quite grown up yet. They are still behaving like the Puritans that come to this world long ago, but the world today has chnged. Back then, the Puritans used the church as a weapon to scare people, resulting in people getting farther away from church even more. So it seems your family still thinks in that manner and I believe there is nothing wrong with watching any kind of play, it is just ART!

Answer 6

I would like to know what answer your family gave you concerning their disapproval to your art choices. Also, what type of art do you display? It’s one thing to just say that they dislike your choices without giving examples. You could have paintings of the Manson Murder’s for all we know. If you’re displaying artifacts from other religions that they would view as occultic then you really shouldn't be surprised. Also, what do you mean by "offended"? Do they make comments to the fact that the paintings aren't a real Christian thing to display or are they commenting from personal preference and you're attributing their dislike to their Christian beliefs alone without taking into account that they just might not share in your taste?



All in all I think you need to ask your family this question and ask them to deliver scripture to support their responses. Let them know that you would like to have a discussion with them about this issue and set a time of meeting. This will allow them time to prepare along with yourself if you are a believer. If, however, you are one who isn't of the Christian faith or who claims Christianity with out reading and studying the scriptures yourself with the aid of the Spirit of God, then this would be a waste of time. You are still fused with this world's system and the things of Christ are foolishness to you (1 Cor. 2:19). Continue in what you think is best, smile and nod whenever this comes up.

Answer 7

Your plight is not unique.....sadly.



Truth of the matter is, many 'Christians' take many things out of context and worse, fabricate evil where none exists. Consider the Bible itself. If examined strictly as a work of literature (written art) one could declare that because of all the violence, incest, rapes etc that the book was evil. People who are conditioned to a certain sensibility will see what they see and cannot distinguish between what is artistic and what is real. It's a form of delusion that sadly leads to this kind of selective and problematic dynamic.

Answer 8

Pornography exists ordinarily interior the strategies of the viewer. A sculpture or portray of the sexual act choose no longer be in itself pornographic. Nudity purely properly-knownshows the excellent thing concerning the human animal. As a painter the main lovable nudes I ever painted have been (a) a lots-decayed former weight-lifter and (b) an extremely previous woman - the two with falling folds of flesh like fabric. And (c) a chain following a woman by her being pregnant. the only concern incorrect with any of them became i could no longer do justice to the sweetness I observed. I pity the prudes, unfavourable sods.

Answer 9

Art is wonderful. No offense but that sounds very weird to be against wicked. It's like the wizard of oz i mean commonnow. I would tell them to get lost.

Answer 10

First let me say that I am a Bible Thumping Jesus freak. Now .. According to the Bible the whole world is wicked and fallen outside of the Kingdom of GOD. But we as Christians live in the world. So this is a conflict of interest to begin with. It is just plain stupid to try and say what is OK to do and what is not OK to do. We are in the world. Ask yourself does this bring you closer to GOD? If the answer is yes then awesome. Ask yourself does this take me further from GOD? This would be a no no. If you are cool with something and it does not affect your relationship with Jesus then by all means party on!

IMHO.

Answer 11

Sorry I am not familiar with Wicked but the title may say volumes .

Is it the fact it is done in the nude ?

Or Rated*** R**?

Art is a matter of taste ,some of it is trashy. If it offends people put it in the bed room where it belong .Or give up those people that are offended.

Hope this helps .

Answer 12

B/c there strange is my guess. I loved Wicked and don't see it as evil. I liked the happy ending. The book didn't have a very happy ending. The boyfriend with the witch was married and died halfway through.

Answer 13

Art itself is not evil. However, depiction of evil things or glorifying negative/evil things/situations isn't very appealing to Christians. You mentioned "Wicked". The things a witch represents are not Godly and do not line up with Christian values, so I personally would choose not to see that performance.

Answer 14

Nope..



ART is an exhibit of the talent that THE GOD gives some people.



Quite possibly your work was a bit too much of a shocker for some...this you obviously already understand.

Answer 15

Of course they cannot recognize what art is - if they could, they would be able to recognize their Bible as a work of fictional literature, but instead they view it as the literal word of God. What else would you expect from fundies??

Answer 16

art is art there's nothing wrong with ar what kind of art is it anyway maybe it's something that they are uncomfortable with such as nudity or whatnot anyway just enjoy your art and that's that

Answer 17

it's not evil-Super Fundie Christians are too ignorant to have been educated about it so they use the "evil" excuse to appear less dumb-which doesn't work by the way ya Fundies!

Answer 18

They want to destroy what they cannot understand then they have serious problems. These type of people are dangerous, frightened and they probably own firearms

Answer 19

They only know what the leaders of their church tell them to know. If they would actually read the Book they would see things differently.

Answer 20

It's fundaMENTALism in action. They are incapable of higher reasoning and translate everything in a puritan, sorta retarded manner.

Answer 21

Nothing is wrong with it. Don't worry about what they say; they are easily offended.

Answer 22

Many pornography sellers try the same excuse but I don't agree with them. There is a difference between art and pornography.

Answer 23

You think it is just art, but some carry demons with them.

Answer 24

Forget your rant

art just drinks too much

the rant sounds boring

Answer 25

i like art....