31. DOES ARTISTIC FREEDOM HAVE LIMITS?

31. DOES ARTISTIC FREEDOM HAVE LIMITS?

THE WORD IS
THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE

31. DOES ARTISTIC FREEDOM HAVE LIMITS?

Common to our time is the practice of producing works in the name of art which cheapen life's vital values. There is no lack of magazines, books, stage plays, movies, etc. in which the sanctity of marriage is treated frivolously, violence and the right to do as one pleases are championed and God is blasphemed. The creators of this type of art defend their right to create it under the aegis of artistic freedom. They define art as a medium by which a person reveals his true self.

The Bible tells us what is within a person: "Out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders" (Matt. 15:19). A person does not have the right to reveal this condition of his heart or to carry out his heart's corrupt desires. Those who reveal their true selves without restraint have indeed produced this type of art. But God is no respector of persons. In His sight no one is in a special position, not even an artist.

A Christian artist does not strive to reveal himself, but rather does everything to the glory of God. He has received his artistic inclinations and his gifts from God. He can use his creative ability according to the Ten Commandments in the framework of his Christian freedom, taking care not to offend God's will. In this way art provides content for our lives and satisfies the hunger for art which we have as human beings created by God. Art can be created to the glory of God as well as for the needs of temporal and spiritual life.