Biblical Directions for Art and Pleasure

Ever since Adam was created, man has had to deal with his earthly surroundings. God created man as one to subdue and interact with the world around him, and this interaction was at first perfectly righteous. Since man’s fall into sin, his relations to the world around him have been corrupted. As the Christian experiences Christ’s renewing power, he is forced to consider in what a right relation to this world consists. Especially difficult in Christian history has been our relation to those things that are not necessary for existence variously known as pleasure, art, decor, entertainment, and civilized culture. Even in the days of the Apostles there was conflict over ascetic practices of abstinence (1 Tim. 4:3, Rom. 14). Many extremes can be found in history from Christians who were very strict in prohibition of entertainments, to Christians who were very indulgent in all sorts of excess, although the former has tended to be more common. As we look at what the Bible says concerning earthly pleasures, we will find that it directs us in finding godly enjoyment in them.

Perhaps the most obvious direction we have concerning these pleasures is that they must be used with faith in Christ. Speaking of eating food, Paul teaches, “whatever does not proceed from faith is sin” (Rom. 14:23). Without faith in God, our pleasure will be idolatry. We will look to something else as the provider of blessing. We might look at the pleasure itself as the object of our faith. Without faith in God, the blessings that God sends will actually only increase our accountability and judgement. God is the one from whom all blessings flow, and to deny this is to deny His deity. On the other hand, when we have faith in God, our enjoyment becomes a way to praise and worship Him. These blessings then are truly blessings, for our good, because they build up our enjoyment of our relationship with God. With faith in God’s power and goodness through Christ even the littlest pleasure is recognized as a gracious gift from our Father.

Similar to faith, joy is another aspect of what should be our relation to pleasure. When we receive something good and reject it as “earthly vanity,” or as a mere temptation, we are being ungrateful for what God has made for us. Paul harshly condemns this attitude of abstinence, saying, “For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer” (1 Tim. 4:4-5). It is not the pleasure (marriage and food, in this case) that is evil, but the way we might use it. When we receive it with thanksgiving, praising God in prayer and using it according to His word, it is not only not evil, but good and holy. Paul also got upset at the Roman Christians who were dividing themselves by disputes over food. Food is supposed to increase, not decrease, faith, love, and joy. The food (or similar pleasure) is not an end it itself. The “kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 14:17). Many people do become absorbed in the pleasures themselves so as to lose sight of God the giver. As John Calvin colorfully describes, “many are so delighted with marble, gold, and pictures, that they become marble-hearted—are changed as it were into metal, and made like painted figures” (471). Instead, “the object of creating all things was to teach us to know their author, and feel grateful for his indulgence” (470-471). When we eat, drink, dance, and sing with righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit, our enjoyments are actually expressions of the kingdom of God.

One of the blessings that God gives, to be received in faith and joy, is beauty. Beauty comes from God; it is an aspect of His glory. To seek the source of beauty somewhere else (e.g. in ourselves or the creation) is a form of idolatry. God proclaimed that He would take away and defile Tyre’s beauty because the king of Tyre had set himself up as god, saying, “I am perfect in beauty” (Ezek. 27:3, 28:6-7). On the other hand, God gives beauty to His people. God gave extraordinary physical beauty to Job’s daughters as a blessing (Job 42:15). He describes His salvation in terms of beautification, as in Isaiah 28:5, 62:3. He promises that the beauty and glory of the nations shall come “to beautify the place of my sanctuary” (Is. 60:13, also Rev. 21:24, 26). God’s beauty is all around us in His creation and, as we have said, to ignore it would be wicked ungratefulness (Ps. 19:1, Rom. 1:20). As the heirs of the world (Rom. 4:13, Gal 3:29) we are to rejoice at the beauty that God has made, claiming it as His sons.

Not only do we receive beauty, but we also imitate God in making beauty ourselves. Adam and Eve were created perfectly in God’s image, reflecting Him by taking dominion of the earth in ordering and, among other things, beautifying it. The creation was good already, but it was not developed and needed to be brought into its potential. Since man’s fall, both we and the creation have been negatively influenced by sin. As we are now being renewed into the image of Christ (Rom. 8:29, Col. 3:10) we must once again learn to obey God by imitating our Creator (albeit imperfectly) by beautifying the world, engaging both the work of dominion as well as the additional work of reversing the ugly effects of the curse.

As Zechariah 9:16-17 says, we are made beautiful because our Savior is great in beauty. We engage in this pursuit of beauty by reflecting the source of beauty, God. I would suggest we define beauty as that which is the earthly reflection of God's nature. As R.C. Sproul Sr. has said, "God is the ultimate standard of beauty, just as He is the ultimate standard of truth. Works of art that somehow reflect His nature are more beautiful than works that do not" (60). There are several aspects of this. For example, order as well as zeal are attributes of God (1 Cor. 14:33, Is. 42:13) and both add beauty, especially when entwined together. Our Triune God is both one and three, bringing aspects of unity and diversity in perfect harmony. God is also ethically pure, and true beauty will reflect this. Since God’s beauty is revealed in His creation, we can study patterns and values in creation, recognizing that we are to take these primitive elements of nature and develop them. It is in this rewarding pursuit of beauty that much of art consists. When we are engaging in painting, music, dance, and poetry we are taking color, sound, bodies, and words and subduing them to God’s beauty. Art, then, is to be God-centered.

Another important direction given to us concerning enjoyment is that it should be relational. The Bible doesn’t really talk much about “me time.” There are times when a person is away from other humans but only to be more focused on God (e.g. Matt. 14:22-23). As we have already mentioned, our enjoyments are always to be done in relation to God in faith, joy, and thanksgiving. To enjoy things purely by one’s self is selfishness. Moreover, the Bible places a high priority on enjoying God’s gifts in community with other people. In the Old Testament thanksgiving feast of the tithe it was important that the intense celebration be done by “you and your household,” incorporating into the household celebration the Levite, widow, orphan, and stranger (Deut. 14:26, 15:20, 26:11). Jeremiah proclaims that the prosperity that God’s salvation brings shall include the dancing of the young and old, men and women, all together (Jer. 31:13). In the parable of the prodigal son, the celebration described, which included feasting, dancing, music, and rich attire, was done in community, celebrating the love of the father for his son (Luke 15:22-32). The Philippian jailer and his household rejoiced together that he had believed in God (Acts 16:34). Hospitality and the sharing of our blessings with others are encouraged and commanded in many places in Scripture (Heb. 13:2, Rom. 12:13). The list could go on and on, including every section of the Bible.

This community in which we enjoy God’s blessings and create beautiful culture is a complex thing. The basic social unit seems to be the family, or more properly, the household. This is the group of people, tied by the natural ties of blood and time, and more importantly, under the protection of the marriage covenant with strict commands to obey father and mother. Death is the punishment in biblical law for the undermining of the family, i.e. adultery or incorrigible rebellion (Lev. 20:9-10, Matt. 15:4). It is to this unit, under the headship of the husband, that the dominion mandate was primarily given (Gen. 1:26-28). The household is in a manner saved as a unit (Acts. 16:31) and covenantally unified in its aim to glorify God (Gen. 17:7, Acts 2:39). It is here, in (what should be) the strongest of relationships, that culture and pleasure is primarily enjoyed and developed. It is in the family in which you have the elements of the rest of society: male and female, young and old, with differing gifts. Thus, a culture that is operating biblically will have distinct ethnic, folk, and traditional elements.

Included in the family, and beyond, are the elements of personal community and generational continuity. While the family is basic, it ought not be ingrown. These principles express themselves in the local community in which the family lives, creating nations and their cultures. Both the culture and the medium in which it is conveyed is important, and they actually influence each other. In fact, in today’s situation, “the forms of our popular culture may well have a more significant effect on our perceptions than the content” (Myers, 16). In modern society, culture and its popular forms have been uprooted from the family and become individualistic, impersonal, and revolutionary. As Christians, not only must our motive and standard of enjoyment be right (i.e. thanksgiving and God-defined beauty) but also the situation of our enjoyment. Our enjoyment becomes richer when it is shared by a community, transcending the individual, where each can contribute his/her gifts. It becomes more excellent when it is shaped and built upon by the generations, transcending the moment, where each generation adds more experience and perspective to our enjoyment. And the interaction of people, when done in Christ, is itself something to celebrate. “Like feasts and holidays, celebration in lovemaking is about remembering. It is a love of history, a couple’s history of good times, of positive personal knowledge shared by no others, of refuge from a crazy world” (Jones, 86-87).

While there is much more that could be said concerning our enjoyments, we can see that the Bible does give us good, and comprehensive, directions. Our motivation must be faith in Christ and joy for what God has given us. We must measure our (puny) achievements not only by their usefulness, but by the beauty and glory of our God, submitting our work to His nature. Our medium of pleasure and enjoyment must be rooted in the family and community, sharing God’s gifts and our work with one another. As we have mentioned, this godly culture should not be ingrown, but should grow into our communities and nations. Discipling the nations is our “Great Commission” and includes the art and culture of the nations. The Christian family disciples the nations by its dominion work in its vocation and cultural relations to its neighbors. The Church as an institution also changes culture. Through the preaching of its pastors, a Christian culture is indirectly founded when men are made new creatures in Christ (Van Til, 225). The Scripture which the Church teaches equips us for “every good work” (2 Tim. 3:17). While the exact application is usually left to the families in their vocations, the families of the earth are coming to the Church, the New Jerusalem, to learn the ways of God and to learn to walk in its light (Is. 2:3, Rev. 21:24). May we show the world a culture of delight and hope amid its gloom of death. May we learn to exalt in the goodness of our God who causes

“the grass to grow for the livestock

and plants for man to cultivate,

that he may bring forth food from the earth

and wine to gladden the heart of man,

oil to make his face shine

and bread to strengthen man's heart.”

(Ps. 104:14-15)

Works Cited List:

Calvin, John Institutes of the Christian Religion. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2008.
Jones, Douglas and Douglas Wilson Angels in the Architecture. Moscow, ID: Canon Press, 1998.
Myers, Kenneth A. All God’s Children and Blue Suede Shoes. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 1989.
Sproul Sr., R.C. Tabletalk 36.9, Sep. 2012: 60
The Holy Bible (ESV). Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2003.
Van Til, Henry R. The Calvinistic Concept of Culture. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2001.

Christian View of Restaurants

As Christians we believe that the family is very important to the Christian life (Exod. 20:12, Ps 127, 128, etc...). Thus in my book I mention how a move towards a more family based culture of food is needed. But I thought I would also add that not only are there times to eat at other family's houses, but also at restaurants. I believe there is a place for restaurants in a Christian culture, although our current view of restaurants needs some reforming. Basically when eating at home you are having fellowship with family. When eating a potluck after church you are having fellowship with your church. When you are eating at a restaurant in a community, what makes this different than normal is that you are having fellowship with your local community. Many of us, though, do not take advantage of this opportunity to be a community at restaurants but hide in our own corner.

My family moved a year and a half ago from Missouri to Colorado, and after moving we haven't gone out to eat as much as we used to; part of the reason being that we live farther out in the country near a small town. Instead we have really enjoyed Saturdays when we will often to the local coffee house where my mom and I will played music and the family will get to know many of the locals and regulars from the area. After doing this for a while we are making friends in the community and do the culture of music and food in relationship with real people. This is great! And then we will sometimes go to our favorite Mexican restaurant across the parking lot from the coffee house for lunch or dinner and see our friends over there, sometimes running into friends from church, or people we just saw at the coffee house.

Most Americans do need to eat more at home. It's more affordable, it builds very valuable relationships, it's almost always healthier, etc... But when we do eat out in the community I think we need to examine how and why we are doing so. When used in moderate amounts, eating out can be used to the glory of God and for outreach of Christian culture and life into your mini-nation. I need to think about it some more, but here's a start. Your thoughts?

The Family Economics Conference 2012

Last weekend I was at the Family Economics Conference, hosted by Generations with Vision. I have been an intern with Generations with Vision for over a year, and I was there primarily to put on the conference. But the work I did allowed me to still listen to many of the talks and panel discussions, and I thought I would share a few things that I took away from the conference.

(And before you wonder what this conference has to do with the Christian philosophy of food, we should remember that our food is a product of work, and how we work with our food will influence what we eat. In addition, what and how we eat influences our daily life and work (and vice versa). So when thinking about food it is very important to step back and examine our work and life from a biblical perspective.)

1. The trains are coming Kevin Swanson opened up the conference with a picture of our current society, and it didn't look pretty. There are several 'trains' coming to collide, such as the declining American GDP, the retiring baby boomers with their increasingly immature children taking the reins of society, the increasing disfunctionality of the family and the growth of the state, the de-relativizing of the Bible and Christian Ethics and the growth and acceptance of immorality, the pride in humanistic science building bigger and more centralized systems prone to fail and fail big time, and the list goes on. Basically, our current system does not look like it can survive the way it is for another 20, 50, or 100 years. People are loosing hope and faith and are largely unmotivated to work with purpose.

2. We must trust God's Word for society While the world around us may be failing and falling, we have reason to build and thrive in the ashes. Christ is "head over all things to the church" (Eph. 1:22), and "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good" (Rom 8:28). For those who love God our current situation is for our good. And those who love God do so by keeping His commandments in faith (1 John 5:1-5). The solution to our current problems, whether they involve economics, politics, culture (e.g. food), etc… is to return to "the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them" (Is. 8:20 KJV).

3. Biblically, the family is basic to work and dominion This may be considered the main point of the conference. This was brought out in many ways. For example, in the Ten Commandments we can see that the 2nd (against graven idols) is muti-generational in scope, the 4th (concerning the Sabbath) implies that your son and daughter are working with you and should stop on the Sabbath, the 5th obviously establishes that foundational to blessing is the honor of father and mother in the family, and it is this that is extended in principle to honoring other authorities. In the 7th (against adultery) it protects the stability and unity of the family, and the 8th and 10th (against stealing and coveting) protects the strength of your neighbor's family economy. Other examples of this biblical connection between the family and work were the households of the patriarchs, Aquila and Pricilla, Adam and Eve, etc… When a family is unified in its work, then it can function much better as the covenantal and relational unit that God made it as. (And included in this point is that, in fact, the family is also basic to education, to culture, to church, to commonwealth, and to society in general.)

4. A host of practical suggestions This probably took up most of the conference, and is the hardest to summarize. The best way is to get the recording of the conference. Teaching family members to work with their different skills in unity is very important, but also takes much wisdom. Some things covered were marketing strategies (e.g. importance of personal communication skills), choosing the right business, how to handle money (and what money is), how to integrate the family into the household economy (whatever business it is, and whoever the children are; be creative), how to get started, etc… One thing I thought was a great point was to teach children to be producers, even before they are really are being profitable.

5. Sweet fellowship One of the best parts of the conference was the fellowship of other people and families on the same journey with a similar vision for rebuilding our society on a Christian foundation. I saw many dear friends that I had known for a while, some that I hadn't seen for two years, and I met new friends as well. It was one things to hear the vision for a biblical family economy, but to see real families that were doing it, and others that are going to attempt it in one way or another was very inspiring. The food at the conference (held at the Wheaton College facilities) was very good and added to the beautiful atmosphere of brothers dwelling in unity (Ps. 133).

To sum it up, here are the words of Doug Phillips on what we were there for:

"What we mean by family economy: 'The God-designed, culturally transcendent, generationally oriented, household-based social structure designed to honor the Genesis 1:28 command of fruitfulness and dominion, by which families maximize their cultural and economic influence and seek to prosper with the blessing of God and under his law.'"

With God as our help and defender,

-Peter Bringe

History and Food

Here is an article I wrote for True Foods Solutions concerning the connection between history and food. In my book I write about this connection, as well as other connections between food and our lives.

http://truefoodsolutions.com/blog/2012/01/history-and-food/

"This multi-generational culture teaches some humility and stability in our progress and growth, and calls to remembrance the fact that we are part of a community that includes past generations. It helps us remember where we came from and where we are going. It keeps us humble in times of plenty and joyful in times of want."

P.S. As a note on True Foods Solutions, I do write articles for them, and do like some of what they are doing, but I do not endorse some of what they write and link to.

Centralization

In my book I discuss a biblical philosophy of economics and social order as it is related to food and food production and consumption. Here is an introduction to the broader subject of centralization/decentralization.

The way that centralization works in Christianity is that Christ's authority is over all. As far as humans are concerned, centralization is discouraged. Neither is individualism, though, and there is a certain balance. The balance involves the limits of human relationships. Authority, power, and rules are very related to relationships. As we are all God's creatures we are his subjects, and as we (Christians) are saved and specially known by God we are specially held accountable to His fatherly authority. While God is infinite and can know everything and everybody, we are limited and can only know certain things. Thus, our authority is limited because our relationships are limited. That is why the family is so important to a biblical society. It is the relational unit that can work, play, eat, sing, live together, with much specificity and detail - including what's for dinner. The broader the jurisdiction, the more limited the power, and, of course, limited in different ways depending on whether it is church, state, etc... When people are unsatisfied with the limited authority they have, and seek to centralize power, they divorce relationships from authority. Sooner or later it will be detrimental to that society (if not blatant tyranny).

"Woe to those who join house to house,

who add field to field,

until there is no more room,

and you are made to dwell alone

in the midst of the land."

(Isaiah 5:8)