/ Music / The Bible – Truth or Art? A.K.A. ‘Get Bent’I have been listening to some classical music lately. For those of you who truly know me, know that I enjoy the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Jay-Z, and anything ‘unplugged.’ But I am taking a Fine Arts class to finish up my degree at IWU and I decided to should try to get as much out of the class as possible. I am learning about aesthetics right now, and from what I can tell by the definition ‘art’ is only ‘art’ if it is appreciated by the one who is critiquing it. So whether the art is a piece of Gregorian Chant music or the Rolling Stones; whether it is a painting by Caravaggio or Picasso, it is art only if it is appreciated by another. Beyond this, the art can be ‘bent’ to whatever the critic feels like it should be. We all do this with music. “This song means so much to me personally” one will say. In response I’ll say “what song is that?” “Oh, Born in the USA, I’m real patriotic!” My response “hmmm, you know he wrote that song in protest to the Vietnam War and in the US’s effort to kill Asians? You should really listen to the acoustic version….”
It seems that we have taken this “what is good for you is good for you, what is good for me is good for me attitude” into all facets of life. No truth is legitimate truth anymore. It can all be ‘bent.’ As I finish up my Biblical Studies degree I am seeing a common factor in several people/churches/denominations that have gone off the deep end: At one point or another, they have taken the truth of the Bible and ‘bent’ it to what they wanted it to say. Again, I am sure we have all done this at one point or another. The point of this post is not to cast stones at each other on this Good Friday. Rather, the point is to awaken us to be aware of what we do and do not do with the Truth that has been given to us.
Bend the arts all you want, but let’s not bend the truth.
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