What is this?
During my third year of college, my Humanities teacher assigned us weekly prompts that involved looking at renowned works of art and writing our impressions, thoughts, and questions. In order to aid us with the assignment she supplied statements that could guide our thinking. Now this was BYU, which if you don't know is privately owned by the LDS church and spirituality plays a large role in our courses. One of the suggestions she gave when evaluating art pieces has stayed with me: Find God.
God is goodness. God is truthfulness. God is beauty. God can be any number of things. I think about finding God often when it comes to the images and stories produced by 'the world.'
Many artists may not consciously notice the Godliness within their works, but it can be found, especially when art is personal, as most great art often is. In the LDS gospel we have thirteen articles of faith that plainly spell out our basic beliefs. The thirteenth article finishes with: If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.
Mass entertainment has been under attack, often from my fellow Christian brothers and sisters, who see the messages that their children consume on a daily basis as degrading, filthy, and sinful. This is not a new trend. Media has for many generations thought to be evil, mostly because of how much of it is not produced by God-fearing disciples of Christ. Christians maybe think that if a film does not explicitly depict the praising of our God, then He is not there.
I have created this space to write about the media that I consume, and especially what my toddler daughter has begun to consume. I have assigned myself the task of looking for God in various films, books, tv shows, songs and whatever else is encompassed within the term 'entertainment.' He will not always be there, but I know that good stories that become beloved by the masses often speak to something deeper within each of us, and that is our spirit, placed within us by God.
I want to work at living my life by following the light that God instilled in each of us and search for it in what our fellow human family members create.
God is goodness. God is truthfulness. God is beauty. God can be any number of things. I think about finding God often when it comes to the images and stories produced by 'the world.'
Many artists may not consciously notice the Godliness within their works, but it can be found, especially when art is personal, as most great art often is. In the LDS gospel we have thirteen articles of faith that plainly spell out our basic beliefs. The thirteenth article finishes with: If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.
Mass entertainment has been under attack, often from my fellow Christian brothers and sisters, who see the messages that their children consume on a daily basis as degrading, filthy, and sinful. This is not a new trend. Media has for many generations thought to be evil, mostly because of how much of it is not produced by God-fearing disciples of Christ. Christians maybe think that if a film does not explicitly depict the praising of our God, then He is not there.
I have created this space to write about the media that I consume, and especially what my toddler daughter has begun to consume. I have assigned myself the task of looking for God in various films, books, tv shows, songs and whatever else is encompassed within the term 'entertainment.' He will not always be there, but I know that good stories that become beloved by the masses often speak to something deeper within each of us, and that is our spirit, placed within us by God.
I want to work at living my life by following the light that God instilled in each of us and search for it in what our fellow human family members create.
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