My life is about two great loves, of Beauty and Meaning. I pursued my Bachelor of Fine Arts at the #1 Art School in the nation, and my Masters of Divinity from the most Academic Reformed Theological Seminary in the world. For me the two are really inseparable, each finds its fullest expression in the other. Art is the expression of a culture’s search for meaning, and Theology is a given culture’s expression of timeless truths. Sound theology has the power to transform a culture, the way the 16th c. Reformation was followed by a flourishing of the Arts, because it leads us to a redeeming Creator God who made us to reflect and create in His image by enjoying Him by doing all things to His glory. Bad theology (religious or secular) leads to a stifling of creativity, the way totalitarian Governments lean towards “culture cleansings†(Mao’s Cultural revolution, the Taliban mortaring of Sandstone Buddha’s, the Temple burnings in Korea during the Japanese Invasion) or the way Fundamentalism led to the production of Precious moments figurines, Thomas Kinkaid paintings, the Warner Sallman Jesus paintings of the 1940’s, or the movie The Passion of the Christ.
Although Art school led me to become a great artist (Upon graduation I was awarded the school’s highest honor for my department), studying “divinity†in seminary didn’t make me a religious or good person, quite the opposite. Before seminary I didn’t smoke (except a pipe), never drank, and never swore. Now I cuss occasionally and don’t judge other Christians who do, I learned to drink from my Professors and dead theologians, and still smoke my pipe. The point of art school is to teach you to appreciate beauty and to become a more skilled artist. Yet the point of any good theological academy is not to get you to become more religious, to become a nicer person or even try to be, that after all is a dead end. Contrary to the pervasive American Myth, in the heart of every man there does not exists a soft creamy Twinkie center of goodness and humanity, there is nothing but black rot and festering decay in every soul. Sarah McLachlin must not have any children, otherwise she’d know that no one is born innocent, certainly not me. No one becomes an angel, although many of us (even the most righteous among us) come awful close to becoming demons (“get thee behind me Satan†Jesus said to St. Peter). I don’t believe the bible was written to make our marriages better, to help us balance our finances, to make God into a genie in the sky (Prayer of Jabez), to give us an escape plan (Left Behind series), to give us a purpose driven life, or to teach us to have a good self image…quit the opposite. The law wasn’t given for us to follow like good little Sunday school kids; it’s given to kill us from all the legalism and self righteous delusions we hold on to so dearly (this includes all you “Truly Reformed†modern day Pharisees). It was given to show us we have no merit, we deserve no chance, and that we are our father’s (Adam) sons and our mother’s (Eve) daughters. When a Right-wing Conservative Fundamentalist religious man came up to Jesus and asked Him “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good
except God alone.” God gave us the law so that we might give up trying to be our own saviors, and flee with all our might to the open arms of Jesus. He lived the life I should have but never could live, He also died the death that I deserved, so that by faith I might receive an eternal inheritance I could never have deserved. So I don’t try to follow God’s rules to become a good person, Jesus came down and did it for me, the life I live now is how I show Him my gratitude. So every month I try to paint, and to preach to both PhD’s and homeless men (occasionally to PhD’s who are homeless!). Everyday I laugh with my wife, WWF wrestle with my son, and dance with my daughter (Dad likes to move it! Move it! too). And as often as I can I drink dark beer, smoke smooth Pipe tobacco, and go deep sea fishing, all to God’s glory. God is good!
“"Sound Doctrine, makes a sound judgment, a sound heart, a sound life, and a sound conscience - and if it was otherwise then either the doctrine was not sound or it was not soundly understood." - Richard Baxter (Puritan author of The Reformed Pastor)
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