I was having a talk with a MUA a few weeks ago about the acceptance of beauty. She, being a Christian creator, and I had the same sentiment: beauty is holy. But it took me a while to come to this conclusion.
Last year, Jackie Hill Perry dropped a Christian rap EP that forced me to confront my the idea of beauty (I’ve been a fan girl since P4CM).
The rapper’s EP was done in such excellence and beauty that I had to catch myself and consider does this really please God? (The thing is I hadn’t enjoyed an album that much since Chris Brown’s self titled album circa 2005).
If God created beauty, those things that are aesthetically pleasing, for us to enjoy, then what does this look like practically and should I even enjoy it?
Just peaking outside your window, it’s not hard to find something beautiful:
Make up, hair, body image
The most obvious ideas people think of when beauty is mentioned.
Art, music, film, dance, poetry
Artists tend to grab hold of the beauty found in being creative, especially content.
S3x, nature, science/intelligence
Pleasure seekers love these ideas the most because it satisfies heart desires, give answers to our basic needs and satiates nerves.
Babies, birth
Those who are more naïve to the beauty and idolatry of creation tend to find their idea of what’s beautiful rests here, in the unexplainable.
While this isn’t an exhaustive list, all beauty mentioned above are what the world tries to pervert. Like each one of God’s creations, perversion is the devil’s playbook. Physical beauty, artistic beauty, natural phenomena and scientific feats, when loved too much becomes a source of idolatry and can lead to pride and envy.
None of the aforementioned are inherently wrong, yet society has made several stakes in turning beauty into sin. First up is increased hypersexuality. S3x is literally everywhere: entertainment, commercials, social media – to the point that when body parts are mentioned people get weird about it, (I’ve seen it for myself) and we may even call young girls fast when they actually aren’t.
Pair that with pride and you’ve got another play. The rubrics cubic of pride lives in the context of excellence.
When something is done smartly, cleanly, effectively and excellently we tend to take pride in it. For instance, if I wrote a poem for The New Yorker that got millions of views then I would start believing in my own creativity, intelligence and expertise. And others will revere you for your talents as well. (Much like what I experienced with Jackie’s album).
If hypersexuality is the appetizer then pride is for dessert.
Our gaze of what’s truly beautiful is hijacked and our level of appreciation is under assault. Beauty comes from God. Therefore, we should find pride in the creator of all things himself instead of a beautiful person or cute hairstyles or ocean waves.
But just because these ideas exist (bc two things can be true, many things actually) does not mean we should think it sin – read prideful, lustful, immodest, haughty or overambitious.
At its core creativity is God’s idea. He’s the supreme creator of all whether we think an AI engine made a symphony or not, a human being (God’s creation) fed it years of musical score and theory (made by humans whom God gave the gift of musical talent) to force it to produce a masterpiece. It’s all still made by God’s hand.
Beauty is good and made for us to enjoy.
So, I ended up listening to the album, reading more books on the topic, and letting God change my heart.
However, there are two extremes of beauty that exists: one which purports that you should enjoy all with abandon and the other that you should avoid it all because its ungodly.
I’m somewhere in the middle. I’m aware of the parameters around indulge and enjoy and able to honor God for his beautiful mind and manifold creations.
Keep being honest,
Shanisha.