Whatever is Lovely - An Introduction

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things – Philippians 4.8 (NIV)

This passage out of Paul’s letter to believers in Philippi is a trump card, or at least it’s used as one from time to time. It’s often the spade laid on the card table of the arts to reign in the creation and consumption of artistic endeavors and pop culture texts which are not regarded as thoroughly and overtly beautiful, noble and pure. Paul’s text is often seen as proof positive that no professing Christian should be watching Glee, or listening to Lady Gaga, or reading Stieg Larsson novels. They are not true, right, or pure, and because they’re not, they’re not lovely, admirable or praiseworthy either. The suggestion that often follows is that the consumption and creation of these songs, shows and novels be replaced with ones that are lovely, admirable and praiseworthy because they were produced and created from a clearly communicated Christian perspective. If all truth flows from God and God is at the heart that all that is true, then Christians who believe in that truth should clearly and obviously bear that out in all they create and consume, the belief follows. Now that I’ve built the straw man, I suppose I now must do a little dismantling, and suggest another possible way of understanding Paul’s text. (In all honesty I hope this isn’t too much of a straw man, and I welcome help and suggestions in providing a more accurate, though brief description of this take on this text.)

I would suggest a principle, or perhaps more accurately a theory, needs to be applied here which I’m coming to believe is Biblical, but not overtly stated in one text or verse: the principle/theory that the shortest most efficient line between two points is typically or perhaps often the least godly/Biblical route to take (I’m still working this one out). So applied in this instance it would mean that just because a piece of art or a pop culture text overtly declares scriptural truths, it doesn’t mean that art or text is in reality an accurate representation of the truth. This would also mean that just because on first blush a piece of art of pop culture text doesn’t seem to be true, noble or pure doesn’t mean it is not lovely, admirable or praiseworthy. I’ll approach this from three different perspectives in 3 following blogs to try to flesh this out a bit. I think I’d prefer to write this one in parts as opposed to writing one long “super blog”. Part 2 to follow soon… stay tuned.