Decorative Art as Useful Art-part 2

Decorative Art as Useful Art-part 2

There has been much debate during previous centuries over whether or not Christians should decorate God’s houses of worship with these art objects.  Because of this debate many churches that have been constructed in the past one hundred years are almost devoid of any artistic decoration. One of the reasons that a worship leader should care about decorative arts is that it is fitting and proper to worship the high and holy blessed Trinity in a sanctuary that represents respect and beauty.

 Where should the Christian stand on this issue?  To help answer this question I have included a small portion of the description of how the Temple in ancient Israel was decorated and embellished with art objects and expensive overlays. 

                2Chronicles 3:6-10, And he garnished the house with precious stones for beauty: and the 

              gold was gold of Parvaim.  He overlaid also the house, the beams, the posts, and the walls 

               thereof, and the doors thereof, with gold; and graved cherubims on the walls. And the 

               weight of the nails was fifty shekels of gold. And he overlaid the upper chambers with 

               gold.  And in the most holy house he made two cherubims of image work, and overlaid 

               them with gold.  2Chronicles 3:14, And he made the vail of blue, and purple, and crimson, 

               and fine linen, and wrought cherubims thereon.  

As one can see the Temple in ancient Israel was very artistically decorated with fine linen and Gold.  Its furnishings included much statuary and other ornately decorated objects.  So, there is absolutely no biblical prohibition on the decorative arts in a place of worship, or any other place for that matter.  The decorative art objects, most of them not mentioned in the short Bible excerpt above, were expensively decorated and many of them were not only beautiful but also useful. 

Scripture for the Day

2Chronicles 3:15-16 Also he made before the house two pillars of thirty and five cubits high, and the chapiter that was on the top of each of them was five cubits.  And he made chains, as in the oracle, and put them on the heads of the pillars; and made an hundred pomegranates, and put them on the chains.”