During
this same time, a fundamental shift has taken place in what is publicly
acceptable. Images that were once
considered shady, shocking or disgusting are now openly promoted seemingly without
dissent.
The
focus of this article is on the power of beauty to promote evil, and how
through the use of dazzling visual images, beauty is being used as a weapon
against fidelity, morality, honor and decency.
Beauty has been a key factor
in the shift.
Beauty
alone is not evil. In fact, it is a gift
from the Creator. Beauty is to be
appreciated, respected and even sought after, but only as it is coupled with righteousness. Otherwise, it is easily adulterated. Beauty must be guarded and wisely admired, otherwise
it has the power to lure us into evil.
This
will come as no surprise to students of the Bible. Lucifer, whose name means light-bearer (Isaiah 14:12), and who is
also known as an angel of light (II Corinthians 11:14), is widely considered to
have been prior to his rebellion, the most beautiful angel in heaven.
In
fact, it seems from the Biblical record that his stunning beauty was the source
of his overweening pride, and occasioned his fall. Nowhere in the Scripture is it intimated that
Satan (Lucifer) lost his beauty when he lost his heavenly citizenship.
Artistic
license aside, there is nothing in the Bible to suggest that Satan looks
anything like the wild and dreadful images by which he is portrayed. The repulsiveness of such images may well
represent his character, but they do not give us a true picture of his visage.
Among
his strategies, Satan uses beauty to blur truth and promote evil. He first used this tactic against the human
race in the Garden of Eden, and has used it effectively to the present.
Beauty Attracts Beauty.
Possibly
the more beautiful of the first two human beings was the woman. It is the general consensus that such is the
case today. Men have brawn, women have
beauty. While it may be only
speculation, it does seem logical that perhaps the most beautiful creature in
the heavens would seek to gain the confidence of the most beautiful creature on
earth through the cunning use of beauty as bait.
The Biblical
narrative seems to support this. "And when the woman saw that the tree
was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be
desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat"
(Genesis 3:6 NASB). Notice carefully pleasant to the eyes, and to be desired.
The
word pleasant (avah) comes from a primitive root meaning to incline, covet, wait
longingly, wish, sigh, want, be greedy, prefer.
The word eye (ayin) also probably a primitive root,
means not only the physical eye, but also the showing of mental qualities, or of
mental and spiritual faculties.
Most
interesting of all, the word desired (chamad) also comes from a primitive root
meaning to desire, covet, take pleasure in, delight in. It is instructive that the KJV translates
this word as beauty twenty-one times,
and the NASB the same number of times as attracted.
Beauty can be used as a
powerful motivator.
Perhaps
the swiftest and surest way to break past the defenses of intellect is to
overwhelm understanding with desire (lust), and nothing has the power to trigger
desire (lust) like beauty. There is a
connection here to I John 2:16 where John warns "For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust
of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from
the world" (NASB).
The
consequences of the woman’s entrapment were instantly evil, and deadly. The stunning thing about the Genesis narrative
is that Adam seems to have offered no resistance. Was this because just as the woman may have
been beguiled by the beauty of the beast (the serpent being the aberration of
Satan), and the compelling beauty of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil, so too Adam was beguiled by the beauty of his wife?
Since
beauty is a component of the creation, it cannot in and of itself be evil. It can, however, be used as a motivator for
the promotion of evil. It is instructive
to consider the age-old saying that "beauty
is in the eye of the beholder."
Herein is a key to the misuse of beauty.
While beauty comes in many forms (e.g., music, poetry, thoughts), it is
more fundamentally regarded as a thing of the eye. That is, a thing which one beholds.
Merriam-Webster
defines beauty as the quality or
aggregate of qualities in a person or thing that gives pleasure to the senses
or pleasurably exalts the mind or spirit.
In common application, this is usually associated with something seen;
which is why so-called beauty contests focus on the visual. And when we consider that it was through the
eye that Satan deceived the woman in the Garden, we do not wonder that this
same tactic is still an effective strategy for the promotion of evil.
Beauty
also has the power to arrest attention.
One beautiful flower, one beautiful vase, one beautiful painting or one
beautiful bird placed in proximity with dozens, even hundreds of others of less
eye appeal, will invariably stand out.
Beauty
may be sometimes difficult to define, but everyone recognizes it when they see
it. For example, the eye will almost
instantly direct us to a single polished gemstone though it be only a single
stone arranged within a field of hundreds of unfinished stones. Beauty attracts attention.
Beauty can mask danger.
The creamy
white berries of the mistletoe plant so popular at Christmas, and the brightly
colored flowers (as well as the leaves) of laurels and rhododendrons can be
fatal when swallowed. Some species of
tiny frogs are among the world’s most beautifully colored creatures, yet are so
deadly that merely touching one a single time can result in death.
Similarly,
a painful and deadly consequence may await those who fall victim to evils
masked and promoted by beauty. The evils
of greed, sexual perversion, sensual lust, destructive consumerism, imaginary
expectations of instant wealth and other debasing and wasting harms, may first
attract their victims through the sensory-overload effect of beauty.
We
began this article by observing that there has been a revolution in advertising
and entertainment, and that the use of technology has made it possible to add
visual images in a manner not previously achievable.
Furthermore,
we pointed out how the acceptance concerning morals and ethics has changed
dramatically, and suggested that a fundamental shift has taken place in what is
publicly acceptable and how it is portrayed.
Only
the most isolated among us is not aware that things which were once considered
shady, shocking, or disgusting are now openly promoted, at the expense of prudence,
righteousness and traditional morality.
The primary contention of these observations is that beauty has been a
significant factor in helping to bring this about.
Beauty can overload the
senses.
The
evils of greed, sexual perversions, sensual lusts, destructive consumerism, imaginary
expectations of instant wealth and other debasing and wasting harms, initially
attract their victims through the sensory-overload effect of beauty. Like a candy coated cyanide tablet, some of
the most perverse and destructive evils that debase and degrade humanity, lure
the unsuspecting by an appealing external coating of beauty purposefully
designed to deceive.
Greed
and fanciful expectations of wealth are exploited by amazingly constructed and
beautifully decorated palaces, dedicated to the kinds of gambling vices and
racketeering that scarcely a half-century ago would have invited a raid by
federal authorities. Many of these palaces
and practices are now state-sponsored sources of revenue.
Destructive
consumerism is fueled by a storm of slick advertising campaigns using beauty as
bait to get the customer to bite.
Automobiles are shown as works of art, consumer products of every kind
imaginable are marketed though the use of beauty (particularly feminine beauty).
Jewelry,
for example, is hocked on television twenty-four hours a day using the most
appealing lighting and sophisticated presentation in order to make the sparkle
appear more attractive than it really is.
The same can be said of clothing, vitamins, diet plans, exercise
machines - you name it.
Sexual
perversions and sensual lusts have been promoted in popular entertainments by the
ever-present presentation of hot cars, hot clothes, hot night life, and hot bed
scenes that are purposefully designed to exploit beauty in a nefarious scheme
to sell late night cable television, videos, DVDs, movie tickets, magazines and
lifestyles filled with debauchery.
What
we once clearly understood as pornographic has become mainstream, which is only
one of the reasons why Internet-base pornography is the dirty bomb of our
culture. The consequences of which are
the wasted and hollow heads of millions of lust addicts who have surrendered
their dignity to the dust.
The beauty of the human form
is easily exploited.
The beauty
of human sexuality (particularly that of the woman), has been so cheaply exploited
as an attention getting ruse by the marketers of everything from personal care
products to perfume, that the especial beauty of the female form has been
reduced to erotic shots of flesh, suggestive body language and facial
expressions.
The portrayal
of feminine sweetness has become an extinct art in advertising. Is it any wonder that a walk through the
tween hangouts of any urban mall has more the feel of walking though a 1950’s
red-light district than of observing the innocent fun of children just entering
puberty?
The
exploitation of beauty for the sake of profiteering and social revolution is a
real force, and one to be reckoned with.
The unaware, unbelieving, unconcerned and immature may think it little
more that the evolution of human kind.
However,
it is not actually evolution as much
as it is devolution, devolution from
the ethical and spiritual safeguards that are the protectorate of a civilized
society. It is to be sure, the same
devolution that we read about in the early chapters of the book of
Genesis.
The
real force behind this exploitation of beauty for the purpose of promoting evil
is Satan, but those who do his bidding will also ultimately bear
responsibility. Jesus said, "Woe to the world because of the things
that cause people to sin! Such things must come, but woe to the man through
whom they come" (Matthew 18:7 NIV).
The warning is not given in vain.
God will not be mocked. The law
of sowing and reaping is inexorable.
Beauty in the balance.
Finally,
adapting the title of the late Dr. Francis Shaeffer’s famously influential book
and film series How Should We Then Live?
The Rise and Decline of Western Thought and Culture, we ask the same
question with a focus on beauty. That
is, How Should We Then Live With Beauty?
We should
keep it balanced by integrity, and resist all efforts that exploit beauty to mask
evil. Our Lord warns this generation
with these ancient words, "Woe to
you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs
which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men's
bones and all uncleanness" (Matthew 23:27 NASV).
We
should seek to be blessed by beauty only within the balanced context of righteousness
and humility (holiness) "Give unto
the LORD the glory due unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of
holiness" (Psalm 29:2 KJV).
That kind of worship is a balanced and beautiful thing, and the most
effective way of resisting the power of beauty to promote evil.
Dennis
D. Frey, Th.D., President
Master’s International University of Divinity
Master’s International University of Divinity
