Today, I want to talk about a reason why some Christians avoid the arts: most stories are not doctrinally or biblically accurate. As I have mentioned in my last section, an author or creator of a work is essentially playing God, and therefore can do different things that God doesn’t do. So if you want to make a world full of dragons, you had better have a decent reason.

I’ve heard a lot of criticisms about certain films like What Dreams May Come and Constantine. These are films that address the issues of heaven and hell, but don’t do a very biblical job of presenting them. Personally, I admire films that address these things, whether they are accurate or not. If anything, films like these make me think of the real life equivalents of these things, and of the two films that I have mentioned, I felt the spirit of these films were true.

Then there are films like the recent Noah and Exodus: Gods and Kings. These films were sourced completely in the bible, but at some point, they go off the rails. I won’t bother going into details, but some of the spirit of it was correct.

Is it possible that Christians can just take in a work of art and get something out of it? Most Christians would agree that people should read the bible every year, and it is full of stuff that is quite negative. However, there is so much positive message in the bible, there has to be some kind of filter to take in the bad and get out the good. Surely this type of thinking can be used on any work of art.

In other words, I think it is important to take something out of just about anything. This is why I don’t recommend pornography or anything else that is gratuitous. What can be learned from that other than sex is fun? I mean, you don’t already know that?

In short, there is a lot to get out of arts these days, otherwise, why do secular people study them?