AM I ALLOWED TO PAINT GOD?

The second commandment of the celebrated ten, forbids making images of God or false gods that may become objects of worship.

I have a question. I won’t resolve it with this blog entry but I will ask it and speculate about it. As an artist, I wish to know whether that prevents me from painting an image of God if my intention is purely aesthetic rather than devotional.

 It’s a question that is not easily dismissed or resolved for me by making reference to famous Italian artist Michelangelo who had no hesitation in painting a representation of God on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome. In his central scene of creation Michelangelo painted God as a Caucasian white-bearded grandfatherly patriarchal figure extending his forefinger in a gesture by which he was imparting life to a newly created Adam. Now that is pure speculation and it is likely gloriously incorrect because no one has seen God the Father and the Bible says that God is spirit and we cannot assume God looks like a man.

Michelangelo himself may not have worshipped that artistic creation rather than the person of God, but it is probable that among the thousands of daily visitors to the Vatican, there are many who have venerated the art and artifacts housed within those walls. That is classified as idolatry. That is what the commands warn against.

Let’s probe a bit deeper behind the prohibition of idolatry. To make an image of God is an attempt to objectify him, perhaps even to control God. Might it also be argued that this occurs as well when conscientious scholars seek to “box” God within systematic theologies? Can it occur within liturgies? Does it occur when highlighting some attribute of God or doctrine about God within the clichéd lyrics of a song? Do we minimize, reduce, trivialize God when we make these efforts to portray God? The point must be that we need to understand that God is so much more than anything our finite minds can imagine God to be.  

My default position is that I can trust God to distinguish between wicked and appropriate motives. Furthermore, God created humans with capacity to create art of all kinds so art is not inherently evil. Therefore, I believe that we are justified in making a distinction between the creation and use and enjoyment of art and that it is not necessarily or the equivalent of idolatry or worship of idols and false gods. Therefore I go so far as to say that art used in worship and in churches is not forbidden by God but is in fact pleasing to him and glorifies him. So much more can be said. Maybe it will be.