Beauty and the Church

It's crazy, but I've been doing a Bible Study with a friend about Beauty and its merits, and it amazes me at how little this topic is actually talked about in Christian literature, outside the Bible that is. It's like those in the Christian world would rather not look at Beauty as being important in this world, because it cannot be quantified.



I find this weird and slightly disturbing considering the amount of references throughout the Bible to different one's particular physical Beauty. Most notably would be the wives of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, Solomon and King Xerxes. If that last one threw you off, her Hebrew name was Hadassah, and she saved her people from extermination, it's detailed in a book of the Bible named after her Persian name, Esther.

Solomon even wrote an overly long song detailing his love for one of his wives. Her beauty is definitely mentioned there....many, many times!

So, why is it that Ministers seem so intent to steer so far from this subject, relying instead on the few scriptures that talk about the fleetingness of physical beauty?

I mean, women are beautiful, not because of cosmetics, or weave or anything besides the fact that we bear the image of God through Beauty. Men bear His image through strength, and no one gets all up in a bunch about this. No one questions it's merits to bear this mark of God, but Beauty, yeah, that gets everybody all up in arms comparing the Beauty of one woman to another, when the fact is, that all are Beauty-filled, and that such comparisons are what cheapen this precious gift that God has given us.

Still don't believe, imagine a majestic building, the windows the arches, the pillars and floors of Marble...good now imagine a prison, the bare concrete floors, the barely there window slits, and the aluminum chairs. Which would you rather visit for an hour?

If that doesn't get you, ask yourself, why do we have museums? What is the point of sculptures and paintings and photos that do nothing but add Beauty to the world? Beauty in and of itself is a merit all its own.And while I'm at it I wish the media would stop selling sex as Beauty, because they are not necessarily the same thing. And while the sharing of Beauty without fear personifies Love to its highest level, doing the same with sex will only lead to ruin. They have two different purposes, both for the good of those who honour them properly.

So yeah, I sorely wish that Beauty would stop getting a bad wrap. It is a glorious part of this world, and needs to be protected from perversion. It should be celebrated as God intended, I mean for pete's sake, He is the inventor of it, and placed it smack dab in the center of His creation...in the form of Eve. (Never mind that Beauty is everywhere, from the mountaintops to the Jamaican coastline, I mean Beauty is AWE INSPIRING!!!)

So, once again I ask, why downplay it's place in this world?

Anyway, I'd love to hear your views on this subject!