Quotes from Philip Graham Ryken

If the opening chapters of Genesis portray God as a creative artist, then it only stands to reason that the people he made in his image will also be artists. Art is an imaginative activity, and in the act of creating, we reflect the mind of our Maker.

The true sons of Abraham are not identified biologically, but Christologically.

What we think has a strong influence on what we feel. John

No one cares how much we know unless they also know how much we care.

God has high standard for art, and obviously he does not and cannot endorse the content of work that is pornographic or propagandistic, or that violates his character in some other way.

Rather than giving in to meaninglessness and despair, Christian artists know that there is a way out. Thus they create images of grace, awakening a desire for the new heavens and the new earth by anticipating the possibilities of redemption in Christ.

Martin Luther said, "A Christian is not someone who has no sin or feels no sin; he is someone to whom, because of his faith in Christ, God does not impute his sin.

Why does God call people to be artists? Because he is an Artist, and we are made in his image. When we first meet the God of the Bible, he is busy making things and calling them good. Thus it is only natural for him to take some of the people that he has made, call them to be artists, and hold them to an aesthetic standard.

Art has tremendous power to shape culture and touch the human heart. Its artifacts embody the ideas and desires of the coming generation. This means that what is happening in the arts today is prophetic of what will happen in our culture tomorrow. It also means that when Christians abandon the artistic community, we lose a significant opportunity to coniniu- nicate Christ to our culture.

The Christian worldview is liturgical as well as cerebral; it culminates with an everlasting crescendo of praise.

When a mind is in love with Jesus, this is what it sees: a world full of the wonders he has made.

We belong to Jesus Christ, because we have all been baptized into His body. Now the powerful presence of the Holy Spirit gives us a spiritual unity that overcomes our differences, enabling us to live together in a caring community that stands out like a city on a hill.

At its best, art is able to do what Fujimura's paintings do: satisfy our deep longing for beauty and communicate profound spiritual, intellectual, and emotional truth about the world that God has made for his glory. Is it any wonder that the best artists are celebrated?

the real issue for most of us is that we always want to place limits on our love. We are ready to give, but only when we have something left over. We are willing to care as long as it isn't too inconvenient. We are able to love provided that people love us back.

God has put his love into our lives by pouring his Spirit into our hearts. So when we desire to love Jesus more, we are not limited to loving him out of our own small affection, but can love him with the abundant love that he freely gives.

In the words of the Puritan William Perkins, "The promises made to Abraham are first made to Christ, and then in Christ to all that believe in him."6

Salvation in Christ does not rest on a law that we inevitably break; it rests on a promise that God cannot break.

Generally speaking, the reason the church fails to have a more positive, transforming influence on our culture is that we do not fully grasp the Bible-based, Christ-centered, Spirit-empowered, God-glorifying perspective that belongs to us by grace—which is why we need to learn how to live the right worldview.

In Exodus 31 God sanctifies a wide spectrum of artistic gifts by blessing "all kinds of craftsmanship.

The example of the tabernacle proves that God loves all kinds of art, in all kinds of media and all kinds of styles-provided, that is, that they are in keeping with the perfections of his character. As John Calvin said, "All the arts come from God and are to be respected as divine inventions."3 Therefore, as Christians we are not limited to crosses and flannelgraphs, or to praise choruses and evangelistic skits.

From start to finish, the whole Christian life is by grace through faith. A new life in Christ commences with faith, continues by faith, and will be completed by faith.

A Christian view of art thus stands in opposition to the postmodern assumption that there are no absolutes.

God's careful instructions for building the tabernacle remind us that his perfection sets the standard for whatever we create in his name.

Goodness is both an ethical and an esthetic standard.