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Are we worshiping idol Beauty?
Introduction
Last Sunday during the worship service we heard the scripture - Rom 12:2Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but betransformed by the renewing of your mind. I didn’t plan to use this verse tonight but it goes well with what I was going to share today.
We all know and feel that the world around us influences us a lot, but sometimes we don’t even realize how much and in what aspects.
If I’d asked you tonight who among us would not like to be good looking people?
No hands / or not so many hands, isn’t it? Of course, we want to be beautiful! But let me ask you another question: “Have you ever thought that there are two standards of beauty?” This world’s standard which is changing all the time and God’s standard which is unchangeable. Unfortunately people today prefer to be good looking according to this world’s pattern and they don’t care much about being beautiful according to God’s standards. The consequences of this? - People are losing their souls… You ask why? because of idolatry…
I. Idol “Beauty”
There are two main things that can characterize “worshiping idols”:
1. bringing sacrifices,
2. relying on it -believing that the life depends on it and try to do the best to please that idol…
We hear and see the stories all the time about models that starved themselves to death or we hear about people (young girls especially) developing an Anorexia nervosa, an eating disorder in which people do not eat correctly due to the obsessive fear of weight gain… Or we hear about people who look just fine but yet want to go through expensive, complicated plastic surgeries just to look like Bred Pitt or just to change their face. This idol of beauty can be very cruel; it compromises even people’s health and lives. You probably have heard the saying “Beauty demands sacrifice”…
We are told over and over again that our image and outward appearance is the most important thing - without it we won’t be successful and happy. And in order to follow this world’s standards of beauty we voluntarily bring our time and money to this idol.
The funny thing is that a fashion changes so easily and it differs in every nation every century through the entire history of mankind. During the medieval times women had to be pale, without eyebrows, and with small mouths, now they must have thick eyebrows and big lips of Angelina Jolie; in the 18th century man had to wear wigs, now we would be giggling seeing a man wearing 18 century wig to his job. In some African tribes they darken teeth to be beautiful, in civilized countries - your smile must be absolutely white. American standard of beauty - blond hair and tanned skin, French standard is dark hair with white skin. There is a joke about how men in different countries evaluate women’s beauty: Russians are looking at face, French men - at legs, Americans - at boobs… If you were slim a couple of centuries ago you probably would not be recognized as beautiful at all, today it’s quite opposite.
If you want to check yourself just look thoroughly at your daily routine. How much time out of the day you spend on you appearance - on choosing clothes, making your hair, putting make up, looking in the mirror, manicures-pedicures, thinking “how do I look”, turning over the pages of fashion magazines, shopping for clothes, discussing how do others look, all of that stuff and then compare it to the time you spend on fellowshipping with God (reading the Bible, praying, sharing your experience of God with others, thinking about God and His ways)? Our priorities easily expose what or who is on the first place in our life: God or just a bunch of big and small idols.
So, what’s bad in worshipping idols in general and idol of Beauty in particular? What’s bad in “conforming to the pattern of this world” - well, nothing more than just to risk our souls. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 6:9, 10 “Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God". So, as you hear, idolaters will not inherit the kingdom of God…
II. Picture of Dorian Gray
There is a remarkable novel written by an Irish writer of the 19th century, Oscar Wilde, “Picture of Dorian Gray”. It’s about a young handsome man whose picture was beautifully painted by a talented artist. Under the influence of his new friend, Dorian begins to think that beauty is the only worthwhile aspect of life, and the only thing left to pursue. He wishes that the portrait of him would grow old instead of him. Dorian declares that he would give his soul if he were always to be beautiful. Soon Dorian notices that the portrait of him has changed. It happened after he cruelly broke his fiance’s heart which led her to a suicide. After examining the painting, Dorian realises that his wish has come true - the portrait's expression bears the mark of the cruelty of his deed, and later of other sins as well as of ageing, while his own outward appearance remains unchanged. Dorian is so afraid that people will know this secret and will be able to see his “soul” depicted in the painting, that he’s even led to a murder…
You know, it’s amazing that we don’t realize one thing: such a phantasmagorical Oscar Wilde’s idea of soul’s picture is not just a fable, it actually exists - it’s right in front of God. He is the one who sees it all the time…
Dorian hears a preacher one day on a city street who cites Jesus words from Matthew 16:26 “What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?” But unfortunately Dorian is unable to follow it, and he dies tearing the picture with a knife - killing his own soul…
You may think - this is just a fiction, well, sometimes when I see people on TV who desperately want to change their face or body and become beautiful no matter what - I remember the story of Dorian Gray.
III. Five major misunderstandings
1. Many people don’t realize, first of all that our appearance - is God’s gift and this should be appreciated. But people are never satisfied with there bodies. Already at the young age they are looking in the mirror and saying: “I hate my ears, or I hate my face” forgetting that they are offending not only their parents but God Himself! I believe that physical body and character which all together represent our unique personality are given to us, as they are, with the purpose. God loves us and as the perfect Father He gives the best to His kids, He knows what He is doing. By the way, take a second; turn to your neighbor and say: “you are beautiful because God made you!”
2. Also, many people don’t realize that beauty can be a burden. Sounds crazy, right? But think about this - if you are very beautiful (here I am talking about beauty acknowledged by people) if you are very beautiful you probably and inevitably will be a heartbreaker. It’s natural - beauty attracts people, both bad and good… But if you love God and want to be kind to others you might feel guilty from time to time for being a heartbreaker. Many beautiful people suffer from loneliness - they are admired and surrounded by attention all the time though rarely having sincere warm-heartedness from others…
3. There is another very big disadvantage of being extremely beautiful - you might be more attacked with the temptations. Look at the celebrities - private life of most of them is miserable, sometimes disgusting, filled with adultery and lies; it looks almost impossible for them to remain faithful to their spouses, plus popularity spoils them and makes them cranky. If you are extremely beautiful you need an extremely strong character and wisdom to keep your soul pure before God.
4. Every gift God gives us (and beauty is certainly a gift) is expected to be used for His glory. Do you remember the story of Esther? God gave her beauty and let her win in beauty contest to fulfill a dangerous and very responsible task - to save Jews from being slaughtered. So there is God’s purpose in giving beauty to people…
But what we are taught through the media today - to use beauty for being sexy, for flirting and seducing. By the way, God’s word was extremely stern to Israel women during the prophet Isaiah times. Let me read to you some excerpts from the chapter 3 of Isaiah:
Jerusalem staggers,
Judah is falling;
their words and deeds are against the Lord,
defying his glorious presence.
Isa 3:9
The look on their faces testifies against them;
they parade their sin like Sodom;
they do not hide it.
Woe to them!
They have brought disaster upon themselves.
Isa 3:10
Tell the righteous it will be well with them,
for they will enjoy the fruit of their deeds.
Isa 3:11
Woe to the wicked! Disaster is upon them!
They will be paid back for what their hands have done…
Isa 3:16
The Lord says,
“The women of Zion are haughty,
walking along with outstretched necks,
flirting with their eyes,
tripping along with mincing steps,
with ornaments jingling on their ankles.
Isa 3:17
Therefore the Lord will bring sores on the heads of the women of Zion;
the Lord will make their scalps bald.”
Sounds pretty severe, isn’t it! So as you see the reason for this strict judgment was that the women of Zion left God’s righteousness and turned into using their beauty for disgraceful deeds, for seducing and spreading adultery among God’s chosen nation.
5. Another misunderstanding people often have striving for beauty is that they don’t realize that the real beauty is complete only when there is a HARMONY between physical body and soul…
There is a famous aphorism expressed by a Russian classical writer Anton Chekhov: “Everything should be beautiful in a person: face, clothing, soul, and thoughts” …
You probably have noticed many times that an ordinary looking person turns to be very attractive after a while when you get to know his or her personality better. And the opposite - a beautiful face at first glance may seem to you pretty ugly later…
Harmony… As a musician I really like this word, and having a little bit of artistic perception of the world I really like an idea… But, I have to mention that, harmony is not a Biblical concept, you won’t find this word there (some translations use it though but not the original languages of the Bible). Idea of harmony came from Hellas or ancient Greece. May be you’ve heard of Greek goddess named Harmony. So it’s a kind of derived from a pagan culture - it used to be strictly a mythological and later a philosophical concept: harmony of spheres, co-ordination of the Universe, cosmos…
But! It’s not the only reason why we don’t find it in the Bible. God is directly showing to us what the priority is: “What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?” Physical beauty is a short-term and fragile thing that vanishes fast, but soul is what will meet an eternity… Over and over in the Bible we hear an advice to care more about our hearts and souls than about our bodies: to decorate our souls with virtues and good deeds rather than decorating our bodies with beautiful jewels and clothes.
Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a person (my paraphrase) who fears the Lord is to be praised, says the Bible (Pro 31:30 ) .
God does not care how we look because He’s holding the picture of our souls and this is what He really evaluates…
So let’s ask God to help us not to conform any longer to the pattern of this world, not to worship its idols but be transformed by the renewing of our mind.
“Take my life and form it, take my mind and conform it to Yours…”
Let us pray while singing this song… and then we will spend a few minutes in a quiet prayer…
ориентирована была в-основном на молодежь. Поэтому прибаутки про Анджелину Джоли и Бреда Питта - намеренные. Внимание неусидчивой публики удержать удалось.
В-общем, выставляю на обозрение тем, кому не лень читать такое. Если кому пригодится - ну и слава Богу!
А главным же образом постю по просьбе Виктора...