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Goodbye Jesus

Christianity And Beauty: A Failure To Appreciate


DrGuitar

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I have been intrigued and bothered for years by how Christianity (in its conservative form at least) is so blind, neglectful and dismissive of the worth and value of beauty. The Greeks made much of beauty and argued it was an essential element of reality and had transcendent importance.

 

Based on observation, we of today likewise see the attention paid to beautiful people (TV shows, movies, advertisements, cheerleaders, the selection of mates, ever checked out the news anchors on Fox? ;-)) etc.)  This is because research has shown over and over that people experience endorphin rushes looking at beautiful faces but not ugly faces. Of course the networks want people to stay tuned in and expose themselves to the ads. If I were paying Fox millions to show my ads I surely would not want their news shows filled with ugly people thus prompting viewers to change stations. People simply desire to behold and appreciate (perhaps even venerate) beauty. And yet it was always my impression that Christians (in my evangelecial experience at least) always avoided it or downplayed it. Sermons on beauty always deferred to inner beauty as being what really mattered and women were encoraged to throw off their notions of beauty and adopt that "inner adornment" which was devotion to Jesus and the cult (Christianity). "A truly beautiful woman is one who mirrors Christ!" I have heard over and over.

 

Yet despite the books, sermons and songs  never trumpeting the value and importance of beauty,   the women at my former church mainly seemed to take great care to look pretty and the single men seemed more drawn to beautiful as opposed to plain women. Ask any woman who for example goes from 125 to 325 pounds if she receives more male attention. One model, for example, wore a "fat suit" for a day and ended up having to remove it in tears because of the abuse she received from strangers and the public. And yet, in discussion, many will argue vociferously that inner beauty is what matters to them and looks are only skin deep etc. We all know the arguments and the lengths people will go to convince themseleves and others that they are not smitten by beauty.

 

My question is WHY are Christians and the teaching of Christianity in general so turned against beauty? Is it because of the writings of "Paul" or Saul or whoever wrote those letters which seem to disparage the worth of feminine beauty? Was this man an ascetic who despised it as another vanity to avoid? (Much as Christians did regarding bathing and so after taking over Rome filled in the many public baths? Unfortunately dirty, unwashed people tend to spread disease more but thats another issue . =)) I also suspect that, for many people, experiencing and appreciating beauty leads to sexual arousal which sets off alarm bells in good Evangelicals warning that the demon of "lust" is approaching.

 

I would appreciate your thoughts on why Christians neglect beauty and seem afraid to value it.

 

 

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Why is Christianity turned away from beauty?  Because Christianity is in competition against natural instincts.  Sex is real but Jesus isn't so Christianity must indoctrinate children against certain things if in order to keep control over those people as they grow into adults.

 

Physical beauty is generally a mix of gender markers, health, (post-puberty) youth, symmetry and fertility.  Inner beauty is a mix of confidence, friendliness, positive attitude, strength of personality and so on.  I do prefer physical beauty but it's not the end all be all.  I've had crushes on lots of women who were heavy and even a few who were obese because they had personalities that were absolutely extraordinary.  Of course I hardly dated any of them (thin or otherwise) because my indoctrination kept me under Christianity's control.  I was led to believe that Jesus cries every time I have an impure thought.

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  • Super Moderator

MM got it. Christianity is opposed to nature, simple as that. 

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^^^  What he said.

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  • Super Moderator

What MM said. Also, beauty--whatever it is/however one defines it--gives the beholder of said beauty pleasure, and...

 

zDuivel7.gif GONZ9729CustomImage1539775.gif jesus.gif GONZ9729CustomImage1539775.gif zDuivel7.gif  Pleasure is EBIL!!!!!!!!   zDuivel7.gif GONZ9729CustomImage1539775.gif jesus.gif GONZ9729CustomImage1539775.gif zDuivel7.gif

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Nature is under a curse, therefore it cannot be something elevated.  Now suffering, on the other hand --

 

Aesthetically only the Catholic and Orthodox churches have anything at all.   It all seems sort of dead though.

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Christianity (and advertising campaigns) need to keep people in a state of unhappiness and 'lacking something' in order to seek their wares.

 

Just another way to play with our heads!

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conservative Christianity also seems to pride itself on being culturally barren.

 

an interesting read for ex-Christians is a book by Jeanette Winterson called'Why be happy when you can be normal?'.

 

tells the story of Jeanette being adopted by a god-botherer and being brought up in a stark Pentecostalist home till she was rejected for being lesbian at the age of 16. I read the book about a year ago and then gave it away to a friend, so forgive me any licence I have taken in summarising the story line.

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Christianity (and advertising campaigns) need to keep people in a state of unhappiness and 'lacking something' in order to seek their wares.

 

Just another way to play with our heads!

 

This is something that is so obvious I wonder how I never thought of it before.  I left the church as soon as I was old enough to do so, so perhaps the fact I never lived my adult life being told what to think/wear/like/eat/drink/love/hate/buy, etc prevented me from seeing it, but the restrictions put on a christian life leave you feeling like there "must be something more", and a feeling of "something missing in my life".  Then they are told that longing is jesus...This must be why the first time a christian told me this I honestly replied that, aside from a girlfriend, I didn't feel that anything was missing in my life.

 

Another example of the church creating the disease and then selling their own patented cure for it...

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  I was led to believe that Jesus cries every time I have an impure thought.

***** post  above^ MM! Thanks hon!

 

 

This one quote above.....What a nice way to live eh MM?  I had a friggin' crush on the pastor. eek.gif .....He'd be preachin' hell and I'd be fantasizing about him!!! Wendytwitch.gif   .....When he gave the alter call to come down and confess sins, I just know everyone thought innocent Margee rolleyes.gifwas asking Gawd to forgive her for pride or something stupid.  I was crying and begging Gawd to take these lustful thoughts from my mind about the pastor..........woohoo.gif

 

He was adorable and I was young and lustful. Yes...I wanted to go to bed with him!! There...I said it out loud!!  jesus.gif yellow.gif

I am only now starting to enjoy nature. I was so wrapped up in church, bible study and such that I never really got to thinking much about nature. I'm trying hard now to make up for lost time. Good thread!!

 

Hugs to all today!!

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You crack me up woman. Crush on the pastor?  EWWW. Every time I heard the pastor preach would fantasize about how I could dispose of the body. :)

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Oh, and christians preach inner beauty because they are trying to convince themselves they are less shallow than the average person. They are probably moreso.

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My answer is: Because there is nothing beautiful about the christian religion.

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^Nope. Scratch away at the super-thin facade, and it's as ugly as it gets.

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  • 3 weeks later...

thanks for the enlightening replies

 

well said

 

it is against nature

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