It was Good: Making art to the Glory of God. Part 1

The first chapter of  'It was Good' talked about this idea of bounded awareness and had a great analogy quoted below. Everyone has different views of a single idea through their experiences of those ideas, which are interpreted by the individuals particular worldview.

"Imagine a conversation between a fish and a turtle. Both creatures would be able to discuss the idea of land but the turtle would have a very different understanding of the concept due to his experience which includes the idea of DRY dirt, a worldview that contrasts 

to the fish's experience of only WET dirt." [1] (Bustard, 21)

My World Religions professor, Sarita Gallagher provided a slide showing of how much our worldview can manipulate, mold, or shape an event or experience. 

This first chapter also talked about the idea of everybody having an equal opportunity to become good and evil depending on your actions. The more good decisions we make the more aware we are of God's goodness in the world. The more bad decisions we make, the more broke or less we are. I like this idea because it tests our faith in ourselves to do the right thing and tests us to be committed to becoming better, to become closer to God, and be a true believer in Christ. This idea of course inevitably makes me think of shoulder angels.

"The challenge to portray the glory of God's goodness in our art should be embraced ... the more we focus on good, the more we reveal who God is - that God is good - and provide a vocabulary of grace to those who lack it." [1] (Bustard, 32)

This quote stood out to me because I agree one hundred percent with Mr. Ned Bustard. Every challenge God presents us we need to embrace it and have faith in our ability / talents that God gave us. I also agree with Ned when he talks about providing the vocabulary of grace to those who lack it. I believe that to be one of our main goals as a Christian is to "extend our hand" so to speak, as God would extend his hand to help us as he has done and continues to do. 

"...Trinity of truth, beauty, and goodness... values that operate in God's fiat. Despite the fact that these 3 values appear relativized, marginalized, fragmented, eroded or otherwise compromised in this world, they exist in their fullness as God intended them to be in the eternal, redeemed realm - currently beyond the reach of our senses." [1] (Mulder, 5)

"... if it [the art] is a manifestation of the deeper levels of participatory knowledge, it must, for any religious believer, be bound up with the being and action of God." [2] (Williams, 169)

The "eternal, redeemed realm that is currently beyond our senses" could possibly be the same deeper levels of knowledge Rowan Williams was talking about in his Grace & Necessity book? I don't know. Do YOU know? I think you do... do you?

References:
[1] "It was Good: Making art to the Glory of God"
[2] "Grace & Necessity" Williams, Rowan.