Modern Day Magi

Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil. - Ecclesiastes 12:13-14............. Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. - Acts 17:11

Sunday, March 12, 2006

The Brick Testament?

The other night I discovered a fairly amazing website The Brick Testament.

The goal of The Brick Testament is to give people an increased knowledge of the contents of The Bible in a way that is fun and compelling while staying very true to the original versions. To this end, all stories are retold using direct quotes from The Bible, usually from the New Jerusalem Bible Translation.

The Brick Testament is the creation of The Rev. Brendan Powell Smith. He is self titled as 'The Reverend' and not an ordained member of any earthly church, and is widely regarded as being both highly presumptuous and extremely vain. He is a self professed Atheist who is attempting to show the foolishness of Christianity through depicting certain passages from both the Old and New Testaments, which he finds foolish.

This is my dilemma.
1. The artist uses scripture, without altering it, as inspiration for his art.
2. The art is quite well done (the account of Creation and the Fall is paticularly good) and would be very useful for using as ministry tools.
3. The artist however, is motivated by discrediting the Bible as being foolish.

Would it be wrong to use his art as a ministry tool as the artist created it as an expression of distrust in the Christian Faith?

Or

Could it simply be put down to the following scriptures?
"For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength."
- 1 Corinthians 1:25
and "The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned."
- 1 Corinthians 2:14

When Brendan Powell Smith, being unsaved, reads the scriptures, all he sees is foolishness and absurdidty. When a Christian reads the scripture, they see the Glory of God. Although Brendan Powell Smith tries to show the foolishnes and absurdity of faith in Jesus through his art, when I looked through it, I saw the wonder and majesty of my Creator and Saviour, my Lord Jesus Christ.
















Purple Text is from the FAQ section of the Brick Testament website.

posted by Modern Day Magi @ 2:03 pm  

15 Comments:

  • At 3/12/2006 11:17:00 pm, Blogger Michael Pendleton said…

    Very interesting. I must say I have enjoyed the stories I have looked through so far.

    I would say that the only time a dilemma presents itself is if YOU create it.

    It is like in Romans when Paul says to eat what is presented to you but if they say it is sacrificed to an idol then pass it up so there wouldn't be any confusion.

    If you were to use his art as a ministry tool what are people going to see? Him or his art? If you tell them that "the artist created it as an expression of distrust in the Christian Faith" then you have placed a stumbling block before them, unless, that is the point of a lesson....which could be how God uses what the satan meant for bad, for good.

    I firmly believe that all truth comes from God. You can take a lie apart and maybe find the truth but you can never take the truth apart and get to a lie.

    From what I have seen, these presentations are the truth.

     

  • At 3/12/2006 11:19:00 pm, Blogger Michael Pendleton said…

    I hate that I can't edit post. I am not a perfect typist.

    "the satan"....blah...maybe it should say "the Donald".

     

  • At 3/13/2006 12:56:00 pm, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Hi MDM,

    Interesting website. The only problem I noticed was that in all the ones I looked at God had angry eyebrows! My kids would definitely think he was mean . . . I guess some of the artist's perspective coming through?

     

  • At 3/13/2006 01:28:00 pm, Blogger Correy said…

    I certainly wouldn't use it for a ministry tool of any type. He very cleverly takes the scripture out of context to make it look foolish.

     

  • At 3/13/2006 03:46:00 pm, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    PB: how has it been taken out of context..?

     

  • At 3/13/2006 07:16:00 pm, Blogger Modern Day Magi said…

    I hadnt noticed the angry eyes, if you think God looks angry check out the Sampson one!!!

     

  • At 3/13/2006 08:02:00 pm, Blogger Correy said…

    katie:
    Example read from Matthew 21:18-22 in your bible then think to yourself if you were to do this story in picture form what verses would you use to convey the true meaning of the text. Then read "Jesus Curses a Tree" on the brick testament and notice what he accentuates. Most of the stories are like this after all he even says it is his purpose. It is very suttle. The devil quotes scripture all the time remember.

     

  • At 3/13/2006 09:19:00 pm, Blogger Modern Day Magi said…

    Thanks for all your input.

    Michael, I particularly liked the way you put "I firmly believe that all truth comes from God. You can take a lie apart and maybe find the truth but you can never take the truth apart and get to a lie."

    If I were to use any of this art as an accompanyment for any form of ministry I would be selective about which images I used. After all he does not alter the text in any way.
    Just as Brendan Powell Smith is selective as to which passages of scripture he choses to depict, to best serve his purpose. I would be selective as to which images I use, to best suit mine.

    EG. when talking about Creation I would not use his images of Sampson, but when talking about the Flood, his Flood images were great.

     

  • At 3/13/2006 09:42:00 pm, Blogger Modern Day Magi said…

    The main lesson from Matt 21:18-22 as about faith. But there is another lesson found in the same story, in Mark.

    PB I think your problem comes from Matthew not including the following verse which does appear in Mark.

    Mark 11:13
    because it was not the season for figs.

    I believe this clause is the most important for that passage. This cursing of the barren fig-tree represents the state of hypocrites in general, and so teaches us that Christ looks for the power of religion in those who profess it.

    PB As a Puritan Believer, you conform to 'Reformed Doctorine.' As such you are a Calvinist.
    Is this verse, that Jesus would curse a tree for not bearing friut out of season, the same as sending on whom He has not 'elected' to Hell?
    Where to world sees injustice, at God calling some for Salvation and others for destruction, is it not in fact amazing, that He gives His grace to even one?

     

  • At 3/14/2006 08:46:00 am, Blogger Michael Pendleton said…

    "He very cleverly takes the scripture out of context to make it look foolish."

    I completely agree with Puritan now that I have had a chance to go through most of the presentations.

    "Instructions for Women" is presented completely slanted.

    "Instructions on Marriage"...I have to admit. I chuckled. But it is presented completely wrong.

    There are many slanted and outright wrong things in these presentations.

     

  • At 3/14/2006 09:04:00 am, Blogger Correy said…

    Magi:
    It is interesting that you are quick to agree with what an atheist accentuates over myself as the point even when I didn't give an interpretation of any verse.

     

  • At 3/14/2006 09:45:00 am, Blogger Modern Day Magi said…

    What was your piont then PB?
    What is accentuated in his pictures is the unfairness of cursing a tree for not bearing fruit, even though it was not the season. This is also the only difference in the accounts from Matthew (what you suggested to read)and Mark(what was depicted).
    If there is another problem in this particular presentation "Jesus Curses a Tree" please point it out to me.
    As I stated earlier though I believe it is an example of election. According to Calvinist doctorine, His judgment will be upon those who are not saved by His Grace, even though Jesus Himself chose not to save them. This seems incredibly unfair to the world, who do not have a chance, but it is incredible that He saves even one, as none deserve it.

    The artist is deliberate in where he places the emphasis to serve his purposes, that is why IF I were to use any of his art I too would be selective.

     

  • At 3/14/2006 12:18:00 pm, Blogger Modern Day Magi said…

    Upon looking at more of the artworks I came across The Law: False Prophets The artist uses Jesus to depict a false prophet and this is extremely offensive and blasphemous.

     

  • At 3/14/2006 02:12:00 pm, Blogger Correy said…

    Yes that one is extremely bad. The marriage ones and women ones are obvious as well.

    It is good that you are discerning his intended hypocrisy. Every one I have read has this in some form it is just some are more subtle then others and harder to discern. Which is why I never gave my interpretation but left it up to you as these things are spiritually discerned.

     

  • At 3/14/2006 11:38:00 pm, Blogger Matthew Celestine said…

    I have seen those models before. They are very amusing, but I do not think they are honoring to God.

    God Bless

    Matthew

     

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