Beauty in the eye of the beholder? I think not.

I would like to spend a few posts in pondering upon values. Contemporary culture finds its motivation in value everyday, most evidently in monetary fashion. While money makes the most obvious display of value, I want to direct your eyes to art. I had the privilege of getting to know a local artist, Keith Martin Johns (http://www.keithmartinjohns.net/), while I finished my Bachelor's Degree. During our conversations, we would discuss the importance of values in painting. The values affect the lighting of the colors. Values of colors are not the only values displayed in art, for art more often than not also displays moral values and truth values.
The arts form a powerful medium for communicating values. This is a close personal topic for me. If I received news that the Louvre was destroyed, I would be heartbroken, mourning the loss of so many masterpieces. On the other hand, if the Museum of Modern Art burned to the ground tomorrow, I would not shed a tear. Something is lacking, or rather, the values held by the artists whose works reside in the Museum of Modern Art differ drastically from mine.
Contemporary thought holds that beauty is purely subjective and relative. I do not see how this could be. Or perhaps I am slightly biased. As a Christian, I hold to the existence of objective beauty, and I deny the truthfulness of the statement, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder." I believe in objective beauty because my God is beautiful, and he forms the basis from which all else comes forth. Beauty is grounded in God, and ugliness is the privation of beauty.
In my affirmation of real beauty, I also hold that ugliness is not a substance but a lack of beauty. While ugliness does not exist substantially, I do believe that some things are genuinely ugly. Thus, some things we should enjoy and other things we should abhor.
In this remarking of values, my mind is drawn to something that is often forgotten until tax time: an appraiser. Everyone has an appraiser, or some means whereby values are weighed and prioritized. For the Christian, that appraiser should be God and his priorities. This means that what God deems most important, Christians should deem most important. I am pestered to no end with two mantras from my contemporaries: Whatever makes you happy, and it's your choice. These are the appraisers for today, but these are not the appraisers that should be embraced by Christians. The appraiser set forth in the Bible is the call to be holy. This is the overriding statement that should govern the Christian: will this make me holy? Will this help make someone else holy? Is this a holy thing to do or participate in?
If we strive for holiness, all else should fall into place. So, enjoy true beauty where you see it, especially that which is around you.
   

            The heavens declare the glory of God,
      and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
                                        --Psalm 19:1 (ESV)