truthlives4ever
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“In the beginning was The Word...” - John 1:1
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Righteous Rebellion or Political Power?
It would be ungrateful of me if I didn’t first mention that my spiritual life has greatly benefited from John MacArthur’s bible teaching over the years. Many of his sermons helped carry me through one of the most challenging times of my life as a young man moving across the country and transitioning into independent manhood. And I suppose the truth of those statements is the very reason I’ve wrestled with the way this story has unfolded. For decades, MacArthur has been a controversial figure in Christianity who is known for facing adversity head-on. Nevertheless, he’s also a man who is widely regarded for his firm faithfulness to Scripture and his intentional avoidance of political entanglements.
However, in his recent responses to COVID-19-related restrictions on in-person church gatherings of larger congregations, he has now taken a stand against the California government which seems to have created a conflict between his politics and his sermons on biblical submission to government. As someone who has always known MacArthur to be fairly consistent with aligning his words with his deeds, his recent political zeal and resistance came as somewhat of a surprise to me, which led me to discuss it with my pastor. The challenge for me hasn’t been in my ability to view him as a flawed human being who is prone to blind-spots and error like the rest of us. Instead, the challenge has been in my attempts to reconcile what appears to be contradictory positions, while also seeing him encourage many other pastors to follow his lead in defiance of adhering to COVID-19 restrictions that are put in place for people's safety.
In order to make sure I was doing my due diligence, I read the California COVID-19 Guidelines for Places of Worship issued by Governor Gavin Newsome. Upon reading the guidelines, I discovered that they still allow for in-person church gatherings. The guidelines limit indoor attendees to a maximum of 100 people and encourage outdoor attendance that observes physical distancing, face coverings, and other safety measures that make sense for a mega church with thousands of members. Despite MacArthur describing the restrictions as "utterly impossible" to follow, another mega church in Riverside, CA (Harvest Christian Fellowship) is complying successfully. Given the fact that conditional provisions exist in the guidelines that actually do allow MacArthur to lawfully have in-person service, it begs the question, “is this really about the suppression of religious freedom or something else?”
Considering the fact that MacArthur is refusing to comply with government guidelines not because there are no accommodations for in-person church gathering but because he doesn’t personally consider the restrictions to be fair enough, according to his sermon transcripts, the biblical basis for breaking the law doesn’t appear to exist. What adds more room for speculation about this potentially centering around a political power struggle is the fact that Donald Trump has personally told MacArthur that he’ll have presidential backing and access to his personal attorney—which harkens back to a 2016 speech Trump gave in Iowa where he stated:
“Christians make up the overwhelming majority of the country and yet we don’t exert the power that we should have. Christianity will have power. If I’m there, you’re going to have plenty of power, you don’t need anybody else. You’re going to have somebody representing you very, very well. Remember that.”
Thus far, keeping that promise has won Trump deep loyalty from White Evangelicals. Does that mean we should view MacArthur’s new political posture and powerful allegiance with President Trump as a move that discredits his 50+ year legacy of prioritizing gospel preaching? I don’t think so. Nevertheless, I do think it’s important that the church continue to have broader conversation around how healthy this kind of political alliance for “Christian Power” is for the body of Christ—particularly for those who may now feel somewhat confused/uncertain about what biblical submission to government looks like and what the valid exceptions truly are. Am I writing this this because I seek to cast aspersions or assign ill motives to MacArthur and his elders? Not at all. I’m writing this for the sake of pursuing clarity as someone who desires to help protect the church’s witness to the world.
Ultimately, my concern with this issue for the church is that if we don’t closely examine this controversy with honesty and transparency (which is often difficult for us to do when someone as prolific and impactful as John MacArthur is involved), we could potentially repeat some of the same mistakes we’ve made as a church historically when we allow our deference for those we consider heroes to prevent us from examining whether their words and actions are aligned in the same ways they encourage ours to be. Unfortunately, this then perpetuates the narrative that Christian orthodoxy fails to match its orthopraxy. In repeating these problematic patterns, we also run the risk of subconsciously training ourselves to be partial and selective about other inconvenient/uncomfortable truths we aren’t ready to deal with (i.e. Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield, and other Reformers in Christian history who rationalized, justified, or overlooked the prevalent racism in their congregations and societies).
All that said, I hope I’ve made my intentions clear. These observations are in no way meant to disparage or harshly condemn John MacArthur or his elders. On the contrary, they’re meant to share the things I’ve been closely considering regarding the perceptual challenges of the case while also expressing a loving concern about an issue that I believe has massive implications. We’re in a time where politics are infiltrating the church in ways that are causing confusion, division, and anger. Lord knows I’ve been prayerfully trying to guard my heart from bitterness towards those I see as encouraging and condoning injustice. My hope is that through open and respectful discourse around this issue, we can sort through the more troublesome aspects of these trends rather than remaining distant, tribal, passive-aggressive, condescending, and judgmental. May we all increase in patience, grace, and love toward one another in these tense times.
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Assaulting Truth: The Dangers of Post-modernism & Post-truth Ideologies
What is post-modernism?
In a general sense, it’s a philosophy that has its roots in the Age of Enlightenment and began trending as a popular ideology in American society in the late 20th century.
On a basic level, post-modernism asserts two main ideas:
1) There is no such thing as objective truth.
2) All truth claims are merely subjective perceptions based on each individual’s version of reality.
What caused post-modernism to emerge?
The idea was essentially born from a three-part premise:
1) All major conflict essentially comes from the existence of unequal power dynamics.
2) Unequal power dynamics inevitably cause people who are in the more powerful positions to force people in less powerful positions to conform to their belief systems which typically involve devotion and submission to a higher power.
3) The more powerful group then begins manipulating the interpretation and application of the belief system in self-serving ways designed to ensure total and permanent control over the less powerful.
What was the philosophical rationale behind promoting Post-modernism?
Basically, if societies could rid themselves of the notion of objective truth altogether, then perhaps they could put an end to more powerful people ideologically brain-washing less powerful people.
What is post-modernism’s fundamental flaw?
It’s logically inconsistent. Simple example: If someone says to a person “there’s no such thing as objective truth” the person could respond by asking “is that claim objectively true?” If they answer “yes” then they contradict themselves. If they answer “no” then they invalidate their own claim.
Conclusion on post-modernism:
There has to be objective truth. Why? Because there are fixed laws in the universe that govern how the cosmos operate. And by way of reason, fixed universal laws are an obvious indicator of a Law-Maker. It’s irrational to believe that nobody x nothing = everything. The laws of physics are far too complex and orderly to have randomly created themselves.
Not to mention, the existence of morality and human dignity has to have a divine author—otherwise, on what basis do we believe we deserve justice as human beings? We don’t see justice in the cosmos and we certainly don’t see it in the wild (peep the Nat Geo channel for proof). So where then would the concept of human beings deserving justice have evolved from if we’re just products of energy, matter, time, and chance mutations? Without accepting the existence of objective truth and a divinely established moral law that we’re designed to be innately aware of, we can’t rationally justify our value and right to justice as human beings.
What does it mean to be post-truth?
In a general sense, unlike post-modernism, this worldview is much more convoluted because it doesn’t necessarily deny that objective truth exists. Instead, it just elevates personal preferences and feelings above objective truth.
In other words, someone can state a fact to someone with a post-truth mindset, but if it doesn’t align with their preferences, they exercise their right to disregard the fact as irrelevant to them (i.e. Donald Trump).
What caused the post-truth mindset to emerge?
Society’s growing desire to be totally autonomous (which comes from two Greek words: “auto” meaning “self” and “nomos” meaning “law”). So essentially, this idea represents the growing number of individuals who believe that we should all have the freedom to be self-governed by our own moral laws and reserve the right to personally judge the definition of right and wrong based on our own self-derived criteria—aka we should all be our own God.
What is the philosophical rationale behind promoting a post-truth mentality?
Basically, the belief that individual freedom of expression, belief, and lifestyle is the definition of a happy and healthy society, therefore, the only way to ensure society reaches that ideal is for everyone to have the right to accept or reject any objective truth based on whether or not that truth affirms the way they see themselves and their world.
What is Post-truth’s fundamental flaw?
When preferences become more important than truth, we are no longer able to appeal to a person using reason. And this ultimately results in the dismantling of human communication and problem solving on an interpersonal level (i.e. the comment section of almost anything).
But what’s even more dangerous about this mentality is the fact that when truth is no longer the determining factor of right and wrong, it becomes power. And when whoever is in power gets to determine the definition of right and wrong, that’s how we set the stage for fascism and the devaluing of human life (which ironically takes us right back to a oppressive society—starting with things like #CancelCulture—although the ones who subscribe to this mentality typically consider themselves “progressive”).
Conclusions on the Post-truth mindset:
When we as a society no longer have a sense of reason to appeal to, constructive conversations become impossible. When people are no longer able to effectively communicate and come to understanding using reason (or at least respectfully disagree), we lose the very thing that makes us human, while at the same time, Silicon Valley continues to humanize technology like Siri and Alexa. And perhaps that’s the most imminent danger of the Post-truth mindset—it could very well lead to the beginning of the end of civilization as we know it and usher in humanity’s robotic replacements (#SkyNet for the Terminator 2: Judgement Day fans).
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Intellectual Pride
Among the many expressions of pride that exist, intellectual pride is perhaps most closely tied to perpetual anxiety and discontent in our lives.
Ironically, our faculty for using logic to comprehend life’s complexities has a way of being one of our most practical mental tools, yet one of our greatest spiritual hinderances (for that same reason). In today’s humanistic, self-satisfied culture, more often than not, we tend to believe that our logic is more reliable than the wisdom of The Bible.
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“If anyone teaches otherwise and does not consent to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which accords with godliness, he is proud, knowing nothing, but is obsessed with disputes and arguments over words, from which come envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions, useless wranglings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. From such withdraw yourself.” - I Timothy 6:3-5 NKJV
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Consequently, our innermost state of being and our patterns of behavior become the evidence of the limitations of our intellect to break the bondage of sin that is responsible for the persistent lack of lasting joy in our lives.
If we’re being honest, many of us can admit from our own experience that just because we’re smart enough to psychoanalyze our issues and successfully modify our behavior in certain ways doesn’t mean we’ve gained power over our impulses toward spiritually toxic (read: sinful) conduct—it only shows we’ve adopted convenient methods of rationalization used to minimize our enslavement to sin by amplifying moralism in hopes of drowning out our guilty conscience.
However, the greatest indicator that we have been blinded by the deceitfulness of our sin is when we believe that we can be “moral enough” to please God. According to scripture, there is no such thing as a “good person” because God knows the innermost thoughts and sinful motives we have that we can easily hide from others behind our outward expressions of kindness and empathy.
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Here’s what scripture has to say to those of us who believe we are generally “good people”:
“And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.” Mark 10:18 ESV
Commentary: Jesus’s implication to the rich young ruler in this passage is “don’t call me good because you perceive me to be a ‘nice, humble guy.’ What makes me good is the fact that I am God. No one else is worthy of the label “good”
“The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray from birth, speaking lies.” Psalms 58:3 ESV
Commentary: Our inherent sin nature corrupts us from birth which is why children naturally know how to lie without being taught but their virtues must be learned from teaching.
“For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.” Romans 7:18-20 ESV
Commentary: Most of us can relate to the internal war described here. Don’t get it twisted. Spirituality isn’t about sounding enlightened. It’s a war for the eternal dwelling place of our souls. And until we realize it’s a war and learn how to fight it effectively, our lives will reflect the defeated spirit we possess
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So for those of us who truly seek to love and honor the God of the Bible, let us examine ourselves to see whether that is truly our hearts desire using the following passages:
“Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.” 1 John 2:4-6 ESV
“No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.” 1 John 3:9-10 ESV
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So You Know
I’m sure people probably wonder why I’m always posting what could be described as “preachy” monologues that address various sobering realities of life through the lens of biblical doctrine as if I’m some exceptionally enlightened spiritualist who has it all figured out.
Honestly, I really hope it doesn’t come off like that but I have received criticisms for “broadcasting” my faith too much via social media.
But what most people may not realize is that I have personal relationships with a lot of people who are hurting. Deeply. And have sought healing in all sorts of ways that at best have only led to managing their pain rather than treating it.
I have friends who’ve been mad at God for years because He didn’t answer their prayer when they asked Him not to let their sick loved one die.
I have MANY female friends who have been raped by men and have been silently suffering with the residual effects of that trauma since childhood and still struggle as adults with trusting men’s intentions.
I have friends with biblical orientations who struggle with trying to reconcile feeling like they were born homosexual while also understanding Gods holy nature doesn’t condone sin of any kind which makes them feel trapped between what they feel is their natural sexual identity and their moral guilt.
I have friends who are terrified of being too emotionally vulnerable and run from the kind of challenging growth that Holy matrimony would require of them.
I know many people who live in a perpetual state of anxiety and are regularly depressed but are very “successful” in the Capitalist sense of the word.
I have close friends who are constantly high or drunk because being sober for too long causes them to begin processing thoughts that are too much for them to bear with full mental clarity.
I have loved ones with abandonment issues that stem from parents who were only consistent in showing them what disappointment feels like.
I have friends who were so scarred by the dysfunction in the household they grew up in that one of their biggest fears is having a family of their own.
I have friends and family whose infidelity has devastated their marriages and hurt their children.
I have loved ones who deal with major insecurities due to their weight and/or overall body image.
And the list goes on. The point is, these are people I love dearly. These are people I bring before the Lord in prayer every morning before I start my day. These are people I have heart-to-heart conversations with when nobody else is around and we can blur the lines between laughter and tears.
So when it comes to me posting these messages and these verses, it’s not because I’m fishing for people to send me the handclap emoji and marvel at my spiritual depth or my writing ability (although I appreciate compliments). It’s really because I wanna see people allow God to work in their hearts, help them see their sin, repent, and overcome the sorrows of this world with His strength. It’s because I want people’s “best life” to be their NEXT life.
At the end of the day, all I have to offer worth anything is biblical truth and the love of Christ. Those are the only two things that have effectively pulled me out of my lowest points and helped me see God’s purposes in my pain. Anytime anyone has ever given me credit for any good quality they attribute to my personality, they were indirectly validating the source of the Scriptures that continue to shape me daily into the image of Christ.
That’s why I post what I post.
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Self-love vs. God’s Love
“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It DOES NOT INSIST IN ITS OWN WAY; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”
1 Corinthians 13:4-7 ESV
In profound brevity, these three verses encompass the essence of true love in action. It's the proverbial description of how the Triune God's love is expressed toward us. The ultimate example of how we should seek to express love toward each other. We mostly hear this passage recited at weddings but these words actually extend far beyond the romantic context. This standard of love was established before the creation of the universe amongst The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and was meant to be applied to all human interactions. Any version of so-called love that falls short of this standard is a human-derived counterfeit that lacks the spiritual substance that makes true love the very nature of The Trinity.
"Self-love" is a phrase that has become pervasive in American popular culture today. Granted, in a purely practical sense, it's certainly a healthy habit to deliberately set aside time to check-in with ourselves and focus on holistic personal care. However, when taking note of the common verbiage and trending phrases that appear most frequently in social media posts by a wide variety of users, you’ll see the more practical notion of "self-love" often parlayed into a humanistic philosophy that basically asserts that we as individuals already have all the power to love and heal residing within us and all we need to do is learn how to tap into it.
At face value, it's an immensely flattering concept that caters to our egos by convincing us that we have the internal potential to gain complete control of our mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being. In other words, we become our own gods—the sole sources of love as we define it. And upon realizing this infinitely abundant capacity we supposedly possess, consequently, we no longer need to search outside of ourselves for what we have the power within ourselves to manifest and emanate. The appeal is obvious, especially given the vast number of people in the world who struggle with their sense of self-worth and would readily cling to any point-of-view that boosts their self-esteem and affirms their power.
But if we’re being honest with ourselves, as a humanistic philosophy, the notion of "self-love" is more appropriately described as a deceptively vain delusion that undermines the God from which the capacity to experience the fullness of true love originates. Unfortunately, these kinds of ideologies fuel an increasing amount self-centeredness amongst humanity (which is most clearly seen in social media). One of the more popular statements we hear people make these days is, “you can’t love others until you first learn to love yourself.” And although there is some truth in that statement, what it fails to highlight is the reality that if we don't know the Triune God whose love is described in the verses above, then we don’t even know how to love ourselves properly.
To use a simple illustration, although having a poor diet is obviously better than not having any food at all and dying of starvation, a poor diet that isn’t corrected for a long period of time will result in nutrient deficiencies that result in diseases than can be fatal. On the other hand, a healthy diet not only provides us with the essential nutrition we need to simply survive, it also provides the added benefit of enabling our bodies to function at peak performance.
In that same manner, although latching on to the humanistic definition of "self-love" as a form of pseudo-spiritual self-empowerment may produce a slight and temporary feeling of positivity, over time, there will still be a restlessness that dwells in the spirit and a lingering emptiness that is felt in the soul. However, latching on to the God who has always embodied the purest characteristics of relational love amongst the family of the Trinity will result in a spiritual contentment that transcends circumstance, a joy that people who are hurting will be drawn to, and the inherent sense of personal value that comes with remembering that we are the only creations made in His image.
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Putting “The Universe” in its Proper Place
Beginning in the 1960’s and continuing into the mid 1970’s, the Counterculture Movement swept over Western society and marked a significant shift in politics, philosophy, and spirituality. During that era, the Civil Rights Movement, the Women’s Liberation Movement, the Sexual Revolution, the New Age Movement, and widespread psychoactive drug use were all overlapping in ways that were being experienced, explored, and adopted by Americans who were pushing for social reform and searching for a “higher-level consciousness” that existed apart from organized religion.
As it relates to spirituality, one of the major net results of that confluence of ideas and practices —particularly the New Age Movement and psychoactive drug use—was the popularization of replacing the existence of a Creator God with metaphysical theory and attributing God’s Providence to “the universe.” However, rather than the inconceivably vast and impersonal expanse made up of time, force, energy, space, and matter that the universe used to be considered, people were beginning to vaguely characterize it as an ethereal support-system based on “the law of attraction” that helped manifest people’s affirmations while providing celestial clues regarding the fate and tendencies of humanity that could be found in astrology. In other words, people collectively decided to discard God and transfer His glory over to His cosmic creations instead.
Seemingly, over the past 7 years (curiously since the end of the 13 baktun cycle of the Mayan Long Count calendar in 2012), a strong resurgence of New Age ideology has trended upwards and is now virtually ubiquitous in cultural vernacular. In most conversations today, especially among creative types (and ironically, even professed Christians), it’s only a matter of time before you hear someone reference a person’s “energy,” or an atmosphere’s “vibrations (aka vibes),” or a form of communication’s “frequency,” as if those things constituted spirituality in and of themselves apart from God.
Unfortunately, as social media continues to raise the premium on social/cultural relevance, and people grow more and more afraid of maintaining an unpopular worldview that could result in secular obscurity, it has become much easier to ignore the truth about the majesty of the universe God made in order to put His divine creativity on display and instead, adapt to the zeitgeist of pseudo-spirituality that robs God of His glory and offers an illusion of esoteric depth while conveniently ignoring the greatest barrier to true enlightenment—our need to see our sin for the evil that it is and to be delivered from its power over us by believing in the only true God who loved us enough to pay the price for it (Jesus Christ).
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“Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.”
Colossians 2:8 NKJV
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We ALL Need God (EQUALLY)
Contrary to what the misguided religious zealots lifting ignorant picket signs covered in hate-speech would have people in the #lgbtq community believe, becoming "straight" (in and of itself) will never be the solution for the root problem of the sin that taints the nature of all human beings.
My sin as a heterosexual is EQUALLY as displeasing to God as the sin of actively engaging in homosexuality. Unfortunately, what many professed followers of Christ have consistently failed to realize is that not only is selective condemnation based on a particular category of sin tremendously hypocritical, but it's a gross misrepresentation of the true gospel message.
When it comes to our identity as created beings, God desires us to define ourselves as people made in his image who see the value and the eternal benefit of conscious obedience to His Will for our lives (Genesis 1:27-28)—not for us to define ourselves according to our sexual preferences.
In 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, Paul writes to the Corinthian church to warn them of the sinful life patterns (which included both heterosexual and homosexual conduct) that would prevent them from inheriting God’s kingdom. But rather than stopping at the negative consequences, in verse 11 he quickly pivots to an uplifting testimony of hope:
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“And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” - 1 Corinthians 6:11
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What makes biblical Christianity distinct from any other belief system is that the atoning work of Jesus Christ on the cross made it possible for anyone who would acknowledge their sin, repent from it, and accept Him to experience forgiveness, redemption, peace of mind, lasting joy, and divine strength through the Holy Spirit to withstand life’s most challenging hardships.
Temptation will always exist. Accepting Christ doesn't mean that those with same-sex attraction won't internally struggle against their urges. In fact, the most difficult spiritual battlefield is always in the mind.
We tend to think we’re pretty decent people when we occasionally exercise enough restraint to not carry out the dark intentions and twisted fantasies we entertain in our private thoughts; or when we keep “the golden rule”; or when we give back to those less fortunate. However, from God’s perspective, the evil in our unseen thought-patterns is the deepest and truest reflection of our depravity:
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“...the imagination of men’s hearts is evil from his youth...” - Genesis 8:21
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Ultimately, our reliance on God's strength is what gives us the ability to resist improper urges. It's not about perfection. It's about acknowledging wrong, confessing it, and better equipping ourselves for resistance through the Word and prayer. Unlike many of the popular spiritual trends of today, true spirituality isn’t something we adopt simply to be considered deep, conscious, mindful, or “woke” by others. Spirituality is a war over our lives and souls (2 Corinthians 10:3-5; Ephesians 6:11-13).
Seeking to rationalize and justify sin doesn’t do us any favors in the grand scheme of things. Developing those habits actually results in a dangerous desensitization of the conscience. However, unfortunately, too many professed Christians have gone to the other extreme of shaming and singling out #lgbtq as "worse sinners" than heterosexual people.
Sadly, this has marred the gospel and consequently blocked the receptivity of the those in the #lgbtq community who should've instead been ministered to with love, empathy, and compassion while being admonished to turn from a pattern of life that threatens their eternal security.
In reality, we ALL need God EQUALLY to help us overcome our struggles. We all need Christ’s forgiveness. We ALL need Christ’s grace. And we ALL need each other.
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#biblicallovewins #reformedchristianity
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A Creative vs. An Artist
Every human being is born with a capacity to express themselves creatively—albeit to varying degrees of giftedness. It’s what separates us from all other living things. We’re the only species on the planet that can boundlessly imagine things, meaningfully conceptualize them, and then choose to manifest the endless variety of our immaterial thoughts into tangible realities that can be accessible, useful, and pleasing to the senses.
Undoubtedly, in the absence of empirical proof, it takes a religious degree of faith to believe that this singular ability we have as humans somehow stemmed from billions of “chance mutations” that created an innumerable variety of intermediate life forms (despite a curiously sparse fossil record relative to Darwinist assertions) that ultimately evolved their way towards Homo sapiens via natural selection as the driving force behind speciation—a “fact” still unproven to this day. But I digress.
Whether our innate creative faculties are cultivated or neglected is in most cases a personal choice rather than an inability. Unfortunately, one of the most common occurrences that tends to perpetuate that choice is when parents overbearingly insist that their children pursue “real jobs” as they strongly dissuade their children from “naively” entertaining the idea of doing something they’re more naturally drawn to because it’s thought to be unrealistic and impractical. As that perspective is continually reinforced in a child’s life, it becomes one of the earliest and most significant discouragements that derails them from exploring and pursuing their creative interests.
Consequently, many people end up growing up believing they were never really creative as a result of being pressured to “play it safe” and study a subject that is conventionally assumed to lend itself to a higher likelihood of attaining “job security” (whatever that means these days). Thus, they learn to view creativity as more of a “trivial pastime for dreamers” than something a “responsible realist” would invest their time and energy into developing—and much like a muscle that is seldom exercised, it weakens to the point of uselessness. However, when it comes to having the spirit of an artist, the possessors aren’t nearly as ubiquitous.
Although being an artist certainly requires creativity, what separates “a creative” from “an artist” is a deep and compelling necessity to respond to the persistent prompting of an internal, transcendent purpose. A purpose that exists completely outside of the realm of what we’ve come to understand as the fundamental applications of form, function, aesthetic, style, technique, and business strategy. It’s something that speaks to the very soul of a person. It’s the need to not only display their creative talent for the shallow sake of proving they possess a unique ability that deserves adulation, but much more importantly, to reveal their defining truths through their artistic vision in a way that they believe will significantly impact the world.
Anyone who pays close enough attention to the true artist will soon recognize that within the painter’s brush, the photographer’s images, the writer’s words, the dancer’s movements, the musician’s notes, and the actor’s role play, is an the expression of a worldview. A deep and abiding personal philosophy. And to the fullest extent, perhaps, even a timeless doctrine.
Ultimately, just about anyone can be "a creative” upon making a conscious effort to consistently foster the inherent capacity we have by nature of being human. But on the contrary, to be “an artist (in the truest sense)”, requires a higher calling—and those who answer that calling are usually the ones whose legacies we read about for generations.
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