In ancient Aphrodesius was a famed school of sculpture. Sculpture had its own language. The way a statue was dressed, what the hands were doing, the very pose – it all conveyed a message. Contemporary society could easily “read” and understand the message being conveyed. It was a language for common man. The culture it was in, however, was pagan. So the messages the statues conveyed were the messages of a pagan worldview.
Christianity swept through that area during its early first centuries, and when the city of Aphrodesius was touched by the good news and began to follow Christ, a growing church was established there. The leaders of that early church took over the school, shutting it down and destroying much of the art. After all, it told a pagan message so why be involved in sculpture?
What would have happened if instead, as those young sculptors began to be influenced by their Christian neighbors, they created art that conveyed a message of Truth? In a language readily understood by its society? We can only wonder. Now barely a remnant of Christianity survives in this city today. Is it possible it would have looked different there now if they had embraced speaking truth through sculpture then?
God still speaks to us in pictures and stories. It’s a powerful medium that conveys a message. What are the cultural conveyers of messages today? And, how does God continue to tell His story? How might the world be touched with some very good news?
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