The power of art can magnify the Spirit in our lives.
"Art helps us come to terms with the beautiful things the Lord has given us," said Jon D. Green during BYU's Campus Education Week.
Brother Green, a humanities professor at BYU, joined Jerry L. Jaccard and Rita R. Wright Aug. 21 in discussing the value of introducing art into LDS homes.
The arts, said Brother Green, are about pleasing the eyes and gladdening the heart. Creating and enjoying works of art — be it visual or performing art — edifies us and allows us to become creators.
Joseph Smith taught in the 13th Article of Faith to seek after things that are beautiful and praiseworthy, Brother Green said. It is not enough to live, exist and make a lot of money "but to grace our lives with beauty, to find the joy that comes through the senses."
Great art can be defined by anything that is good, true, beautiful, enlightening and leading to Christ, Jerry L. Jaccard said. Meanwhile, Satan offers "counterfeit art" that confuses, controls and dismisses Christ.
Worthwhile art can prompt intellectual expansion, cultural expression, self-discovery and actualization, emotional development and moral and spiritual refinement of the soul, Brother Jaccard said.
One of God's greatest roles is of Creator, Sister Wright added. God's children need to find the creator in themselves. The scriptures teach us how to recognize the good and beautiful in the arts. As Moroni wrote: "Every thing which inviteth and enticeth to do good, and to love God, and to serve him, is inspired of God." (Moroni 7:13.)
If Church members want to teach their children to love elevating music and art, "[We must] first learn to love it ourselves," Brother Green said, adding it is the duty of parents to expose their children to such edifying material.
Remember, Brother Green said, art matters because it makes people better — it gets inside them and becomes a part of them.