If you trace the history of art and music in America, both used to be far superior. Paintings, sculptures, architecture, and music were better. Think also about Christian music. Has it gotten better or worse as time has gone on? Most of the best hymns that we have are old. Much of the modern Christian music is repetitive and reflects secular music’s lack of richness and variation, and will not stand the test of time.

Edward Gibbon was a British Essayist and Historian who lived from 1737 to 1794. He wrote the book “The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.” The Roman Empire was arguably the greatest empire of the ancient world. Its dominance lasted longer than the Babylonian, Persian, and Greco-Macedonian empires that came before it. After defeating Carthage in the Punic Wars, what followed was a period of great peace and prosperity known as the Pax Romana. This period was marked by the absence of war, economic prosperity, infrastructure expansion, and a rejuvenation of art, literature, and architecture. It was far from perfect, as it was led by pagan emperors, but the Empire benefited from putting forth common-sense actions. These actions often conformed to God’s ordering of the world. Any time a people does things God’s way, even pagans, they will see some benefit, as the Roman Empire did. 

Over a century after the Pax Romana ended, the Roman Empire became greatly influenced by Christianity. In the 4th Century, under the rule of Constantine, the empire came under the rule of Christianity and reaped the benefits of doing things according to God’s design. But as time went on, the people and their leaders distanced themselves from the “good, the true, and the beautiful.” Eventually, this led to the fall of the Roman Empire, generally considered to have met its end in 476 AD, with the ejection of the last Western Roman Emperor, Romulus Augustulus, by the Germanic chieftain Odoacer. There are probably lots of reasons why the Roman Empire fell, but Gibbon, as his work has been summarized, lists six reasons that underlaid the fall. We’ll take a look at the first and second reasons:

“Freakishness” and “Enthusiasum”

Gibbon’s reasons 1 & 2 are noted as “Freakishness in the Arts Masquerading as Originality and Enthusiasm Pretending to Be Creativity.” As one author summarizes: “Gibbon noted that the arts at the end of the Roman Empire were increasingly focused on novelty and sensationalism rather than genuine artistic merit… He also pointed out that a sense of enthusiasm and energy was sometimes mistaken for genuine creativity, leading to a decline in the quality of artistic and intellectual endeavors.”

All True Beauty Comes from God

God defines what is beautiful. Beauty comes from the Lord, as Genesis 1:31 says, “And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.” When God created the earth and the entire universe in six days, He declared that everything was just as it was supposed to be. King David describes the beauty of God’s creation; “The heavens declare the glory of God and the sky above his handiwork” (Psalm 19:1). He also described the pleasure of gazing upon the beauty of the Lord; “One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple” (Psalm 27:4). 

The apostle Paul noted everyone can see God’s beautiful design in creation: “For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.

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