God-centered resources from the ministry of John Piper

Christians should avoid quickly judging cultural expression as sacred or secular, because God reveals himself in both, through his common grace.

John Calvin writes,

In reading profane authors, the admirable light of truth displayed in them should remind us that the human mind, however fallen and perverted from its original integrity, is still adorned and invested with admirable gifts from the Creator. If we reflect that the Spirit of God is the only fountain of truth, we will be careful, as we should avoid offering insults to Him, not to reject or condemn truth wherever it appears. In despising the gifts we insult the giver.

In their book Art and Soul, Hilary Brand and Adrienne Chaplin write,

Dualism is a word that can be applied to any split-vision worldview. It separates God’s creation into distinct and opposing realms, one representing good, the other representing evil: holy versus profane, sacred versus secular, material versus spiritual....

[A] truly biblical worldview will not let us get away with such simplistic divides. The Bible frequently speaks in paradox, explaining truths not in terms of either/or by both/and: creation is both gloriously beautiful and tainted by sin; humanity is both made in God’s image and fallen; Jesus is both fully human and fully divine; Christians are both redeemed from the curse and still suffering its consequences.

The problem comes when the line is drawn compartmentally rather than spiritually, putting certain aspects of culture inside the Kingdom of God and others outside. Rather we need to understand that the battle lines between good and evil run across all aspects of culture and every facet of life. (67-68)

And in his article "Christianity and the Arts" (PDF) Jerram Barrs writes,

Repeatedly in the history of the Church, Christians have been tempted to devalue the richness of creation and therefore to devalue also the arts, as if it would be somehow more “spiritual” to live a life devoid of beauty, of good things, of music, of literature, of painting, of color, etc. It is as if bare simplicity, barrenness, and even ugliness were somehow considered to be more pleasing to God. Behind this idea is the conviction that it is only what is “spiritual” that matters, and that the physical, therefore, is only of secondary value at best. In this view, the arts are thought of as an optional, rather extravagant, and unnecessary extra in life. But this belief is nonsense, and is, according to Paul, a heresy of the most serious kind, for in the end it is a denial of the goodness of creation. (4)

(Greater and Lesser Light, Moonlit Capitol Dome, Madison, Wisconsin, USA)