James Cameron’s film Avatar has become the top box office movie in history. Its production quality is astounding--something audiences have come to expect from Cameron, whose past triumphs include Titanic and The Terminator.

But as Loredana Vuoto points out, the film “denigrates America, its military, humanity and God—all in the name of environmentalism.” Vuoto does a great job explaining how the movie does this, so I won’t repeat that.

I will, however, point out that Avatar is one of many, many examples of art in the service of false ideas. And Christians who believe that one God created one universe with one truth and one righteousness and one beauty--that is, that God is consistent, and His creation is consistent--need to recognize that skillful execution isn’t the only measure of art.

To put it more simply, aesthetics must not be judged in isolation from ethics (right and wrong) and epistemology (truth versus falsehood). No matter how aesthetically attractive something might be--whether to sight, hearing, taste, touch, or smell--if the message it promotes is false or evil (or both), it’s not good art. Art in the service of falsehood and evil is false and evil art.

As H.R. Rookmaker pointed out in Modern Art and the Death of a Culture, God-honoring art celebrates Biblical values like truth, love, justice, righteousness, liberty, life, and beauty, not anti-Biblical values like falsehood, hatred, partiality, sin, bondage, death, and ugliness. The most deceptive, seductive art is that which combines great skill of execution with an attack on any of those Biblical values.

That is what Avatar does, and Christians, of all people, should have the discernment to recognize its danger. We’re the ones who believe the first human sin was triggered by Eve’s seeing that a fruit forbidden to her by God appeared good for food, pleasant to the eyes, and desirable to make one wise. Appearances can be deceptive. That one was. So is Avatar.