The Anti-inappropriate content: A true appreciation of beauty

[Unofficial Reverand Alex]

If you just want a lot of pictures with spiritual slogans, here's a link to what I've made; everything here is public domain & pictures from friends. Dropbox - Divine Beauty - Simplify your life

A friend of mine posted a few pictures of herself on Facebook, ones that looked professionally done. I can't quite say what made me think to do this, but I copied the picture onto Publisher, looked up "Bible verses on beauty", and sent it to her. This was the result:



As I went, this was something that really resonated with me. I have long appreciated beautiful women, but the modern world makes it very hard to truly appreciate beauty. Every movie that features a beautiful lady also features a man who wants to have sex with her; every song about a beautiful woman has the same sexual connotation. I know this is an exaggeration, but it's far too accurate. While there's nothing wrong with God's gift of sexuality (I am using Song of Songs for these pictures, after all!), the perversion of woman's beauty into something that I should take for myself is so contrary to all the beauty of God's creation, something to appreciate & give thanks for.

As I was trying to find good pictures to use, I came across this wonderful webpage full of photographs from women around the world: I Photographed Women From 37 Countries To Show That Beauty Is Everywhere

I will include the results below; all of these were either made in Publisher, or on the Amazon Photos app. Rather than seeing beautiful women as something to take for my pleasure, this is all designed to draw the heart & mind to the God who graced our world with such beauty as an act of love.




By the way, these are all thumbnails, which means you can click on them to make them bigger. Since this one is so word-heavy (I was experimenting with different styles), the larger size is likely necessary to read everything.



I started going through Song of Songs to pull all the good verses on praising woman's beauty, and I added in "Daughter of God" to really help the viewer see her beauty as something from above, especially for people unfamiliar with this love poem. I also dropped "My beloved" & other such phrases, as none of these women are my beloved, and I was focusing more on beauty than romance.




If you wish to see more of these fantastic pictures of people across the world, this page is from the photographer who explains more about her fantastic project. Among her requests for ways to help is publicity; she wants people to know about her project, and I would like to offer this post as prayers & practical help for her & the people she works with. The page also explains the great heart that goes into these pictures, which is always refreshing to see. https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-atlas-of-beauty#/




This morning, I felt compelled to read 1 Timothy. As I did so, I came across this verse, and knew it should be used in one of these pictures.



I also just learned that I maxed out the amount of files I can upload, so the rest will be on the next post. Please enjoy, pray for a more pure culture, and if you know someone (or are someone!) who would like this done with one of their photos, send them to me in this thread or in a Direct Message with any recommendations you may have. This is all pretty simple to make, if you want to try it on your own; probably any Photos app allows for adding & formatting text onto images, and that's all I'm doing.

 

[Unofficial Reverand Alex]

Here's the rest. I really enjoyed making the words flow with the clouds in this one:






Those of you more familiar with Song of Songs may be noticing a notable absence: "You are altogether beautiful, my darling, there is no flaw in you!" I reserve that verse for when I have a "special someone" of my own; when God knows it's best to grace me with a girlfriend/wife, I would love to use this verse for a picture of her.

UPDATE: I just came across the website for this photographic project, which includes far more photos & stories of each woman she worked with: https://theatlasofbeauty.com

 

[VCR-2000]

This is all very beautiful. Just curiously wondering, what is the kind of "perversion" of beauty you speak of in context of what you posted? Because even in modern movies and such, the beautiful-looking women still exist, at least physically if not otherwise also. I know that it is wrong that men and women get taken advantage of in different ways, but what is wrong with wanting pleasure of it? It is not inherently bad.

 

[Unofficial Reverand Alex]

This is all very beautiful. Just curiously wondering, what is the kind of "perversion" of beauty you speak of in context of what you posted? Because even in modern movies and such, the beautiful-looking women still exist, at least physically if not otherwise also. I know that it is wrong that men and women get taken advantage of in different ways, but what is wrong with wanting pleasure of it? It is not inherently bad.

It's a fair question. Wanting pleasure is one thing, but when the only context we see beautiful women in is stories that involve "getting something out of them", that sets up a poor connotation for how women should be viewed.

Perhaps this will help: when was the last time you saw a movie where a guy & an attractive woman could be friends, without trying to get any sexual pleasure from the other? Just a good friendship, where they respect each other & show that a guy & a girl can be friends without a relationship being mandatory. Jason Evert posed this question in a talk he was giving to hundreds of Catholic college students, and the best anyone could come up with was "Finding Nemo".

 

[Jonathan Walkerin]

I offered to do the same for a few other friends, none of whom responded.

“Hey can I get your pictures ? I will stick Bible phrases on them and put them on internet”

You know that sounds kind of creepy.

 

[zippy2006]

This is a nice idea, but I do hope you received the women's permission to edit and share their photographs publicly...?

 

[VCR-2000]

This is a nice idea, but I do hope you received the women's permission to edit and share their photographs publicly...?

I know. I don't think anyone would appreciate sharing their photos publicly on other forums, whether inappropriate content-ish or clothed.

 

[Unofficial Reverand Alex]

This is a nice idea, but I do hope you received the women's permission to edit and share their photographs publicly...?

I know. I don't think anyone would appreciate sharing their photos publicly on other forums, whether inappropriate content-ish or clothed.

Yes, I got permission from my friend beforehand. She lived it & said she's sharing this page with more people now. The other photos were already online, I just added the text.

 

[tall73]

Yes, I got permission from my friend beforehand. She lived it & said she's sharing this page with more people now. The other photos were already online, I just added the text.

If your friend gave permission that is fine. However, photos already online are still copyrighted, unless they are released under various free use licenses. You can usually find stock photo sites that have free to use photos. But if you just download photos from other sites that could run into legal trouble.

 

[Unofficial Reverand Alex]

If your friend gave permission that is fine. However, photos already online are still copyrighted, unless they are released under various free use licenses. You can usually find stock photo sites that have free to use photos. But if you just download photos from other sites that could run into legal trouble.

From my understanding, legal troubles can only happen if I make any form of profit. Furthermore, I linked the site for most of the pictures. Could that still end up problematic?

 

[tall73]

From my understanding, legal troubles can only happen if I make any form of profit. Furthermore, I linked the site for most of the pictures. Could that still end up problematic?

They can still object to the usage. The other issue is the copyright section of Christian Forums. I think they look nice, but I would stick to the ones you have permission for to avoid issues.

 

[Unofficial Reverand Alex]

They can still object to the usage. The other issue is the copyright section of Christian Forums. I think they look nice, but I would stick to the ones you have permission for to avoid issues.

I will see about contacting the people behind the Atlas of Beauty photos. Ann Ward I may just remove, as I don't see a professional fashion model photo owner being as appreciative of unrequested publicity as someone who's trying to launch an independent project. Thank you for the advice, by the way.

 

[tall73]

I will see about contacting the people behind the Atlas of Beauty photos. Ann Ward I may just remove, as I don't see a professional fashion model photo owner being as appreciative of unrequested publicity as someone who's trying to launch an independent project. Thank you for the advice, by the way.

You are welcome. And yes, some may want the exposure if they are doing a project. If you get permission you are fine.

 

[Unofficial Reverand Alex]

You are welcome. And yes, some may want the exposure if they are doing a project. If you get permission you are fine.

It's proving remarkably difficult to find any contact information for the photographer, but I came across a more detailed the page written by her, which I edited into the OP. Among the things on the page was a directory quest for more publicity. While that doesn't directly translate into permission for editing these pictures, I will take it as a good sign, at least until I can find an email address.

 

[VCR-2000]

Thank you for making the thread again. I think most Christians just look at beauty only as this nebulous mushy concept and take the material and physical part for granted, like it is sinful or somehow inherently more corrupted.

 

[Unofficial Reverand Alex]

Thank you for making the thread again. I think most Christians just look at beauty only as this nebulous mushy concept and take the material and physical part for granted, like it is sinful or somehow inherently more corrupted.

Thank you, I do appreciate this. I've been struggling a lot with discouragement lately, so your kind words were truly a blessing.

 

[NerdGirl]

I think this is a sweet and wonderful gesture I hope one day we can take the appreciation of natural, God-given beauty even further.

 

[Unofficial Reverand Alex]

I think this is a sweet and wonderful gesture I hope one day we can take the appreciation of natural, God-given beauty even further.

Thank you, I appreciate it.

 

[Unofficial Reverand Alex]

Having in mind some posts here that express concern over rights, I'll just post the public domain images I worked with here. This is a project I just restarted, and with a new photo editing app (Lumii), here's the latest that I've been blessed to be able to make.



While attribution is not required for these images, I still like to give credit where credit is due, so here's the links where the originals came from:

https://www.pexels.com/photo/woman-wearing-hat-2010812/


https://www.pexels.com/photo/close-up-photo-of-a-woman-wearing-brown-and-beige-headscarf-2253415/

May we rescue beauty from the clutches of selfishness & reclaim it for bringing the soul ever higher!

 

[Unofficial Reverand Alex]

2 more images from Pexels, edited on Lumii, and offered as prayers for a more grateful world, appreciating beauty simply to be happy& peaceful as God intended from the Beginning...