We've had a number of people come in and out of here who are artists. I can't give people personal conviction on what they should or should not draw, but the original 1611 version of the King James Bible had a nude drawing of eve in it, and that's one of the number of objections I have with 1611.
Most KJB preachers you will hear will say the 1611 was perfect, but I believe it was the 1769 finalization that was perfect. I believe the men who worked on the KJB were guided by God, but there was still some error in it; not in translation, but in things like printing press errors, and I would say there are offenses in the illustrations as well (among other things I won't list out here).
Now, when it was finalized, the men who worked on it probably did not have any thoughts to offense on that matter of illustrations because they never had a problem with the sin of lasciviousness, which is losing control of one's sexual desires. I have had a past of being guilty of that sin, and so for them to put such an illustration into the Bible is offensive to me personally, and as brethren, they should have been more understanding. That being said, there was no indication that the translators themselves put those illustrations in there.
We also recently had to kick someone out of our church, who started up strife and contention over matters that not only were incredibly petty, but also he made wild assumptions about us and he refused to hear the matter while dodging Scriptural procedure for such issues. He also was an artist, and he had a plan to use his art for "the gospel" supposedly, and I kept my mouth shut about it because I was trying to be patient with him since he was still a relatively young Christian, but I would like to address that matter now...
Where in the Bible was art used to preach the Gospel of Christ? Don't misunderstand, God had artists among the Jews, otherwise, they would not have been able to construct the things in His Temple. Art goes much further than just paintings; for instance, things like smithing or architecture. However, His Word is His WORD, not His illustration. There is a good reason why He didn't give His Word to us as a picture book, therefore, someone claiming they're going to preach the Gospel with art is delusional because a picture, as they say, speaks a thousand words, but those thousand words are not the same to each person.
The Word of God is settled forever in heaven, and it has to be specific to the words used for many reasons. Art cannot do that. Christians can have jobs in artistic fields, but if they believe they're going to preach God's Word THROUGH art, then they don't understand His Word in the first place.
This is not a comment against Gerald, but I wanted to take the time to address that for anyone who may read this thread. There's a lot more that could be said about it, but I don't think there needs to be since we have a strict lack of Biblical backing for any "artistic preaching."
That being said, my wife is an artist. She made the cover to my book, which has a woman on it. However, there is nothing offensive on the book cover. Whatever ought to be modestly covered should be covered, even in art, but here's the thing...
Is it wrong to photograph a female? Women have pictures of themselves all over the place. A few hundred years ago, we didn't have photography, so people had to draw and paint. I can find nothing against that in Scripture. However, everything has to go case by case with personal conviction; if you are personally uncomfortable with drawing women, then find something else to draw.
