In the Beginning: God Invented Color

In the early 1980s, when our ministry was still in Australia, a lady sent back a children’s book she had ordered from us, stating something like, “This book is in color, and the devil uses color, so I don’t want it.”

Illustration by Viktor Miller-Gausa

Ken Ham, President/CEO
Answers in Genesis

As Christians, we must ensure we understand what it means to have a truly biblical worldview and know how to apply it. A worldview is a way of thinking. And a worldview doesn’t come out of the air—it is built from the foundation up. Ultimately there are only two foundations for our worldview—starting with God’s Word or man’s word. As Christians we must understand that God’s Word is a revelation to us from the One who knows everything, so what he has revealed to us is the foundation for our thinking.

When we start with the right foundation of God’s Word beginning with Genesis 1–11, we understand we are living in a fallen world because of our sin. We recognize that there are two roads: the broad way and the narrow way. The broad way is the world, and the narrow way is within the broad way but going in the opposite direction.

We then should understand that anything in this world can be used for good or evil— to go in the right or wrong direction. But not everything is inherently evil. For example, books by themselves are not evil, but they can be used for evil. The internet by itself is not evil but can be used for evil. Christians should practice a biblical worldview when choosing their content for internet or in books.

As another example, nakedness is not evil, but sin distorts nakedness, allowing it to be used for evil purposes. After Adam and Eve sinned, God gave them clothes, so he obviously has a standard for covering nakedness. In our garden of Eden exhibit at the Creation Museum, Adam and Eve are naked before they sinned, but because fallen people in a fallen world will see these exhibits, Adam and Eve’s nakedness is covered by foliage in the right places.

So, yes, the devil can use color for evil, such as vividly portraying violence or immorality on the screen or in print. But Christians can use those same colors to display God’s creativity and point to his glory. The key is to ensure that we build all our thinking on the foundation of God’s Word. We need biblical discernment for every area as we negotiate life in this fallen world.

But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil (Hebrews 5:14).