![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/40\/2012\/10\/Screen-Shot-2012-10-28-at-6.53.48-AM.png\" "\\"Screen")
<\/a>This series, on arguments\u00a0for\u00a0<\/em>God, is by Jeff Cook (info at the bottom). His argument today is about beauty \u2014 does beauty point us to God? Does it you? How so?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\nDeep Beauty<\/p>\n
- \n
- There are sunrises.<\/li>\n
- There is the music of Bach, John Coltrane, and Sigur Ros.<\/li>\n
- There are the hands of an infant.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
Therefore, there must be a God.<\/p>\n
You either see this or you don\u2019t.<\/p>\n
When I presented this Top Ten list to my Philosophy of Religion class, this was the favorite argument of two of my students who were once atheists.<\/p>\n
It is not a sound argument (the premises do not lead to the conclusion), but I know a handful of folks who have moved from disbelief in God to belief because they experience some deep natural beauty and are moved.<\/p>\n
Immanuel Kant concluded his Critique of Practical Reason<\/em>, \u00a0\u201cTwo things fill me with ever new and increasing admiration and awe: the starry sky above and the moral law within. I do not seek or conjecture either of them as if they were veiled obscurities or extravagances beyond the horizon of my vision; I see them before me and connect them immediately with the consciousness of my existence.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some argue that God-belief is properly basic (like believing in other minds or the past) and arises within us when we see such deep beauties.<\/p>\n
What say you?<\/strong><\/p>\n
Jeff Cook teaches philosophy at the University of Northern Colorado and is the author of Everything New: One Philosopher\u2019s Search for a God Worth Believing in<\/a>. He pastors Atlas Church<\/a> in Greeley, Colorado. www.everythingnew.org<\/a><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This series, on arguments\u00a0for\u00a0God, is by Jeff Cook (info at the bottom). His argument today is about beauty \u2014 does beauty point us to God? Does it you? How so?\u00a0 Deep Beauty There are sunrises. There is the music of Bach, John Coltrane, and Sigur Ros. There are the hands of an infant. Therefore, there […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33937","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-apologetics"],"yoast_head":"\n
Does Beauty Point to God?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This series, on arguments\u00a0for\u00a0God, is by Jeff Cook (info at the bottom). His argument today is about beauty -- does beauty point us to God? Does it you?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2012\/10\/29\/does-beauty-point-to-god\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Does Beauty Point to God?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This series, on arguments\u00a0for\u00a0God, is by Jeff Cook (info at the bottom). His argument today is about beauty -- does beauty point us to God? Does it you?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2012\/10\/29\/does-beauty-point-to-god\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jesus Creed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-10-29T09:55:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-10-28T15:21:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/files\/2012\/10\/Screen-Shot-2012-10-28-at-6.53.48-AM.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2012\/10\/29\/does-beauty-point-to-god\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2012\/10\/29\/does-beauty-point-to-god\/\",\"name\":\"Does Beauty Point to God?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-10-29T09:55:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-10-28T15:21:56+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\"},\"description\":\"This series, on arguments\u00a0for\u00a0God, is by Jeff Cook (info at the bottom). His argument today is about beauty -- does beauty point us to God? Does it you?\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2012\/10\/29\/does-beauty-point-to-god\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2012\/10\/29\/does-beauty-point-to-god\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2012\/10\/29\/does-beauty-point-to-god\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Does Beauty Point to God?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\",\"name\":\"Jesus Creed\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight on Jesus and orthodox faith in the 21st century\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\",\"name\":\"Scot McKnight\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight is a recognized authority on the New Testament, early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. McKnight, author of more than fifty books, is the Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary in Lombard, IL.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/author\/scotmcknight\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Does Beauty Point to God?","description":"This series, on arguments\u00a0for\u00a0God, is by Jeff Cook (info at the bottom). His argument today is about beauty -- does beauty point us to God? Does it you?","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2012\/10\/29\/does-beauty-point-to-god\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Does Beauty Point to God?","og_description":"This series, on arguments\u00a0for\u00a0God, is by Jeff Cook (info at the bottom). His argument today is about beauty -- does beauty point us to God? Does it you?","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2012\/10\/29\/does-beauty-point-to-god\/","og_site_name":"Jesus Creed","article_published_time":"2012-10-29T09:55:46+00:00","article_modified_time":"2012-10-28T15:21:56+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/files\/2012\/10\/Screen-Shot-2012-10-28-at-6.53.48-AM.png"}],"author":"Scot McKnight","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Scot McKnight","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2012\/10\/29\/does-beauty-point-to-god\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2012\/10\/29\/does-beauty-point-to-god\/","name":"Does Beauty Point to God?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-10-29T09:55:46+00:00","dateModified":"2012-10-28T15:21:56+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252"},"description":"This series, on arguments\u00a0for\u00a0God, is by Jeff Cook (info at the bottom). His argument today is about beauty -- does beauty point us to God? Does it you?","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2012\/10\/29\/does-beauty-point-to-god\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2012\/10\/29\/does-beauty-point-to-god\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2012\/10\/29\/does-beauty-point-to-god\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Does Beauty Point to God?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/","name":"Jesus Creed","description":"Scot McKnight on Jesus and orthodox faith in the 21st century","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252","name":"Scot McKnight","description":"Scot McKnight is a recognized authority on the New Testament, early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. McKnight, author of more than fifty books, is the Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary in Lombard, IL.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/author\/scotmcknight\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33937","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/197"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33937"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33937\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}