Aesthetic Experience Argument

The biggest topic of our world today: If you're so sure God exists, give me a reasonable argument for it. All Christians have their favorite arguments for this; mine is the aesthetic experience argument.

And what the heck is that? Aestheic experience is that feeling you have when you are in nature, witnessing something absolutely beautiful or stunning. It could be something as simple as a flower, the wind moving through the trees, or a butterfly floating by. It could be something big and grand: a beautiful sunset on the beach; a humongous, powerful waterfall; the vibrant colors of the rain forest; the exxpanse of the African savanna; the Grand Canyon. For me, that would include music, playing the piano, or harmonizing in singing. What is behind that feeling that you have rising up in you? Some would define it as feeling a connection with the world around you. Christians call it the knowledge that God is near, and experiencing His beautiful creation through His eyes. It's knowing that we are witnessing something truly beautiful, spectacular, and breath-taking.

But what gives us this feeling of awe? What defines beauty? Just the other day I asked my ten year old little sister why she was scowling at a dead fly on her window sill. "Because it's so ugly," she replied. When I asked her why she found it ugly, she was unable to give a reasonable answer. I think the majority would agree with her; the fly is somewhat ugly in appearance. Similarily, most would agree that a free, galloping, spirited horse is a beautiful sight. Why?

God is a God of creativity, beauty, intentionality in design. He created things that He found beautiful, so that we could experience them with Him, and ejoy the pleasure of them. A way of arguing this with an evolutionist would be to say: a sense of beautiy is not necessary for survival. Shouldn't that have been a mutation that disappeared long ago? Why is it still around?

God created us with a sense of what is beautiful and what is not. He created us with the sense of being able to enjoy His creation. The very fact that we have this built into each and every one of us is, I think, a good start to argue the existence of a God.

The aesthetic experience argument branches off a second argument, the cosmological arguement, which basically states that the world, as a finite, material thing had to have a beginning. things do not just happen by themselves. This is the basic prinicple of cause and effect. This can give a good starting point for the existence of God, since Christians believe that God created the world. However this argument has many different weak spots, such as the inability to know the world had a beginning, and if everything must have a cause, where did God come from? I would suggest really knowing where you stand before using this argument.