Blog: Meaningless Beauty
Filled with the Beauty of Life
Beauty can be seen in this small lake in Glacier National Park. Is beauty a result of random meaningless chance or does it point to God?
Green! All around and everywhere I looked, I saw green. Life overflowed within the green. The buzz of insects, the flutter of butterflies and a brilliant array of plants filled our senses as we hiked towards Grinnell Lake in Glacier National Park, Montana. The forest abounded in life. The feast for the eyes only continued when we arrived at the lake.
At the lake, my hiking partner and I went off in different directions to spend alone time with God in His creation. I sat beside the lake a distance away from my friend. Thoughts about the beauty that surrounded me abounded in my head. With deep reflection I wrote in my journal. I questioned God as to why He made it so beautiful. And I pondered, “Why did beauty exist at all?
Evolution and Meaningless Beauty
Redrock Falls in Glacier National Park.
Why do we long for beauty? Have you ever questioned why we desire the beauty of a person, the beauty of art or the beauty of nature? Evolution really does not have a legitimate answer for this. Why on earth would we long for something that is the result of random chemical soup? Why would we long for such beauty? Why would there be any beauty at all? Evolutionist and Atheist Richard Dawkins said our desire for beauty is a genetic, Darwinian mistake!* He said it is meaningless. How sad to see beauty as meaningless.
Even simply things can be beautiful, such as this driftwood and the mountains reflecting on the surface of Redrock lake.
Beauty is far from meaningless. Beauty speaks of God. Beauty, especially the beauty of nature, reveals some of God’s glory as well. God is the God of beauty. We long after his works and were created in the image of God; therefore, we have a desire to create beauty and seek beauty just as God has beauty in Him and creates beauty. He originally created us to live in the beauty of a paradise called Eden and those who follow after Christ will eventually live in the beauty of heaven.
* Andy Bannister of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.
Note: I want to add that none of the photos are of my hike to Grinnell Lake. Our visit was in the late morning and early afternoon so I did not photograph the lake. The best photos are normally taken in the early morning or late evening when sunlight is best.