beauty as "evidence" of intelligent design (atheism, God, believers)

[MidniteBreeze]

Threads of this conversation have popped up elsewhere and it's something I've pondered on more than one occassion...so forgive me if I indulge by starting a new thread on the topic

One of the age old ways a believer tries to convince a non-believer of a higher power is to have him/her look at the beauty of nature and ask him/her, "Now can this really all be due to chance alone? Can't you see there is an artist at work here?"

So let's take a mountain vista. Thanks to science, I can look at it and know (at least on a basic level), HOW the mountains formed, why there's snow on top of them and that yes, this is indeed the right type of soil for a pinon pine forest. That's pretty cool (and my logical brain is forever grateful that I am able to HAVE this knowledge), but the other, less logical (spiritual?) side of me has a more emotional reaction and just says "WOW! That's so beautiful!"

That's the side of me (us?) that can't help but wonder if there's something "bigger" than us out there. I certainly can't prove it, but somehow I guess I WANT to believe that I'm really looking at a work of art and not a bunch of "randomness" that happens to make a pretty picture.

They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but we as humans seem to have at least some universal standards, regardless of time or culture. I think almost anyone would much rather gaze at the above mountain vista than say, a pile of dirt. Still, are we merely "conditioned" to find mountains (or beaches, or whatever) asthetically pleasing? If, instead of Earth, we inhabited the dirt pile filled planet Zygor...would we look at THAT world with the same sense of wonder?

(Perhaps that's why the aliens are more scientifcally advanced than we are, ha ha.)

Thanks for letting me ramble.

[GCSTroop]

It's called an argument from incredulity.

[Haaziq]

What's beautiful changes from person to person. Some people don't think mountains are beautiful. Some like the look of the desert while others don't.

[Miss Blue]

The believer can see the beauty of Gods design in nature and everything else that is beautiful..The atyhiest also sees the beauty of nature and marvels at the way things happened to scientifically create such beauty..We believers see God in the miracle of a new born, etc, etc..We cannot explain to the unbeliever and others why God allowed babies to be born only to die of starvation, disease, and abuse in the arms of mothers suffering the same...I know that I can't explain it to myself...and I wonder

[Travelling fella]

Originally Posted by blue62

We cannot explain to the unbeliever and others why God allowed babies to be born only to die of starvation, disease, and abuse in the arms of mothers suffering the same...I know that I can't explain it to myself...and I wonder

If you believe in Karma and afterlife, this would explain why some people are burn in such conditions, this is one of the reasons I believe in those things, what could otherwise be the explanation? at least in my humble point of view

[Oakback]

It could have happened that we were all created without the need to eat.
Or maybe with very simple taste buds that required that we only ate tree bark or something else as bland.
But we were given complex taste buds, and a HUGE variety of edible goodies.
Take for example the cocoa tree, wheat, sugar cane, and a vanilla pod. Combine them with mankinds creativity and PRESTO!
CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES.

I really don't understand atheism

[Miss Blue]

Oakback! You mean athiests don't have taste buds

[Haaziq]

Originally Posted by blue62

Oakback! You mean athiests don't have taste buds

Well, I don't really taste anything when I eat meat besides the seasoning, so I don't eat it. It has been shown that some people when eating meat taste nothing or find the taste unappealing. I'm a health freak anyway, so my taste buds work in my favor.

I'm a vegan.

[GCSTroop]

Originally Posted by Oakback

It could have happened that we were all created without the need to eat.
Or maybe with very simple taste buds that required that we only ate tree bark or something else as bland.
But we were given complex taste buds, and a HUGE variety of edible goodies.
Take for example the cocoa tree, wheat, sugar cane, and a vanilla pod. Combine them with mankinds creativity and PRESTO!
CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES.

I really don't understand atheism

Ummmm.... it's not very hard to understand how that could be a very valuable survival mechanism. Taste and smell are closely linked senses. Have you ever bitten into something rotten that may have caused you to otherwise get sick had you continued eating it? Ever heard that berries taste a certain way if they're poisonous? Similarly, many animals have a keen sense of taste. Sadly... I don't think my dog is one of them as I caught him eating cat poop the other day....

Anyway, my point is that there are probably animals with a keener sense of taste than humans just as there are animals with a keener sense of smell, touch, vision, and hearing.

As for the rest (cookies, cake, etc...) although they are delectable they are human creations that we have particularly made to suit our taste buds the best. To further on that, if we all had the same taste buds than all foods would taste equally good or bad to us. This tells us that even our taste buds are the result of genetic variation. However, it is usually the most repulsive things that are seen as equally uneatable by most humans and those are generally the things that could harm us the most.

[Oakback]

Originally Posted by blue62

Oakback! You mean athiests don't have taste buds

Sure they do.
They just don't see the reflection of the divine in the smiles of us pulling a tray of hot chocolate chip cookies out of the oven