I read a quote by Stephen Jay Gould that read, “We are here because one odd group of fishes had a peculiar fin anatomy that could transform into legs for terrestrial creatures…we may yearn for a “higher” answer – but none exists.”

This comment is very revealing about our culture. We pride ourselves on being “open-minded,” “liberal,” and “rational.” It is in vogue to rebel against traditional or old- fashioned beliefs and ideas. We believe that we are better than those that came before us – more developed, more intelligent. The western world has begun to leave those “superstitious” beliefs behind, has become “enlightened.” Atheistic viewpoints have obtained stronger influence in our culture’s way of thinking, in the information presented (or not presented) at schools, at universities, in the media, in science, etc. But by removing God from the scene, one can see, if they look carefully, how things fall out of place and cease to make sense.

If we are merely accidental products of evolution, then life is no longer sacred – it is, in fact, utterly devoid of meaning. If there is no creator, sensations of rightness and beauty must be but an illusion. In his book, The Reason For God, Timothy Keller wrote, “If we are the product of accidental natural forces, then what we call ‘beauty’ is nothing but a neurological hardwired response to particular data.” This is hard to believe, especially when looking into the face of beauty – a brilliant sunrise, a tree blossoming in the spring, a starry sky, anything that touches and delights the soul upon seeing it. “The heavens proclaim his righteousness,” cries the psalmist. Anyone looking into the face of beauty must know, somewhere buried in their soul, that there is a creator who made it.

If, as Steven Gould said, there is no higher power, then there would be no good and no evil, for there would be no god to define good and evil, and set it upon man’s heart as a transcendent truth. Our sense of innocence and corruption, of pleasure and guilt, are then illusions. Love is the result of instinct, devoid of depth and meaning. But this can’t be. There is corruption in the world. This cannot be debated. One may be able to reason away the existence of beauty, but one cannot reason away the divide between what is right and what is wrong. All is not as it should be in the world. Turn on the news, observe others, or watch yourself honestly for any amount of time, and this brazen truth will make itself clear. In Blue Like Jazz, Miller wrote, “The soul was not designed for this, I thought. We were supposed to do good, all of us. We were supposed to be good.”

Both beauty and depravity reach down and touch people’s lives, pulling forth from the soul an innate desire for something more. The psalmist wrote, “My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.” Keller stated, “We have a longing for joy, love, and beauty that no amount or quality of food, sex, friendship, or success can satisfy. Isn’t that at least a clue that this ‘something’ that we want exists?” Back in the 1600’s, Blaise Pascal wrote, “The heart has its reasons for which the reason knows nothing…the heart feels God.”


For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.”
-Romans 1: 19-20