Seeing Beauty in the Creation - 180007

0:05 [Music] 0:31 welcome to the creator revealed I'm Tim 0:35 Standish and I'm a scientist but like 0:38 most scientists and perhaps surprisingly 0:41 in some people's minds I love beautiful 0:45 things you know I'm Shelly Quinn we just 0:51 want to thank you so much for joining us 0:53 I believe you will really enjoyed this 0:56 particular presentation we are talking 0:59 in this series about how God's 1:04 attributes are revealed in the invisible 1:08 things that he created even his power 1:10 and his Godhead and today we've got a 1:13 special presentation there we go and in 1:16 fact we're going to talk about visible 1:17 things today his attributes you can see 1:21 them in the creation one of the things 1:23 that I love about the Bible is the 1:27 encouragement that it gives us to look 1:30 for beauty in the creation and probably 1:34 one of the best known and most 1:36 encouraging texts about that was written 1:39 by Solomon in Ecclesiastes 3:11 he wrote 1:42 he this is God has made everything 1:45 beautiful in its time also he has put 1:49 eternity in their hearts except that no 1:52 one can find out the work that God does 1:55 from beginning to end in that last bit 1:59 used to confuse me quite a bit we can't 2:03 we can't figure it out no this is 2:05 wonderful news 2:07 the more you look the more you discover 2:10 and God who is infinite apparently has 2:15 created something that is going to be 2:20 infinitely interesting to us we're not 2:22 going to get to heaven and after a 2:23 billion years think oh I've got that all 2:25 worked out there's nothing nothing new 2:28 to do I wish that it was all over us I 2:31 think now I'm bored not at all it simply 2:34 gets more and more wonderful as does he 2:39 you know the more I get to know about 2:40 God the more you realize how little 2:43 you know about God in his character so 2:45 multifaceted as his creation is he's an 2:49 incredible I mean he is the lover of our 2:53 souls but it's incredible to even 2:57 consider the wonder of it all 2:59 yes and it's to me it's not humiliating Michelangelos Moses 3:02 it's encouraging and we never quite have 3:05 it all figured out there's always more 3:07 more wonderful things so I want to 3:11 actually start out by looking at a work 3:13 of art okay a beautiful work of art this 3:16 is Moses and I chose him because well 3:20 he's the one who wrote Genesis he's the 3:25 one who who wrote those immortal words 3:28 in the beginning God created the heavens 3:32 and the earth this is obviously a work 3:36 of art the real Moses Michelangelo right 3:39 and when you look at this it's not 3:45 really Moses obviously Michelangelo 3:47 never didn't have Moses there to sort of 3:50 model his sculpture off this is the 3:54 artist's conception of what Moses might 3:58 have looked like now I have a question 4:00 yes either he has hair like mine what is 4:06 on top of his head 4:07 you know that is something that has been 4:09 a mystery to me can you see those things 4:11 yes they look like they look like horns 4:13 and I wondered and wondered and wondered 4:17 for years about that ask many artists 4:19 that I knew what's going on with those 4:21 horns on Moses head I didn't think 4:24 anyone knows but I have heard a theory 4:27 that makes a reasonable amount of sense 4:30 and the theory is this that when Moses 4:34 came down after getting the Ten 4:37 Commandments and being with God his face 4:41 Sean and the people couldn't look at him 4:43 in the Latin translation of the Bible 4:48 apparently that was mistranslated in 4:52 some way the beams of light came out as 4:55 horns of light 4:57 and so this actually tells us something 5:00 about Michelangelo he was probably 5:02 looking at the Latin Vulgate we call it 5:05 though the Bible in Latin and he read 5:08 that and he was trying to be true to 5:10 Scripture and that's why we have the 5:12 horns one Moses head so then we have an 5:15 illustration of how a work of art tells 5:17 you something gives you some sort of 5:19 insight into the artist whoever that 5:23 artist might be now I want you to Charles Darwin 5:26 consider this wonderful view that we 5:28 read about it that the Bible gives us of 5:30 of nature and everything a God has made 5:34 everything beautiful and I want you to 5:37 compare it with this very solemn 5:38 statement really sobering statement that 5:41 Charles Darwin made in his autobiography 5:44 this is what he was writing when he was 5:45 an old man and he said formally pictures 5:48 gave me considerable and music very 5:50 great delight but now for many years I 5:54 cannot in do it to read a line of poetry 5:58 I've tried lately to read Shakespeare 6:00 and found it so intolerably dull that it 6:02 nauseated me I've also almost lost my 6:05 taste for pictures or music I retained 6:07 some for fine scenery but it does not 6:09 cause me the exquisite delight which it 6:12 formerly did Wow half telling is that 6:16 what happened to this man hell hell 6:19 awful to think that a person could go 6:22 from loving music loving art loving 6:26 nature the beauty the wonder that is out 6:29 there how can that be lost but don't you 6:32 think that your your mindset your 6:34 perspective on things if you have a 6:36 negative mindset and you're always 6:38 looking for what's wrong 6:40 suddenly everything exactly exactly and 6:45 that's that is the horror really one of 6:47 the most terrible things about the view 6:50 of life that Darwin has passed down to 6:54 people it takes away the beauty he wrote 6:57 this in a letter he said what a book a 6:59 devil's chaplain might write on the 7:02 clumsy wasteful blundering low and 7:04 horribly cruel works of nature Darwin 7:09 obsessed about these things and of 7:11 course as Christians we don't deny we 7:13 don't deny that nature is broken and of 7:18 course the Bible gives us an explanation 7:20 for what's going on it also gives us 7:23 hope yeah the this but in notice in this 7:28 there is a premise in what Darwin is 7:29 saying and that premise is hey this 7:34 seems wrong to me and yet within his 7:38 theory it's the way it should be 7:40 the everything should be in a state of 7:43 struggle and things shouldn't be perfect 7:46 they should be broken and the things the 7:49 more broken things should be eliminated 7:51 by those two statements there it's it's 7:54 like so contradictory exactly it's like 7:56 a logical tension that you find in much 8:00 of what Darwin writes because we know 8:02 that the cruel things we see in nature 8:06 the broken things there's something 8:08 wrong there there's something wrong we 8:11 know that in in the core of our soul 8:14 ironically ironically Darwin was saying 8:17 that's what made us what we are today 8:19 Wow but what it took from him what is 8:23 sapped from from him I want us to look 8:27 at a few natural things just sometimes Butterflies 8:29 it's okay to just step back and say what 8:33 is there what's there so this is a 8:36 butterfly you'll notice that I like 8:39 taking pictures of butterflies and thing 8:40 I mean I everywhere you look you know if 8:44 you have this biblical if you everywhere 8:46 you look there's something beautiful and 8:48 wonderful and in in unexpected places 8:51 this is this is a the eye of a of a 8:55 butterfly this is what's called a 8:56 scanning electron micrograph so it's not 8:58 in color but I love the geometry that's 9:01 in there look at that each of those is a 9:02 little facet of its eye there was a 9:06 honeycomb it here's what that that 9:08 hexagonal shape shows up in multiple 9:11 places in nature but it's just kind of 9:14 beautiful and interesting and oh this 9:17 this shocked me you different 9:20 butterflies lay different 9:22 kinds of eggs different patterns on the 9:25 surface I would never have notices but I 9:28 happened to be working on a film and we 9:32 wanted some pictures of butterfly eggs 9:34 so we got some butterfly eggs and put 9:35 them under the electron microscope and 9:37 each one is different each one is just 9:41 fascinating and and but it's not just 9:44 the eggs it's not just the tiny things 9:46 when you zoom back and you look at a 9:47 bunch of butterflies together now these 9:49 are monarch butterflies and this 9:53 particular group of monarch butterflies 9:56 actually meets during the winter on the 9:58 coast of California and that's where 10:01 they spend the winter they're smart 10:02 they're some humans do that as well you 10:04 know I didn't realize how many 10:06 butterflies we had in the area until we 10:08 planted three butterfly bushes oh 10:11 they're back Nick and now we have 10:13 butterflies 10:14 everywhere they love those bushes 10:16 diversity the beauty of them so much but 10:20 it's not just the animals it's it's 10:23 everything in nature why is it that 10:25 every sunset is a masterpiece 10:28 any time you can see a sunset it's just 10:31 just wonderful and God God why did God 10:37 have to make it so beautiful why did he 10:39 give us senses to appreciate this and 10:42 minds that praise him as a result or you 10:47 know sometimes could have made 10:48 everything monochrome we vision with 10:52 color just the abundance of everything 10:55 sometimes sometimes I go hiking up in 10:57 the Sierra Nevada mountains and again 11:00 every way you look there is this beauty 11:02 you could spend all day just looking at 11:05 one scene up there and never get bored 11:09 with it it's it's tremendous and if you 11:11 go out to the universe 11:13 it's fabulous out there this is just one 11:16 galaxy and there are billions of these 11:18 things out there and every one of them 11:20 is different 11:21 I would love to head Charles Darwin meet 11:25 you you know the sad reality is once you 11:30 embrace this philosophy you're in 11:32 trouble the dirt the idea 11:35 without a God the beauty is gone it's 11:39 gone it's it's all about utility and 11:43 does it work and I don't think it works 11:45 so therefore it's bad and and in reality 11:48 the more we look the more beautiful and 11:51 wonderful it is 11:51 I love these bird of paradise flowers Flowers 11:54 but we could have done endless flowers 11:56 and you look inside some flowers and you 11:58 find things like this this bee and you 12:00 might have picked up that I like bees 12:02 it's all wonderful it's all it's all 12:06 just fabulous and and these little birds 12:09 it's little birds that fascinate me big 12:12 birds are wonderful as well but the 12:14 little birds we don't notice and they 12:16 all look like those little brown things 12:17 we don't stop to really look at them and 12:20 just the sparkle in its eye and wow wow 12:24 this one here oh you know it doesn't 12:27 look like it's singing God's praises 12:29 yeah singing there Jesus encouraged us 12:35 to look at nature and see the beauty 12:37 that see he said why do you worry about 12:39 clothing consider the lilies of the 12:41 field how they grow they neither toil 12:43 nor spin yet I say to you that even 12:47 Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed 12:49 like one of these now if God so clothes 12:52 the grass of the field which today is 12:55 and tomorrow is thrown into the oven 12:56 will he not much more clothe you oh you 13:00 of little faith you know God he wants us 13:04 to to look at the beauty out there and 13:08 what does that beauty tell us well it 13:10 tells us about God's flawless aesthetic 13:13 taste God is an artist and if he cares 13:19 about that he cares about you and you 13:22 know when you look at a newborn baby and 13:26 how perfect they are and consider all 13:28 the little parts that that how they were 13:31 knit together in the womb you see that 13:34 God is a God that his creative ability 13:39 goes beyond anything you and I could 13:41 fathom and when we have the hope and the 13:44 joy of the Lord I think it opens our 13:46 eyes to see all of these exact 13:49 in poor Darwin had neither so all he saw 13:52 was the negative well we are going to 13:56 take a quick break but we want you to 13:58 stay tuned because in our second segment 14:00 we have a special guest who's going to 14:03 given life application of this 14:08 [Music] Nathan Green 14:13 welcome back to the Creator revealed if 14:15 beauty is in the eye of the beholder it 14:18 is certain that our next guest sees the 14:22 beauty of God's creation and expresses 14:26 it ever so well I would have to agree 14:29 with you Nathan green is really one of 14:32 the premier Christian artists of our age 14:38 and if you have an image in your head of 14:41 what Jesus looks like it could well have 14:46 been painted by Nathan green so we're 14:48 delighted to to to have him with us 14:51 lately and I'm hoping that we're going 14:54 to be able to see oh yes in fact we can 14:56 see some of these paintings that you've 14:58 been working on welcome Nathan so we've 15:05 been talking about the beauty that's 15:08 that's present there in the creation and 15:10 the encouragement that the Bible 15:12 actually gives us and the obviously the 15:15 biblical worldview to actually see that 15:17 beauty and and gain joy from it but what 15:25 I'd like to ask you is as an artist you 15:29 know somebody who really appreciates 15:30 beauty and and produces beautiful things 15:33 yourself how is it that the creation 15:37 inspires the work that you do well you 15:42 know when you think about an artist's 15:44 study a lot of the same things that 15:46 scientists study chemists assist 15:49 mathematicians they study things like 15:51 symmetry and harmony and perspective and 15:55 proportion and economy of design the 15:58 Easter all things that artists study as 16:00 well and for me in particular as a 16:03 Christian artist I look at nature and I 16:06 see all these things I don't I'm not a 16:08 mathematician I don't necessarily define 16:11 that to study things internally 16:13 equations and numbers but I see cemetry 16:16 and harmony and balance in nature and so 16:19 it's evident to me that there was a 16:21 designer 16:22 master artisan ball groans yes well I I The Creation Series 16:29 have to admit that I'm fascinated by 16:31 these these paintings that you have up 16:34 behind you and I'm wondering if you can 16:38 tell us a little bit about them I see 16:40 that there's one that looks fairly 16:41 complete that would be over your right 16:44 shoulder so tell us that is this a 16:48 series that you're working on no what 16:51 were those coming from well my agent and 16:55 our clients are art patrons who prefers 16:58 to remain anonymous they came up with 17:00 the idea of creating a new series of 17:02 paintings depicting the seven days the 17:04 seven literal days of creation from the 17:06 book of Genesis I'm almost done with the 17:09 project the pain you see over my right 17:11 shoulder is day one of the creation 17:14 series okay so this would be let it be 17:16 light then yes let there be light and 17:19 the Spirit of God hovered over the 17:22 waters and so you see Christ the Creator 17:25 standing really floating over the waters 17:28 that were on the earth and you might 17:30 notice in the background there are many 17:32 equations representing the laws of 17:35 nature which and other designs and 17:38 things that God which really got in mind 17:40 is I think I might see I think I might 17:42 be able to see some DNA in there am i 17:43 right there is definitely their DNA 17:48 photosynthesis there's many equations 17:51 like Maxwell's equations and science x 17:53 field theorems and y equals MC square 17:56 there's the golden mean this ratio that 17:59 is found often in nature and many things 18:03 that thought to be kind of an ideal 18:06 proportion found in things like the 18:08 nautilus shell the rose petals the way 18:11 they're aligned on a roads are lined up 18:15 according to that ratio even it's even 18:18 thought that that ratio appears in the 18:20 human form of human fate and something 18:23 that artists have been aware of for a 18:25 long time you know one of the things Artists vs Scientists 18:27 that I like about artists and I have a 18:30 number of friends who are artists is it 18:32 is really a point that you raised which 18:35 is 18:36 artists are trained to be observers and 18:40 scientists are trained to be observers 18:44 and and yet we really are coming at 18:49 things from very very different angles 18:54 what I would be interested in is how you 19:00 think the the art that you do would be 19:05 different if you didn't believe the 19:07 Bible if you didn't believe that in the 19:10 creation that's there what would things 19:13 be different would you be choosing 19:15 different subjects painting in a 19:16 different style are not believers they 19:27 often find the greatest enjoyment I 19:30 think in painting landscapes and 19:32 wildlife and things that are nature 19:35 there are reflections what God has 19:37 created I think people you know the idea 19:41 would be for everybody to have faith and 19:43 confidence that there is a creative and 19:46 a designer for the world around us but 19:48 even people who don't believe that seem 19:49 to see and appreciate the beauty that is 19:51 there but I think because I was born and 19:56 raised in the Christian home and 19:57 recognize the importance of this I see a 20:00 creator and everything around us and I 20:03 believe that the beauty and design and 20:05 all the laws of nature which are also 20:09 reflecting beautiful design are evidence 20:12 of God as the master artist and that's 20:14 the master designer of our world I The Creator Revealed 20:19 I'm looking now at the at the painting 20:23 that's immediately behind you and I can 20:25 see that that one's not complete yet but 20:27 it looks to me like you're actually 20:29 depicting God I'm guessing creating Adam 20:36 shaping Adam actually actually working 20:39 as a essentially a sculptor in yes it's 20:47 the last when I had 20:48 day 7 for finishing day sex so this is 20:52 my last one and this depicts Christ as a 20:55 creator for me Adam from the ground and 20:58 there'll be a glow over Adam almost like 21:01 a supernatural glow and it was plan D of 21:07 the most mammals were created and 21:10 several days after all botanical life 21:12 was created so this is kind of a 21:14 flourishing Eden ik environment where 21:17 Adam was first created you know Nathan 21:22 there's undeniable beauty and symmetry 21:25 in God's creation and I see it 21:28 everywhere but I wished I could look 21:30 through your eyes I'm always so 21:32 interested in a composition of your 21:35 artwork it's beautiful God's giving you 21:38 a true gift one of the one of the things 21:42 that I do see in that particular 21:43 painting and it jumps out at me as a as 21:45 a biologist is that Tiger down there you 21:50 I grew up in particularly during the 21:53 time that I was a child in Malaysia if 21:56 there was one thing I was taught to fear 21:58 it would be Tigers you know you didn't 22:01 go wandering off into the jungle for 22:03 some reason rather Cobras were ok but 22:06 those Tigers could really get you 22:11 so tell me a tell me a little bit about 22:14 your thinking and including this 22:16 interesting collection of animals along 22:22 with God creating the human being yes 22:28 [Music] 22:35 the tiger is especially amazing to me I 22:40 mean we have house cats that are a 22:41 little hint of what a tiger is but just 22:44 the thought of such a massive animal and 22:46 the fact that they are becoming more and 22:49 more endangered it's the reason why I 22:52 wanted to show one of the original 22:55 Tigers in my painting here but also a 22:57 variety of life 22:59 and not just North American but from 23:01 other continents got an elephant I've 23:04 got any what I'm calling a gazelle I'm 23:06 not coming out from Africa I'm not sure 23:08 exactly what species but I gave it a 23:10 name gizelle with gizelle by the way the 23:15 tiger reappears in day 7 as well I guess 23:19 it's just the tiger fell in love with 23:24 you know when I was a when I was a 23:27 little boy I had a pet monkey my mother 23:30 didn't think much of that pet I'm afraid 23:34 but he was fantastic and but I have to 23:38 admit I have to admit that there was a 23:45 desire and a fear when it came to to the 23:50 Thais I would love to have a pet this is 23:56 one of the truly beautiful things and 23:58 I'm sorry we can't be showing the tiger 24:00 right now because we are having some 24:02 Skype issues this is what technology 24:05 this is what technology does yeah oh 24:08 isn't that wonderful this this would be 24:10 day five I think that the thing that 24:14 that that kind of strikes me at an 24:19 emotional level with these paintings is 24:22 in fact seeing that's the Sabbath there 24:27 that's it is seeing these beautiful 24:32 creatures that unfortunately in in the 24:38 current world are problematic really 24:42 problematic yeah so I can I can still 24:44 hear Nathan unfortunately we can't see 24:46 him anymore but I want to thank you so 24:48 much for sharing your art with us and 24:50 with the rest of the world Nathan and 24:53 it's greatly appreciated thank you 24:58 Thank You Nathan so much I have a 25:00 beautiful picture everyone always tells 25:03 me that I have the heart of Mary I love 25:05 to sit at the feet of Jesus and learn 25:07 but I live in a Martha world so Nathan 25:12 did 25:12 beautiful picture Jesus Mary and Martha 25:15 Mary sitting at his feet Martha's 25:17 rattling the pots and pans and I feel 25:20 like a blend of the two you know I see 25:22 these sorts of things that I wonder 25:24 whether I haven't done something wrong 25:25 with my life maybe maybe I should have 25:28 succumbed to that temptation to be an 25:30 art major in college but there is so 25:33 much beauty out there so much so much 25:36 that really glorifies God and it's 25:40 fabulous to see artists sort of 25:44 worshipping God through the work that 25:47 they do can you do that with your 25:49 photography with my photography but also 25:51 I like to imagine with the work that I 25:54 do in general you know every one of us 25:57 no matter what it is that we do in life 25:58 each one of us is called to worship the 26:04 Creator and that's not something that we 26:06 do just when we're in church that's 26:09 something that we can do in our everyday 26:10 lives as we share the Creator with 26:14 others and I just want to encourage you 26:17 that would become next Sabbath go out 26:21 into God's creation after church and 26:23 look at what the Lord has done for us 26:27 worship the Creator 26:31 [Music] 26:53 you