Why Beauty Matters: A Christian Approach (With Improved Audio and Video)

Our website: www.justandsinn...
This is a newly edited version of a talk I gave last year on a Christian approach to beauty. After spending a number of hours working with AI software, I was eventually able to get this into a decent quality format.

[@maypalmer]

Dr. Cooper, I just finished thanking God for you. You have made a very meaningful impact on my life, faith in Christ as a Lutheran. Thank you, Brother for all you do for the Lord's Church. ❤

[@DrJordanBCooper]

Thank you! That is very much appreciated.

[@faithalonesaves]

Dr. Cooper's videos are most definitely a blessing. And I'm a Baptist

[@TheodenEdnewDoesDnD]

This is actually extremely helpful to me, specifically once you said that God is beauty. That makes sense. I struggle with identity issues and some of them stem from the desire to achieve beauty in my life. I'm a man and that causes me grief on this point, because people seem to have the idea that in order to have beauty, one must be female. I don't yet know how to deal with that idea. My point is this, where I have sinfully worried about the things that I enjoy as beautiful perhaps not continuing into the everlasting life, you have enlightened me to the fact that the ultimate beauty that gives the temporal things any beauty at all, will be first and foremost in that everlasting life. If evil cannot create anything, especially beauty, and instead destroys then I should have nothing to be concerned about in terms of "losing" beautiful things to enjoy as I go on into eternal joy.

[@logicaredux5205]

You really are a remarkable Theologian and philosopher Dr. Cooper. In the past, I have periodically expressed frustration with you. This was mainly my own frustration with the world as it is today and was quite misplaced. I sincerely beg your forgiveness and understanding. You are a great asset to Confessional Lutheranism.

[@DrJordanBCooper]

Thanks. No worries.

[@logicaredux5205]

@@DrJordanBCooper ❤️✝️

[@sierragrey7910]

Audio and video MUCH better. It was already one of my favorite lectures as to content. Now it is even better.

[@jordand5732]

Dr coop looking fly in the thumbnail.

[@solochristo491]

I've come to realize that it's not a lack of ideas or great orators to expound those ideas, or lack of access to said ideas, but something as simple as most people's attention spans will not allow them to absorb the fullness of what you're saying. Gen Z's attention span is literally around 15 to 30 seconds, but this is actually a mass phenomenon brought about by social media that affects people in their 30s, 40s, 50s, and even people older than this. Grandparents become addicted to social media because their grandchildren are on social media. It's all 15 second clips that provide dopamine hits, which is what makes it so addictive, which in turn has severely cut short the attention span of an entire generation and more. Tik tok has 3+ billion downloads. That's almost half the world population. As far as I know, I'm the only one of my friends who has never watched a single Tik Tok video. How are we to educate and impart values to a generation who can't even pay attention for longer than 30 seconds? I think that's a question we should all be thinking about. This might sound very sort of simplistic and perhaps a bit romantic, but I think one of the antidotes if you will is the Divine Service or Mass. I went to a private Catholic school growing up (though I am no longer Catholic), and I remember attending Mass that would last for hours multiple times a week. Not only in Mass, or Divine Service, do you connect with God, that which is beautiful, true and transcendent, but on a practical level you are imparted discipline, self control, and the ability to sit still and pay attention for hours on end. I think reflecting back, at least for me personally, this is ultimately the reason why I've never downloaded Tik Tok and am able to watch your lectures all the way through, and pay attention enough to absorb the meaning. Sorry for the long comment, but it would be hard to express fully in fewer words.

[@johnnylollard7892]

Very good lecture. Thank you Dr. Cooper.

[@dvinb]

Great video! Unrelated to the video: As a non-Lutheran, I wonder what Dr. Cooper‘s and other LCMS theologians‘ views on Martin Stephan and his defrocking in 1839 are and on C.F.W. Walther pretty much saving the Saxon Lutheran immigrant community and the LCMS, at least in Missouri. Do the origin and the accompanying struggles of the LCMS in Missouri of the 1840s shed a bad light on LCMS history in general? What are current views in the LCMS on the disagreements between Wilhelm Löhe and Walther concerning ecclesiology?

[@sbwende]

I always think it's funny hearing Americans put a S on the end of Lego or Duplo.

[@vicentearavena1526]

How should we argue for beauty when it comes to church buildings, church interior, liturgy and music?

[@weeaboolutheran]

Can you do a rundown on your outfit?

[@Kiwifactor46]

There are many arguments from logic for the existence of God. The Teleological, or Argument from design, states that God is the best explanation for the universe to exist, let alone to support life. The syllogism is stated as follows: 1. The fine-tuning of the universe is due to either necessity, chance, or design. 2. It is not due to necessity or chance. 3. Therefore, it is due to design. The list of things that exist necessarily, such as numbers, is a very short list, and the universe is not on it! As to chance, it has no ontological status; it does not exist as an entity with an ability or a will to cause anything, This leaves design as the only option. The Argument from objective beauty states that if God does not exist, objective beauty does not exist. Objective beauty exists, therefore God exists. An example of fine-tuning and design that I find fascinating is light. It is pure energy that is fundamental to our existence in so many ways. But beyond that, light also reveals a stunning spectrum of colors! We see this amazing beauty in shells, and flowers in the organic world, and in sunsets, prisms, and crystals in the inorganic. We see it in photographs of nebulae in the macro, and in the micro; a hummingbird's feather under a microscope. How could chance or necessity account for the biological ability of the countless irreducibly complex mechanisms in the cells of our eyes, nervous system and brains to perceive the reflection of this energy, and why, on pure naturalism would we have any emotional response to it? This is far beyond being necessary for mere human survival. Also, how could chance or necessity explain the intricacies of the engineering of our ears to convert acoustic waves into sound that we can hear, and why would we have an emotional response to it as well, and a desire to create beautiful music? This cannot be explained by chance or necessity, but only by the design of a loving creator, our God. The Argument from Beauty is a beautiful argument.

[@sierragrey7910]

Alas, Modernism came at a great cost. May God be pleased to shift the focus of man back into natire and transcendent truths.

[@lucasqueiroz23]

Hey there! Can you teach what lutherans think about Mary? Specifically, do lutherans believe in the perpetual virginity? (I know it's not the topic of this video, but I also don't know where else should I ask, so sorry for being inconvenient)

[@DrJordanBCooper]

Many Lutherans believe in semper Virgo, but as it isn't directly revealed in Scripture, we don't bind anyone to that belief.

[@lucasqueiroz23]

​@@DrJordanBCooperthanks!

[@shooterdownunder]

Since he’s trending right now, I’m wondering what your thoughts are on redeemed zoomer and his plans to reclaim the mainline Protestant churches

[@DrJordanBCooper]

I like the idea in theory, but I'm not sure how doable such a thing actually is. And I personally would not feel comfortable being in a body where I'd be in fellowship with female clergy, let alone all of the far more wild stuff in progressive churches.

[@kidflersh7807]

@@DrJordanBCooper I think the difference comes down to open vs closed communion

[@solafidedeum]

🕆 Mark 8:37-38 For what can a man give in return for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”🕆,. Grow in your faith, humble yourself, and surrender to the word and will of God. Let the Holy Spirit guide you. Let God’s Peace and Grace be with you (To The Reader). Praise God always. Amen. 🕆🙏🙌

[@saimbhat6243]

A bow tie!?? What for?

[@DrJordanBCooper]

What's wrong with bow ties?

[@saimbhat6243]

​@@DrJordanBCooper In my opinion it makes you look a bit too young. But it is just my opinion.

[@jeremyabrahamson2872]

@@saimbhat6243 It's Jordan Carlson.

[@anyanyanyanyanyany3551]

AI is certainly useful, but is it beautiful? 🤔

[@DrJordanBCooper]

A good question. I would say no.