Thanks, Paul! Appreciate the subscribe too! Share the show with your friends so we can get that number up and continue having great guests like Os and Louis.
Why would we want to look to Plato for partial truths when one can look to the Bible for the clearly revealed truth given by God? Plato may not have had the revelation of the Jews in his time but why should we look to his views of partial truth when the Bible reveals "the" fuller truth of reality? The author speaks of justice but to whom should be looking for a definition of justice? Plato's Republic or God's revelation? The Bible teaches that God has given each of us knowledge that He already exists. But the reality is that we all have turned away from what we know to be true in order to do our own thing. C.S. Lewis stated that he had to come kicking and screaming against what he knew was true because it meant he would have to give up being lord of his own life. He knew God exists, but like all of us do, we seek to go our own way. While we can use revelations from other philosophers to reinforce the revelation of God, we need to be careful not to accept that revelation over Scripture nor mix it with pagan philosophy. Ultimately we answer the question of who determines what reality is? God or men like Plato and Aristotle? These pagans can describe some aspects of reality that they observe in nature but that revelation always has to be measured by the more clearly revealed truth given by God. Church history reveals that when men mixed philosophical ideas within Christianity the church went into the ditch. Christian leaders accepted the partial truths of philosophy which then corrupted the church when these ideas were mixed with God's revelation. Examples include the impact of platonic dualism that still influences major portions of the churches as well as Socratic ideas that had a major impact on the medieval church and the way it viewed reality. Nancy Pearcey has written a great book describing the impact these ideas have had historically on the church in her work "Total Truth." We need to be careful when studying philosophies and ideologies that we do not pick up their defined ideas and make them a part of our own thinking in contrast to biblical truth. This has plagued church leaders throughout our church history. Platonic dualism is still a major problem that has led to a pietistic dualism that has rendered many Christians impotent in the world today. Vishal Mangawaldi has written some important books which shows the power of cultural transformation when the faith is presented in a uncorrupted manner (The Book That Made Your World and Truth and Transformation). Francis Schaeffer, Joe Boot, John Frame and Greg Bahnsen are also good resources that discuss this issue from a Christian perspective.
I'm impressed that you can have people like Os Guiness and Louis Markos as guests on your channel but have only 165 subscribers.
Thanks, Paul! Appreciate the subscribe too! Share the show with your friends so we can get that number up and continue having great guests like Os and Louis.
There’s a book: CHRIST THE ETERNAL TAO that discusses Lao Tzu’s preChristian vision of Logos.
lecture about this book
czcams.com/video/0yf0Z_9QLpc/video.html
cf. Fides et Ratio (14 September 1998) | John Paul II
Why would we want to look to Plato for partial truths when one can look to the Bible for the clearly revealed truth given by God? Plato may not have had the revelation of the Jews in his time but why should we look to his views of partial truth when the Bible reveals "the" fuller truth of reality? The author speaks of justice but to whom should be looking for a definition of justice? Plato's Republic or God's revelation?
The Bible teaches that God has given each of us knowledge that He already exists. But the reality is that we all have turned away from what we know to be true in order to do our own thing. C.S. Lewis stated that he had to come kicking and screaming against what he knew was true because it meant he would have to give up being lord of his own life. He knew God exists, but like all of us do, we seek to go our own way.
While we can use revelations from other philosophers to reinforce the revelation of God, we need to be careful not to accept that revelation over Scripture nor mix it with pagan philosophy.
Ultimately we answer the question of who determines what reality is? God or men like Plato and Aristotle? These pagans can describe some aspects of reality that they observe in nature but that revelation always has to be measured by the more clearly revealed truth given by God. Church history reveals that when men mixed philosophical ideas within Christianity the church went into the ditch. Christian leaders accepted the partial truths of philosophy which then corrupted the church when these ideas were mixed with God's revelation. Examples include the impact of platonic dualism that still influences major portions of the churches as well as Socratic ideas that had a major impact on the medieval church and the way it viewed reality.
Nancy Pearcey has written a great book describing the impact these ideas have had historically on the church in her work "Total Truth." We need to be careful when studying philosophies and ideologies that we do not pick up their defined ideas and make them a part of our own thinking in contrast to biblical truth. This has plagued church leaders throughout our church history. Platonic dualism is still a major problem that has led to a pietistic dualism that has rendered many Christians impotent in the world today. Vishal Mangawaldi has written some important books which shows the power of cultural transformation when the faith is presented in a uncorrupted manner (The Book That Made Your World and Truth and Transformation). Francis Schaeffer, Joe Boot, John Frame and Greg Bahnsen are also good resources that discuss this issue from a Christian perspective.
So it makes logical sense to accept Patristic Christian Platonism which embraces Apokatastasis …