The Classical Mommy Blog

What can man know about God? What can we, as finite individuals, discern ‎about the infinite? These questions have been asked in every society and every ‎age. Man exhibits a religious impulse. At the very least, he must have some idea ‎of divinity fixed in his mind. In this, even atheists can be categorized with the ‎rest of humanity, since they define themselves as rejecting the concept of God. ‎But because the search is common to all, myriads of different ideas have sprung ‎up. This presents a problem. On the one hand, we have diverse concepts of what ‎we can know about God. On the other hand, only one concept can be true. But ‎this issue is multifaceted, and can be approached from many different angles. As ‎we see in the Bible, how we stand before God greatly influences what we can ‎know about Him. And God is present to all areas of our humanity, from faith ‎through to experience and reason.

Philosophers have long aspired to prove the existence of God by means of ‎rational argument. Aristotle and Aquinas used the principles of cause and effect ‎to demonstrate the existence of an “Unmoved Mover” or First Cause. Anselm ‎formulated the renowned “ontological argument,” claiming that the very idea of ‎God necessarily implied His being. Other philosophers, however, notably David ‎Hume, refuted the theistic proofs, maintaining that God’s existence could never ‎be demonstrated by means of pure logic. Who was correct? Is it possible to ‎prove the existence of God on entirely rational grounds? More importantly, is it ‎reasonable even to attempt to formulate an “absolute proof” of God’s existence?‎

Christians often struggle to understand the relationship between the city of God ‎and the city of Man. Should civil society be brought under the sway of Biblical ‎principle or should unbelievers be allowed to choose for themselves whether to ‎follow the rules given in the Bible? Aquinas answer to this question is clear and ‎yet flexible. After giving a basic presentation of his position, this lecture will ‎attempt to develop a prudent understanding of how to deal with a portion of civil ‎law that has both secular and spiritual repercussions- divorce. ‎

‎“What makes a Christian education Christian?” Is it education taught by ‎Christian teachers? Education learned by Christian children and youth? ‎Education concerned with Christian subjects? Education with devotions “on the ‎side”? ‎
Why do parents choose to pay the price, financially and otherwise, to send their ‎children to a Christian academy or home school when there is a public school ‎nearby that our tax dollars are going to support, whether or not our children ‎benefit from it?‎

Christians are routinely vilified as “homophobic” for opposing “gay marriage.” ‎‎ Yet even Thomas Jefferson viewed homosexuality as “the infamous crime ‎against nature” (citing Sir William Blackstone: Commentaries, 1765-69), based ‎not only on the Bible, but also the conclusions of ancient pagan philosophers. ‎What did Plato and Aristotle think about homosexuality, and what can that ‎teach us about “natural law” (as referred to in the Declaration of Independence: ‎‎“the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God”) and a proper civil response to “gay ‎marriage.”‎