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Pactum Institute Press Release — Christian Education Under Attack From EU

https://www.pactuminstitute.com/press-releases/children-s-right-to-christian-education-is-threatened-by-the-european-commission?fbclid=IwAR3-pcGoBo9JUYCAfnzTb12R679_FNyOlzxD4t35Cmt00V4k7rAmnqlBdUI

The superiority of a Christian education over other philosophies of education is evident in the fact that only in the Christian faith the unity of truth is upheld in that all truths find their coherence in the fact that they are all God-given. Facts, derived from the Latin word “facere”, which means “to create” ultimately derive their meaning from their Creator. Furthermore, the correct interpretation of facts are intrinsically tied to the recognition of Jesus Christ as Logos, in and through Whom all realities find their origin, meaning and purpose. Thus, in an ideal world, all children should receive a Christian education since all alternatives are substandard and inferior. However, given the current state of Western civilization, this ideal will probably, for the time being, remain elusive. Nonetheless, the Pactum Institute is dedicated to promoting the right of every child to receive the best education and so, wherever this right is threatened, the Institute and its members regard it as our duty to vocally speak up against such violations of children’s rights.

Sermonic Tidbit — 26 July 2015

John 6:32 Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

We would not have done this text justice though if we were to have stopped here. The fact that the Lord Christ is a greater Moses is only penultimate to the thrust of the Miracle. As we learn later in this chapter the ultimate purpose of the Miracle is to point to Christ as He who is the Bread from Heaven. The Lord Christ is the bread of God who comes down from heaven and gives His life for the World (John 6:33).

This passage reminds us again that there is no life apart from Christ who was broken by God on the Cross as God’s Bread for God’s people. Those who refuse this bread of heaven remain dead from their spiritual malnutrition. Christ was broken that we might be made whole and there is no wholeness for those who remain apart from Christ crucified, risen, and ascended.
Again we are reminded that there is no life outside of Christ. All adherents of other religions must repent before Christ and His work on the Cross. If men remain outside of Christ they remain outside of God’s favor. Because we are pro-Christ we are anti all other religions and proclaim that those religions are death and the adherents of those other religions are but dead men walking.

Sermon teaser II

Charlotte CRC — Morning service
26 July, 2015

Trueman Does Heidegger

If reason you cannot stand
The poet might be your man
He’s light in the loafers
plays tune on his shofars
he’s better than the rational caveman

“In such a world, arguments, even irrefutable arguments, will not suffice. We need something more comprehensive, something to capture imaginations. We need a philosophy of undergraduate education that offers visions of beauty, that connects the fields of knowledge our modern world has torn apart and isolated, and that speaks to the human desire for meaning. A good start might be making the study of poetry, that medium which at its best makes human language carry almost more significance than it can bear, a compulsory course for freshmen. If the narrative and aesthetic of the world are gripping, then we must show that ours are more gripping, rooted as they are in real beauty and real truth.”

Carl “Heidegger” Truman

Martin Heidegger was an Existentialist theologian who wrote reams and reams of theology and in one large volume he comes to the end and gives this advice; “Listen to the poet.”

Methinks that Truman is channeling Heidegger who being Existentialist was also at the same time neo-orthodox.

In this paragraph, we read our British Ph.D. make the case of “poetry” over “argumentation.” If he is making an argument for poetry wouldn’t he be better served using poetry to “argue” for poetry? Why provide a rational argument in favor of poetry when poetry is superior to the rational argument?

This idea that somehow the imagination bypasses argumentation and reason is just utter tripe. Even if the imagination “connects” it connects on the basis of some shared univocal point of meaning that was arrived at by the rationality of “line upon line and precept upon precept.”

I have no problem teaching poetry to undergrads. I love poetry. But the argument that poetry is going to circumvent argumentation is an argument that only a Ph.D. could come up with.

The False God of “Science”

“Modern recent studies in the history of science have shown that the pseudo-sciences continued to be influential well into the seventeenth century. As a result, these studies have further undercut the original premise that the beginnings of modern empirical, scientific, and inductive methods can be clearly differentiated from medieval, and Renaissance theology, pseudo-science, and occult philosophy. These re-evaluations by historians of science point the way toward the general and much-needed revaluation of the relative influence of science and pseudo-science on the intellectual foundations of the modern epoch as a whole.”

Stephen McKnight

Sacralizing the Secular — p. 22

Interestingly, Aristotle said that philosophy is the queen of the sciences but here Aristotle was wrong because philosophy is but a handmaiden to the Queen of the sciences which is Theology.  In either case, “Science” as a neutral and objective body of ideas does not exist. Ancient tradition claimed a foundation in philosophy. The genesis of modern science where it has had the feature of being scientific is in theology, as notable historians (e.g. Whitehead) have acknowledged. “Objectivity” has a basis in Christian philosophy or Christian theology, or else has no objective basis. The Christian must not be cowed by “science has proven…” Rather, the contest is the philosophy of ultimate despair vs. revelation of truth.

Again we would insist that science is dependent upon Theology. Theology remains the Queen of the Sciences. I couldn’t give a rat’s tush when Fauci, for example, tells me that “I’m just following the science,” because I don’t know what theology he’s following that yields up his “Science.”

Consider this scenario. Two scientists stumble upon the same fossil. One of the scientists is an Evolutionist. The other scientist is a Creationist. One scientist looks at the shared fossil and says … “This fossil, by the principles of science, proves Creation in 6 days.” The other scientists looks at the shared fossil and says “this fossil, by the principle of science, proves Evolution and that the world took billions and billions of years to come into existence.”

Same fossil… different science.

The difference is not in the fossil. The difference is in the science because the different sciences are what they are because of the different theological presuppositions.

Science is dependent upon theology.