This is the only internet site where you will get a comprehensive and integrated perspective on how Greek Philosophy and Christian Revelation came together to form Western Civilization and why the West is on the verge of collapse today. I welcome you if you are a first time visitor! Please check out the Table of Contents. I publish two posts a month of original material.
As mentioned in a previous post, after Abraham’s father Terah died in Haran, God renewed His call to Abraham to go to the land of Canaan. At that point, the text in Genesis 12:5 says:
Continue reading “15. Abraham Worships God in the Midst of the Canaanites”“He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan and they arrived there.”
“Now the LORD said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your relatives and your father’s household to the land that I will show you. And I will make you a great nation and I will bless you and make your name great so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and him who curses you I will curse and by you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’”
-Genesis 12:1-3
The above promise to Abraham has seven parts to it. The significance of this number would not have been lost on Abraham. The number seven in the Old Testament represents the concept of covenant and goes all the way back to the creation account in Genesis with the seven days of creation.1
Continue reading “14. God Makes a Covenant with Abraham”
Abraham left Ur at about the same time that wandering tribes were entering what would eventually become Greece. For reference, this was about 1200 years before Homer wrote the Iliad and the Odyssey.1
Continue reading “13. Abraham Called by God from Paganism to be a Blessing to the Nations”
Was Abraham an idol worshipper before he met God? The evidence seems to say yes.
Continue reading “12. Abraham the Worshipper of Strange Idols”
As Socrates is considered the father of philosophy in the West, so the patriarch Abraham is considered the father of faith for really the entire world. The three major monotheistic religions – Christianity, Judaism, and Islam – all claim Abraham as their forefather.1
Continue reading “11. Abraham, the Father of Faith”
Let us now leave 5th century B.C. Athens, Greece and take a trip back in time 1600 years to the city of Ur in Mesopotamia. A distance of 1400 miles separates the two cities. We leave the mild Mediterranean climate and the sophisticated life of the Athenians with their stately marble temples and travel to a semiarid climate in a much more rugged part of the world. As you can see from the map below, Ur was located in what is today southern Iraq.
Continue reading “10. Discover Abraham’s Birthplace of the Ancient City of Ur”
As we examine the life and impact of Socrates, we can see that there are many similarities between Jesus and Socrates. It’s not that the two men were on an equal plane, for Jesus is the Son of God and Socrates was a mere man. St. Paul states in his Epistle to the Colossians that “in Christ is hidden all of the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” So if Socrates was wise, and Christ is the embodiment of all wisdom, then Socrates must have derived his wisdom from Christ.
Continue reading “9. Socrates and Jesus Compared”
“The unexamined life is not worth living.”1
-Plato’s Apology, 38a
This now famous line, which Socrates spoke at his trial, has rippled throughout Western Civilization. If I could sum up Socrates’ legacy in one maxim, it would be this quote. It is imperative that we know ourselves and by extension the reason why we are here.
Socrates may have gotten this idea from the phrase, “know thyself (γνῶθι σεαυτόν), that was inscribed on the temple of Delphi.2 Or he may have first learned it by reading the works of Heraclitus. Regardless, the important thing is that he burned this idea of self-examination into the collective conscience of Western Civilization by proclaiming it as a non-negotiable as he faced death by execution.
The famous inscription on the Temple of Delphi was more than a maxim, it was a warning for those who wished to be initiated into the higher mysteries of the divine nature. One could not proceed into the higher mysteries without a proper self-understanding. Knowing thyself then was the doorway into union with the divine. And union with the divine was the catalyst through which the mysteries of the universe, both divine and human, would eventually unfold.
Continue reading “8. Socrates and the Unexamined Life”
What is the legacy of Socrates? For not leaving any writings behind, he had a tremendous impact on those who followed him1.
Continue reading “7. Socrates a Philosopher of Virtue and Truth”
Socrates died for his beliefs and this set him apart from all other philosophers that preceded him. He changed the course of Greek philosophy1.
Continue reading “6. Socrates, Martyr for the Truth”