Seminars: University Seminars

Legacy of Truth – Unshakable Foundations Series
(This Series Utilizes PowerPoint Animated Slides & Video Clips)

“The things best to know are first principles and causes. For from them and through them all other things may be known.” Aristotle


Founding Principles of American Culture:
What are the founding principles that originally united the diversity of America? Why has every major Supreme Court decision starting from 1962 been in favor of removing God from the government? What are the consequences of such decisions and what are we teaching our young people? This session will examine these questions and try to show why, more than ever, the United States of America must rediscover the principles of unity in diversity (university) and the elements for an enduring moral consensus. As Colgate Philosopher Huntington Terrell said, “We don’t have to be converted. It’s what we have in common.” Terrell calls for a move “forward to the fundamentals, in which people put their lives where their mouths have been: in line with the country’s founding principles” (Ezra Bowen, “Looking to Its Roots,” Time, May 25, 1987, 29).

The Christian Worldview & Other Religions:
How many ways can we interpret reality? Is all truth relative? Does God exist? Are moral laws mere conventions of societies? Can every way be true? This session will seek to develop a way to test the credibility of worldviews, in an objective and academic manner. To help accomplish this task, we turn to Aristotle who first noted that every field of knowledge begins with certain truths he referred to as first principles. First principles are not conclusions found at the end of a set of premises, but rather premises from which conclusions are drawn. They are axioms, givens, or self-evident truths. Aristotle explained how these first principles form the unshakable foundations upon which all thought and knowledge rests. This session is intended to confirm Aristotle’s observations and show why only the God of the Bible provides an ultimate rational justification for first principles and the academic disciplines.

If God, Why Evil?
This basic question will be answered, in light of the fact that only the theist can offer a valid answer to this question. We will show how the root cause of all evil is either a direct or indirect result of Human Freedom, which is a necessary precondition for true love. When people abuse their freedom, it results in what we call evil. The other questions that will be addressed in this session are: “What is evil?” “Where did evil come from?” “Why doesn’t God stop evil?”

Jesus—The Greatest Philosopher of All Time
The essential problem with trying to share the Christian worldview in a multicultural society that views itself as postmodern and post-Christian is often met with apprehension by the average Christian. Imagine standing in front of the Cobb County school board and being given 15 minutes to articulate and then defend your view of the origin of life. What would you say? How would you say it???? What if Jesus were given that assignment today. What would he say and how would he say it? This session will examine the methodology of the greatest philosopher of all time—Jesus—in order to learn how his method of handling tough questions (Matthew 21) can be utilized today in solving the problem of communicating the truth in a multicultural society—across worldviews.

The Unique Person of Jesus Christ As The Only Way To God—Why?
Here we will turn to Jesus for his analysis of the human condition and see what he has to say about ethics (his first principle of ethics), the root cause of humanity’s moral disease, and the permanent cure for that disease (The Gospel). Some questions only have one answer—some diseases only have one cure: the cure for humanity’s moral disease is the person and nature of Jesus Christ. The decision one makes on whether to accept or reject the teachings of Jesus on this topic, carries with it temporal and eternal consequences: a destiny of eternal bliss or eternal misery. Every person has been given enough evidence to make a rational decision about the need to turn to God for help and whether or not to believe in Jesus.