Foundations Restored–A Perspective on Origins

A recently published set of 15 DVDs called Foundations Restored by a group of Catholics has received excellent reviews. “I can’t say enough about this series! FOUNDATIONS RESTORED is simply outstanding.” “Unbelievable. It is an amazing series.” “I have heard many of the arguments of this excellent presentation before, but never so completely, so thoroughly–even astonishingly–presented.” “Having watched all the videos, this series is not a bunch of crazy fundamentalists pushing the creationist line.” “Foundations Restored brilliantly and thoroughly exposes evolution as not a science, but a philosophy, and a world view.”

“What can I know?” “I think, therefore I am.” Rene Descartes (sometimes called the Father of Philosophy) ushered in an age of Reason and Rationalism which displaced the Scholastic Period (or Age of Revelation). For many centuries, Christianity had held sway in Europe. But then came the Age of Reason, and belief in Revelation waned.

With the ideas of Descartes and other philosophers, materialism took hold in Europe. Materialism is the belief that material is all we have, allowing no room for the supernatural. It is an old philosophy known among the Greeks.  Epicurus taught that natural science did not need a creator and that the pursuit of pleasure was the main goal in life. Lucretius advocated a type of evolution–random changes occurring by atoms and survival of the fittest. Shortly after the printing press was developed, Lucretius writings were published and widely disseminated.

Descartes ideas of rejecting anything that reason can’t tell us pushed the Christian thought of Biblical revelation into the background. The traditional idea that we needed God to explain how man and the world came to be was refuted by several philosophers and naturalists of the time, including Charles Darwin and his book, Origin of Species. Darwin’s work was just what the Descartes philosophy needed to complete its idea that we can only know what reason tells us, extending even to origins.

Rationalism and evolution rejected any supernatural intervention. Revelation by God was questioned. Biblical higher criticism further eroded the idea of revelation. Along with the rejection of Genesis came rejection of other parts of the Bible, including miracles.

Fast forward a couple hundred years and we see a culture which lauds reason and pleasure and negates the supernatural. Young people are leaving the church in droves. As society embraces a materialistic philosophy and Darwinian evolution, ironically, we now have the science to question Darwinian evolution. The genetic code shows us that mutation could not drive a microbes to man evolution and the trail of the Y chromosome appears to negate the age of the earth theories.

Is the philosophy of materialism correct? Is there only matter? Is the only goal of life pleasure? At one point in my life I realized that the only way we can know the questions of origin is if God told us, and I believe He has. I believe God gave man the Bible. Since God made man, it is only reasonable that He would tell us the purpose He intended for us.

Can we restore man’s belief in God’s revelation? The Biblical revelation tells us that there is a grand theme of redemption of dying man restored by Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection, ushering in LIFE in this world and the next.

Note: My book, Sacred Strands, the Story of a Redeemer Woven through History is a unique apologetic which you can purchase here.