Thales
Renewing Your Mind
Ligonier Ministries
4.8 • 5.3K Ratings
🗓️ 13 January 2025
⏱️ 26 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Ideas have consequences. Whether we realize it or not, the history of philosophy influences the way we think today. Today, R.C. Sproul introduces us to Thales and the ancient philosophers.
With your donation of any amount, request R.C. Sproul’s book The Consequences of Ideas and his companion teaching series as a special edition DVD collection. You’ll also receive lifetime digital access to the messages and study guide:
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Meet Today’s Teacher:
R.C. Sproul (1939–2017) was known for his ability to winsomely and clearly communicate deep, practical truths from God’s Word. He was founder of Ligonier Ministries, first minister of preaching and teaching at Saint Andrew’s Chapel, first president of Reformation Bible College, and executive editor of Tabletalk magazine.
Meet the Host:
Nathan W. Bingham is vice president of ministry engagement for Ligonier Ministries, executive producer and host of Renewing Your Mind, host of the Ask Ligonier podcast, and a graduate of Presbyterian Theological College in Melbourne, Australia. Nathan joined Ligonier in 2012 and lives in Central Florida with his wife and four children.
Renewing Your Mind is a donor-supported outreach of Ligonier Ministries. Explore all of our podcasts: https://www.ligonier.org/podcasts
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The question of the ancient philosophers was also the deeper question of why. |
| 0:06.7 | Is there any purpose for birds? |
| 0:10.0 | Is there a purpose for wind and for water, for stars, and for the moon, and is there any purpose to human existence? |
| 0:20.0 | They're asking for the goal or the end. This is a |
| 0:23.4 | profoundly theological question. |
| 0:31.2 | For millennia, philosophers have sought to answer the question of why. Why do we exist? What is the goal of life? This is a |
| 0:40.2 | question that most of us ask at some point as well. Who am I? And why am I here? You're listening |
| 0:46.7 | to the Monday edition of Renewing Your Mind as we begin another week of study with R.C. Sprawl. |
| 0:53.4 | As Dr. Sprole said, the question of why is deeply theological. |
| 0:58.5 | But as people have answered that question differently, those ideas have had consequences and |
| 1:03.9 | have helped shape the world in which you and I live. Here's R.C. Spraw, as he takes us back to the |
| 1:09.8 | 6th century BC, to a time before Jesus was born, |
| 1:14.2 | even before Socrates was born, and introduces us to a man named Thales and the question that he was seeking to answer. |
| 1:24.7 | I remember back in the days of radio that one of the popular programs on the air, which was later then made into a television program, was called Truth or Consequences, where the contestants would be asked a question, and if they failed to give the proper response, then they'd have to go through some kind of silly penalty. |
| 1:45.2 | Well, as we gather now for this course, an overview of the history of philosophy, |
| 1:52.4 | I would like to think of this course in terms of the idea of truth and consequences. |
| 2:07.4 | Because sometimes it's important for us to stop and think that ideas have consequences. In fact, just about everything that happens in this world is preceded by some |
| 2:17.4 | idea. An artist doesn't produce his work without first having some |
| 2:23.3 | concept in his mind of what it is he wants to create in his medium. But far beyond the realm of |
| 2:31.3 | art and music, the whole concept of political theory by which nations |
| 2:37.0 | rise and by which they fall are all related in the final analysis to ideas, to concepts. |
| 2:45.0 | And so it's very important, particularly for Christians, to understand something about the historical process of theoretical |
... |
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