A Pilgrimage Through the Institutes of the Christian Religion 1.5.12 part 2 of 2

A Pilgrimage Through the Institutes of the Christian Religion 1.5.12 (Part 2) — Calvinism Explained

Description:
In this second part of our pilgrimage through John Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion Book 1, Chapter 5, Section 12, we press into the final and most profound arguments of the Reformer’s case against human religion. Calvin exposes how the pride of intellect, the pretensions of philosophy, and the illusions of mysticism all conspire to blind mankind to the true knowledge of God. From the Egyptian temples to modern universities, he demonstrates that every attempt to know God apart from divine revelation ends in darkness, contradiction, and idolatry.

This series — A Pilgrimage Through the Institutes — seeks to recover Reformed theology for modern ears through exegetical teaching, historical exposition, and apologetic application. It is produced in Canada and qualifies as Canadian Content under CRTC guidelines (Canadian writer, production, and location), contributing to national cultural development through theological education and the preservation of Christian philosophical heritage.

Niche: Calvinism Explained — Reformed Theology, Christian Philosophy, Biblical Apologetics, Canadian Religious Education

✠ Summary of Topics

✠ The more learned the man, the more deceptive the error — human wisdom, when divorced from revelation, becomes the mother of falsehood.
✠ Philosophical speculation about divine unity deepens confusion — the loftier the reasoning, the darker the conclusions.
✠ Egyptian mysticism masqueraded as rational religion — ancient idolatry cloaked itself in the garments of intellect and ritual.
✠ No man has ever devised a religious system without corrupting truth — the universal testimony of history confirms man’s inability to create truth from blindness.
✠ Philosophical confusion emboldened atheism — the contradictions of the “wise” laid the groundwork for unbelief.
✠ Atheists err in using ignorance to deny God — darkness does not prove the absence of light; it proves the absence of sight.
✠ The failure of both learned and unlearned proves man’s incapacity — both the scholar and the peasant fall equally before the revelation of God.
✠ The story of Simonides — a poetic illustration of reason’s limits before the infinite.
✠ Natural theology results in confusion and contradiction — the mind of man, unanchored from Scripture, becomes a labyrinth of error.

⏱️ Time Codes

00:00 — Intro Song
06:48 — The more learned the man, the more deceptive the error
01:10:14 — Philosophical speculations about divine unity deepen confusion
01:47:20 — Egyptian mysticism masqueraded as rational religion
02:35:55 — No man has ever devised a religious system without corrupting truth
03:32:45 — Philosophical confusion emboldened atheism
04:30:41 — Atheists err in using ignorance to deny God
05:17:34 — The failure of both learned and unlearned proves man’s incapacity
06:23:04 — The story of Simonides
06:42:13 — Natural theology results in confusion and contradiction

📚 Context

In Part 2, Calvin concludes his demonstration that reason without revelation leads not to truth, but to ruin. From the vanity of pagan sages to the impotence of atheism, he shows that only God’s self-disclosure in Scripture can deliver man from the labyrinth of his own intellect. This teaching is foundational to presuppositional apologetics, later echoed by John Owen, Cornelius Van Til, Greg Bahnsen, and Francis Schaeffer — all of whom confirm Calvin’s central thesis: the fallen mind cannot ascend to God; it must be illuminated by Him.

🕊️ CRTC & Canadian Content Statement

This video is an original Canadian educational production focused on theology, philosophy, and cultural analysis from a Reformed Protestant perspective. Created, recorded, and edited entirely in Canada, it contributes to Canada’s recognized fields of educational and religious programming under the CRTC’s cultural and linguistic development policies.

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