Now that you've learned about Natural Law in part 1 of this 3-part series, how do you start discerning principles that you can apply to your life, enabling you access the power of Natural Law?  The answer:  First Principles.

“First principles have been written by the finger of God on the very hearts of men.” ~Thomas Reid

First Principles are the starting point from which all other principles flow. Understanding them gives you the starting point to begin searching for true principles. 

In this episode First Principles will come to life as you learn:

What First Principles are and how to recognize them

Why principled leadership makes all the difference

What great minds say about First Principles 

Why it’s crucial we teach our children First Principles

Listener Guide:

Use the time stamps below to skip to any part of the podcast.

1:35  Review of Natural Law 

4:12  First Principles 101

5:35  A comparison of the French and Scottish Enlightenments

10:28  Why principled leadership makes all the difference

15:05  Why Thomas Paine named his impactful book “Common Sense.”

22:00  How First Principles are found uniformly in religious doctrines globally

25:00 How to recognize First Principles 

Examples of First principles:

Nothing exists without a cause

There is a right and wrong

People should choose right

People should be held accountable for their choices

Ideas of fairness

Law of the harvest

All people should tell the truth

Those who have more should help those who have less

Respect for human life

A few quotes from this episode:

“First principles…have been written by the finger of God on the very hearts of men.”    Thomas Reid

“The holy scripture is to me and always will be the constant guide of my ascent, and I will always hearken to it as containing the infallible truth relating to things of highest concernment.  And I shall presently condemn or quit any  opinion of mine as soon as I am shown it is contrary to any revelation in the scripture.” ~John Locke

“Great events in history are determined by all kinds of factors, but the most important single one is always the quality of the people in charge, and never was this principle more convincingly demonstrated than in the struggle for American independence.” ~Paul Johnson

“A huge part of what we’re about is becoming certain types of women and certain types of mothers, so we can pass on certain knowledge and insights to our children...Our leadership in our homes makes all the difference because then we raise the leaders for tomorrow, and when they’re principle centered like our founding generation was, it makes all the difference to the future.” ~Audrey Rindlisbacher

“And shall we just carelessly allow children to hear any casual tales which may be devised by casual persons, and to receive into their minds ideas for the most part the very opposite of those which we should wish them to have when they are grown up?” ~Plato

 “[First Principles] come as a package from God, and to me, they are a huge testament,…faith builder of the reality of God and of the reality of his all-powerful, all-knowing way of being, and…once you say there’s a God, and once you say there’s first principles, then you can just get busy discovering...and living [principles]…That’s what’s so empowering about it.” ~Audrey Rindlisbacher

“Of first principles, we see some by induction, some by perception, and some by habituation.  Anyone who is to listen intelligently to lecturers about what is noble and just,..must have been brought up in good habits, for the fact is the starting point,