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Introduction: One of the most
ludicrous, self-contradictory and reprehensible philosophies of
all times is modern humanism. The basis for the philosophy is
found in “The
Humanist Manifesto II”, “As nontheists, we begin with
humans not God, nature not deity.” While some secular humanists
believe in a god of some kind, the most important being to them is
the human being. The individual human being’s needs and desires
are all-important and govern the whole view of the humanist.
Consider some of the following tenets of Humanism as explained in
“The Humanist Manifesto II”
written in 1973: Religion First: … We
believe, however, that traditional dogmatic or authoritarian
religions that place revelation, God, ritual, or creed above human
needs and experience do a disservice to the human species… But
we reject those features of traditional religious morality that
deny humans a full appreciation of their own potentialities and
responsibilities … Second: … Promises of immortal salvation or fear of
eternal damnation are both illusory and harmful. They distract
humans from present concerns, from self-actualization, and from
rectifying social injustices … Ethics The
Individual (http:www.infidels.org/org/aha/documents/manifesto2.html)
These ideas, and others expressed in the Humanist
Manifesto II, can be simply summed up. The needs, desires,
goals and plans of the individual are all-important. Nothing else
truly matters. Lip service is paid to the whole of the human
family. However, the real concept is that if every individual is
free to act in what he believes is his own best interests, guided
by his own feelings of right and wrong and not held accountable by
anyone else’s standards, then society will be benefited.
Humanism is flawed and dangerous. But I haven’t brought all this
to your attention to open fire on secular humanists. I have
brought this up because of a different individual who has been
infiltrating churches for years. He began by infiltrating the more
liberal of mainstream denominations. He then crept stealthily into
more conservative churches. And of late, I am convinced he has
made his way even into what we would call sound churches. This man
is the “Christian Humanist.” That is, he is the man who, while
claiming to be Christian, is actually guided by the tenets of
humanism more so than the doctrine of Christ, perhaps without even
realizing it. As all false teachers can be known, so can these be
known by their fruit (Matthew
7:16). There are three marks of the Christian Humanist.
Depending on how entrenched in the humanistic philosophy he is,
the Christian Humanist will display any or all of these traits. Discussion: I.
“There is
no real standard for faith and conduct” A.
The basis
for secular humanism is that no standard giver exists, therefore,
no objective standard exists. Thus, we are all free to do what we
want. B.
The
Christian Humanist believes in a standard giver. He even believes
God has given a standard. The problem is the Christian Humanist
views the standard in such a way as to make it useless for
governing our lives. 1.
Some suggest
that because God is love (I
John 4:8), He would never condemn someone to an eternity in
hell. So the specifics of the standard really don’t matter. 2.
Some cast
doubt on the accuracy of the things revealed in scripture. For
instance, I once heard someone say, “Don’t trust the words of
Paul, trust the actions of Jesus.” The suggestion was that the
mood of the authors affected the message so we can’t really
trust what they wrote. 3.
Some suggest
the Word has been revealed in such a confusing way that many
things are just left in doubt. How often have we heard someone
suggest that words used in clear passages like John
3:5 or Acts 2:38 have more than one meaning, so we cannot be dogmatic about any
position on water baptism? 4.
Some suggest
that as long as Jesus is our Lord, the specifics of the standard
don’t matter. 5.
A subtle
form of this comes from those who believe there is continuing
revelation. When we understand the truth from I
Corinthians 13 that we have all the will of God and there is
no more continuing revelation, we clearly see supposed modern
revelation springs forth only from the desires of the
“prophet’s” heart. For this person there is no real
objective standard. C.
The
Christian Humanist forgets that God has commanded us to understand
His will (Ephesians 5:17).
Jesus taught that His word would judge us (John
12:48). They have neglected that the kindness of God does not
take away from His severity against those who do not obey His
standard (Romans 11:22). The Christian Humanist is correct that some aspects
of the scripture are difficult (II
Peter 3:15-16). But understanding the scripture is not
impossible. Instead of indefinitely hiding behind our own lack of
understanding, the Christian Humanist needs to realize his duty to
understand it and start studying. There is no doubt that
Christianity is a growth process and my lack of understanding of
something today does not of necessity mean I will go to hell if I
died today. The Christian Humanist, however, makes a leap using
this concept of growth to allow himself and others to continue in
ignorance indefinitely. II.
“I can
believe and practice whatever I want.” A.
The secular
humanist, believing there is no standard-giver and no standard by
which to live our lives, believes each individual is allowed to do
whatever he wants. B.
The
Christian Humanist, while giving lip-service to the standard-giver
and His revealed standard, has made the word of no effect in their
own lives. Like the Pharisees of Mark
7:13, they invalidate the word of God with their own personal
“traditions.” Some Christian Humanists divide these two things
apart saying I can believe whatever I want as long as I don’t
practice sin. For example, I can believe whatever I want about
divorce as long as I don’t actually get one. But in the end, if
I can believe whatever I want, I can practice whatever I want. C.
We see this
aspect of Christian Humanism defended in several ways. 1.
Some defend
their beliefs and practices by claiming we can’t really
understand the scripture. Therefore, we get to choose between the
many possibilities that are presented by the scripture. “If you
want to get baptized based on Acts 2:38, that is fine. However, I don’t want to, I prefer to
follow John 3:16 and
just believe.” They make the scripture seem contradictory and
confused. 2.
Some have
the idea that my personal happiness is God’s ultimate goal for
my life. That is, God wants me to have happiness based on my
determination of what happiness is. Thus, my case is always an
exception to the standard of scripture because I won’t be happy
if I do what the Bible says. The Bible tells most others what to
practice, but my circumstances are an exception and I can do what
I want. 3.
The
Christian Humanist has misunderstood the concept of studying for
one’s self. Because our responsibility is to study the word of
God for ourselves and not just rely on what others say, they
translate that to mean I am allowed to believe and practice
whatever I want. Having the responsibility to study for myself
does not mean I get to believe and practice whatever I want. It
means I must have personal understanding of the truth not just a
dependence upon the study of others. I am still required to
believe and practice what God has revealed and demanded. D.
The
Christian Humanist must remember the words of Paul in Romans 2:5-8. God will judge us according to our deeds. Thus, the
idea that I am allowed to do whatever I want falls short. I
recognize that you don’t have to believe what I teach. I might
be wrong. On the other hand, if I am right and you don’t listen,
when you stand before God on judgment all the posturing and
rhetoric about the difficulty of understanding the word or
whatever else you might choose to say will not provide
justification for you. We are not allowed to believe and practice III.
“Nobody
can say anything to me about what I believe and practice.” A.
The secular
humanist is adamant that he is his own god. He gets to do whatever
he wants and you cannot say anything about it. After all, you are
not my judge, I am. B.
The
Christian Humanist typically believes all the other aspects of
this humanism in order to get to this point. “I don’t want
you, your church or your god saying anything about how I live my
life and serve my god.” We also see this aspect of Christian
Humanism in different ways. 1.
At this
point, the Christian Humanist also uses the standard defense,
“You’re judging me. Jesus said don’t judge.” Of course,
that is a misunderstanding of Jesus’ teaching against
hypocritical and hypercritical judgment in Matthew 7:1. Amazingly enough, the Christian Humanist gets into a
contradictory position here. After all, if judging others is not
allowed, how can we judge against them for judging? 2.
Many
Christian Humanists continue a false understanding of Romans 14 that whenever we have a difference of opinion on doctrine,
belief and practice that we must accept each other, even when we
are convinced the other is sinning. Romans
14 does not teach if I am convicted that something is a sin, I
must keep that to myself and allow you to go on in sin. What it
teaches is if I am in doubt about something, I should not
participate in it, but I should accept you even though you may
involve yourself in it. Additionally, you must not try to get me
to go against my conscience. 3.
Other
Christian Humanists try to sound pragmatic and say they are just
trying to keep the church from splintering. That is, we have no
right to hold others accountable to God’s word when their
opinion contradicts the Bible because they “may not get it”
and then we will splinter the church. The fact that some will not
listen to the truth but try to continue to claim they are
Christian was prophesied by Paul in II
Timothy 4:2-4. However, it didn’t change the fact that
Timothy was supposed to preach the word without compromise. If
some didn’t want to accept it and splintered off, then so be it. 4.
Some
Christian Humanists hide behind congregational autonomy. “You
are not allowed to say anything to me because our congregations
are autonomous.” But note that the autonomy of churches did not
stop Antioch from sending Paul and Barnabas to Jerusalem to get to
the bottom of the error being taught and practiced (Acts
15). 5.
Some
Christian Humanists won’t offer any defense for this. They will
just bully you into leaving them alone, blowing up whenever you
try to hold them accountable. C.
The
Christian Humanist needs to remember that it is every
Christian’s responsibility when they see their brother in sin to
restore him to the truth (Galatians 6:1). Jesus gave specific instructions for dealing with a
brother who sins in Luke
17:3. If he sins, rebuke him. If he repents, forgive him. In
reality, I am accountable to my brethren and they are allowed,
even commanded by God, to say something to me when they believe I
am sinning. IV.
Progressiveness
of Christian Humanism A.
Interestingly,
I have presented these points in their order of foundational
importance. However, in the lives of individual Christians, the
progression into Christian Humanism actually follows a different
order. B.
Typically,
among Christians, the first step to Christian Humanism is the
belief that no one can say anything to me about what I believe,
practice or teach. Sometimes it is demonstrated by the idea that
we should not say anything about the false doctrine in the world
around us. In order to be consistent, the Christian has to begin
to teach that what we do or say does not matter. Finally, to
continue in consistency, they finally have to attack the very
standard they know we are supposed to live by. Conclusion: More and more in speaking with Christians I see this Christian Humanism working its way into the church. We must stand strong not to allow this Humanism into our midst as a congregation or into our own personal lives. As Jesus said, we are either for Him or against Him (Matthew 12:30). We cannot ride the fence of Christian Humanism, paying lip service to God’s law but suggesting that it doesn’t really have to be followed. The place we start is by maintaining a constant stance on how to enter in the kingdom of Christ. Despite the confusion that many for years have tried to stir up about the Bible doctrine of salvation (and, yes, some of the Christian Humanists in the church are stirring up confusion about this as well), it is very simple. Romans 10:9-10 demonstrates that we must believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and confess that faith if we would be saved. Acts 2:38 says we must repent and be baptized for the remission of our sins. It is really quite simple. No amount of rhetoric will change the simple message of God’s gospel. Have you obeyed it?
Glory
to God in the church by Christ Jesus
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