What is secular humanism?

Answer

The concept of secular humanism revolves around humanity being a part of uncreated, eternal nature; its objective is self-improvement without reliance on God. Secular humanism emerged from the Enlightenment of the 18th century and freethinking of the 19th century. It may come as a surprise to some Christians that they share certain values with secular humanists. Both Christians and advocates of secular humanism value reason, free inquiry, the separation of church and state, the pursuit of freedom, and moral education; however, they diverge on various points. Secular humanists derive their moral principles and notions of justice from critical thinking independent of Scripture, which Christians turn to for guidance on morality, distinguishing between right and wrong, good and evil. While both secular humanists and Christians engage in the advancement and utilization of science and technology, Christians see these tools as serving humanity for the glory of God, whereas secular humanists consider them as means to human ends without acknowledgment of God. When exploring the origins of life, secular humanists do not acknowledge the belief that God created humans from the dust of the earth after creating the earth and all its living beings from nothing. For secular humanists, nature is viewed as an eternal, self-sustaining power.

Secular humanists might be astonished to discover that many Christians also share a sense of religious skepticism and are dedicated to employing critical reasoning in education. Following the example of the Bereans, Christian humanists study and listen to teachings, evaluating everything in light of the Scriptures «These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. », (Acts 17:11). W

We do not simply accept every declaration or mental perception that enters our minds, but test all ideas and “knowledge” against the absolute standard of the Word of God in order to obey Christ our Lord (see 2 Corinthians 10:5;1 Timothy 6:20). Christian humanists understand that all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Christ (Colossians 2:3) and seek to grow in full knowledge of every good thing for Christ’s service (Philippians 1:9;4:6;cf: Colossians 1:9). Unlike secular humanists who reject the notion of revealed truth, we adhere to the Word of God, which is the standard against which we measure or test the quality of all things. These brief comments do not fully elucidate Christian humanism, but they add life and relevance to the clinical definition given in lexicons (e.g., Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, which defines Christian Humanism as “a philosophy advocating the self-fulfillment of man within the framework of Christian principles”).

Before we consider a Christian response to secular humanism, we must study the term humanism itself. Humanism generally calls to mind the rebirth or revival of ancient learning and culture that took place during the Renaissance. During this time, “humanists” developed rigorous modes of scholarship based on Greek and Roman models and attempted to build a new Latin style (in literary and plastic arts) and political institutions based on them. However, long before the Renaissance, “Christian humanism” thrived in the works and thought of Augustine, Aquinas, Erasmus, and others. Some even see in Plato, a pagan philosopher, a type of thinking that is compatible with Christian teaching. While Plato offers much that is profitable, his assumptions and conclusions were certainly not biblical. Plato, like Nietzsche, believed in “eternal recurrence” (reincarnation); he (Read more)

and the Greeks in general) paid lip service to their gods, but they considered man as the measure of all things. Present-day expressions of secular humanism reject both the nominal Christian aspects of their predecessors and fundamental biblical truths, such as the idea that human beings bear the image of their Creator, the God revealed in the Bible and in the earthly life and ministry of the Lord Jesus, the Christ.

During the scientific revolution, the inquiries and findings of broadly educated scientists who can be seen as humanists (such as Copernicus and Galileo) challenged Roman Catholic dogma. Rome dismissed the discoveries of the new empirical sciences and issued conflicting statements on matters beyond the realm of faith. The Vatican argued that since God created the celestial bodies, they must mirror the “perfection” of their Creator; thus, it rejected the astronomers’ findings that the orbits of the planets are elliptical rather than spherical, as previously believed, and that the sun has “spots” or colder, darker regions. These empirically provable facts and the individuals who unearthed them did not contradict biblical teachings; the real departure from biblically revealed truth and the shift towards naturalistic humanism—marked by the rejection of authority and biblical truth, and leading to an openly secular form of humanism—occurred during the Enlightenment, which extended through the 18th and 19th centuries and flourished particularly in Germany.

Numerous pantheists, atheists, agnostics, rationalists, and skeptics pursued various intellectual endeavors not bound by revealed truth. In their unique ways, figures like Rousseau and Hobbes sought amoral and rational answers to the human predicament; furthermore, works such as Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit, Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason, and Fichte’s The Science of Knowledge laid the theoretical groundwork for subsequent secular humanists. Whether knowingly or unknowingly, contemporary academics and secularistsAre humanists build on the ground laid before when they promote exclusively “rational” approaches to social and ethical issues and antinomian forms of self-determination in such areas as individual autonomy and freedom of choice in sexual relationships, reproduction, and voluntary euthanasia. In the cultural domain, secular humanists rely on critical methods when interpreting the Bible and reject the possibility of divine intervention in human history; at best, they view the Bible as “holy history.”

Going by the name of “higher criticism,” secular humanism spread like gangrene in schools of theology and promoted its rationalized or anthropocentric approach to biblical studies. Starting in Germany, the late 19th-century “higher criticism” sought to “go behind the documents” and de-emphasized the authoritative message of the biblical text. As Darrell L. Bock has noted, the speculative nature of higher criticism treated the Bible “as a foggy mirror back to the past” and not as the inerrant historical record of the life and teachings of Christ and His apostles (“Introduction” in Roy B. Zuck and D. L. Bock, A Biblical Theology of the New Testament, 1994, p. 16). For example, in his Theology of the New Testament, Rudolf Bultmann, a leading exponent of higher criticism, relies heavily on critical assumptions. As Bock points out, the author is “so skeptical about the New Testament portrait of Jesus that he barely discusses a theology of Jesus” (ibid).

While higher criticism undermined the faith of some, others, like B. B. Warfield at Princeton Seminary, William Erdman, and others, persuasively defended the Bible as the Word of God. For example, in responding to skeptics who questioned the early date and Johannine authorship of the fourth gospel, Erdman and other faithful servants of the Lord have defended these essentials on critical grounds and with equal scholarship.

Likewise, in philosophy, politics, and social theory, Christian academics, jurists, writers, policy-makers, and artists have wieldedSimilar weapons are used to defend the faith and persuade hearts and minds for the Gospel. However, the battle is ongoing in many areas of intellectual life. For instance, in American English departments and literary circles outside academia, the enticing influence of Ralph Waldo Emerson persists. Emerson’s pantheism denies Christ; it is subtle and can lead the unwary astray from the Gospel. Emerson believed that the “Over Soul” within individuals makes each person the source of their own salvation and truth. When reading authors like Emerson and Hegel, Christians (especially those upholding the faith delivered to the saints [Jude 3]) must be cautious, keeping the Word of God central in their thoughts, and obedient to it in their lives.

Christian and secular humanists have at times engaged in honest discussions about the foundation or origin of order in the universe. Whether they refer to this as reason or Aristotle’s prime mover, some secular rationalists rightly conclude that moral Truth is essential for moral order. While many secular humanists are atheists, they generally value reason highly; thus, Christian apologists can engage them in rational dialogue about the Gospel, as Paul did in Acts 17:15-34 when speaking to the Athenians.

How should a Christian react to secular humanism? For followers of the Way (Acts 9:2; Acts 19:19,23), any valid form of humanism must see the complete realization of human potential in the submission of the human mind and will to God’s mind and will. God desires that none should perish, but all should repent and receive eternal life as His children (John 3:16; John 1:12). Secular humanism seeks to achieve both much less and much more. It aims to improve this world and exalt man as the creator of his own destiny.In terms of progressive salvation, “secular” humanism is comfortable with certain religious alternatives to God’s true Gospel, such as the teachings of Yogananda, the founder of the Self-Realization Fellowship. In contrast, Christian humanists follow the Lord Jesus in recognizing that our kingdom is not of this world and cannot be fully realized here (John 18:36; John 8:23). We focus on God’s eternal kingdom, not on earthly matters, as we have died and our lives are hidden with Christ in God. When Christ—our life—returns, we will appear with him in glory (Colossians 3:1-4). This presents a lofty perspective on our destiny as human beings, as we are His offspring, as even secular poets have acknowledged (see Aratus’s poem “Phainomena”; cf: Acts 17:28).

One doesn’t need to be a Christian to recognize that humanism driven solely by pure reason cannot thrive. Even Immanuel Kant, while writing his Critique of Pure Reason during the peak of the German Enlightenment, grasped this concept. Likewise, followers of Christ should not be ensnared by the deceitfulness of philosophy and human tradition, or be captivated by humanism forms rooted in a romantic belief in the potential of human self-realization. “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.” (Colossians 2:8). Hegel based human progress on the idea of reason as spirit “instantiating” itself through progressive dialectical stages in history; however, had Hegel witnessed the world wars of the 20th century, it is uncertain whether he would have continued to perceive human pro.Progress in this debacle of history. Christians understand that any form of humanism set apart from divinely authored redemption is doomed to failure and false to the faith. We ground a high view of man in a high view of God, since mankind is made in the image of God, and we agree with Scripture concerning man’s desperate situation and God’s plan of salvation.

As Alexander Solzhenitsyn observed, humanism offers no solution at all to mankind’s desperate condition. He puts it this way: “If humanism were right in declaring that man is born to be happy, he would not be born to die. Since his body is doomed to die, his task on earth evidently must be of a more spiritual nature.” Indeed. Mankind’s task is to seek and find God (Acts 17:26-27; cf: 15:17), our true redeemer who offers us a better than earthly inheritance (Hebrews 6:9; Hebrews 7:17). Anyone who opens the door to Christ «Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. », (Revelation 3:20) will inherit that better country, which God has prepared for those who love Him and are called according to His purposes (Ephesians 1:11; Romans 8:28; Hebrew 11:16; cf: Matthew 25:34; John 14:2). How much more excellent is this than all the proud and lofty goals contained in secular humanist manifestos?