Judges 17:6 (ESV)
6 In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
The society we live in and most of the Western world accepts secular humanism as its standard worldview. They reject Christianity as outmoded, “holier than thou,” bigoted, and basically too restricting. I’d like to look at the difference between the two and the consequences of each.
Secular humanism is based on man, humans. Humanists believe humans are the ultimate authority for morality, social structure, and legal issues. Morality is defined Either by society rule or individual choice.
I took a marketing class years ago, and the instructor told us that business ethics is based on current law. Whatever was legal was ethical. I asked if that was true of 1950 America. I said, “There are people in this room of different races and sexes. In 1950, we could pay them less because of those traits. Was that ethical?” I continued. “Then came along moral crusaders, Reverend Martin Luther King and Simone de Beauvoir who told us race and sex didn’t matter. It is the content of our character that counts. If the law of the time were correct, then we should have expunged Rev. King and Ms. De Beauvoir from society. Would that be ethical?” The instructor said, “I have to teach what’s in the text book.” That’s Secular Humanism, the belief that morals can change with society. I spoke up again and told the class that morality cannot be subjectively based or it has no basis at all. True morality requires an objective standard.
Some humanists would tell us humanism is based on the society. What society agrees upon should be the standard. As with my marketing instructor, we can see this fails as society changes usually for the worst. Another humanist might say it is the individual who sets the moral standard for himself. Then of course we would have to empty the jails as they are full of people who believe their desires overshadow yours.
Christianity is based on the teachings of the Bible. We have a foundation upon which we stand morally. What could be wrong with that? The question arises, though, that Christians have killed millions of people over the centuries, so how moral could it be? There are two points I’d like to make on that. The first is that Christians may have murdered people, but that is not Christianity. The two can be separated since Christians, being human, can do horrible things when misguided. The Bible didn’t teach Christians to kill millions.
My second point on this is to address the millions killed. The New York University history department did a study in the 1950s to see how many people had been killed by Christians in all the wars, the Inquisition, etc. The number they came up with was fewer than 4,000,000. That is a troubling number, it’s true. But let’s look at another number. The number of people murdered in just the past century by secular humanists who disregarded any authority higher than their own. Just five men, five humanists, Lenin, Stalin, Kruschev, Mao, and Pol Pot are responsible for the murders of more than 100,000,000 people, their own people.
So, just on a purely rational basis, we should reject humanism. But, I’m afraid it’s here to stay, at least for awhile.
Moral relativism is a consequence of secular humanism. Moral relativism is the belief that there is no true moral standard. We can do what we want. We see this today, of course. Greg Koukl, the founder and head of Stand to Reason, did a survey asking people if torturing babies for the fun of it was wrong. One of the answers he received was “I wouldn’t do it, but I’m not sure I could say it was wrong.” When there is no foundation for morality, there is no morality.
Moral relativism is provably fallacious. If moral relativism is the superior moral standard, then it cannot be true. Moral relativism states there is no superior moral standard. It’s self-refuting. Most philosophy departments at our universities have stopped teaching it for that reason, but it continues to spread through society.
My major concern is for the children of families who instill objective moral standards at home, but those children are continually taught their parents are wrong, that there is no moral standard. To believe it is foolish and puritan. As adults, we can think these things through. We can arrive at a moral standard we want to live by. Our children are not equipped to think critically, and most public schools no longer try to teach them to do so.
The consequence of a Christian worldview is people reaching out to those in need, a dedication to a better society, and a life pleasing to God. Humanists will say they are capable of the first two of those three, but why? They have no reason to help others except it makes them feel good. There is no standard, no basis in humanism to help others or create a better society.
Christian parents and grandparents need to equip themselves to address this plague. We need to teach our children and grandchildren why this type of thinking is wrong. We can do this by familiarizing ourselves with what humanism is and why it cannot stand on its own. Humanism requires a public unwilling or unable to think these issues through to their logical conclusions. Let’s you and I get started educating ourselves today.
Believers Armed and Dangerous 