Gary discusses an article written by a woman who regrets pursuing her own goals and fulfillment in the workforce and being single.
There is a worldview that seeks to make absolute the things of this world. A different spirit energizes man without God. This is the religion of humanism called secularism. A “secularist” is someone who “is completely time-bound, totally a child of his age, a creature of history, with no vision of eternity. Unable to see anything in the perspective of eternity, he cannot believe God exists or acts in human affairs.”[1]
Secularism is the religion of many in our day because they worship the creature rather than the Creator (Rom. 1:25). They make man and this world absolute. There is no God, heaven, or spirit other than the “energy” that resides in man. Man is his own god, and this world is all there is. Whereas Christianity was considered to be the only way to be reconciled with God, the religion of secularism has made the personal God of the Bible irrelevant.
Secularism has replaced God with its own version of the absolute and messianic. It offers a plan of salvation for a lost planet without any regard for anything or anyone greater than man:
Humanism has become the most messianic of the idolatrous religions of the West. Anthropologist Margaret Mead included in her autobiography a frank acknowledgment that it was a religious belief and called urgently for its spread throughout the world. This is why Milton Friedman described [economist John Kenneth] Galbraith as “a missionary seeking converts.” The same urge was behind Erich Fromm’s tour de force, the transformation of the Old Testament into a defense of radical humanism.[2]
Keeping the dangers of getting involved in this world in mind, let us remember that salvation comes only through the regenerating work of God’s Holy Spirit. Nothing in this world can save us. There can be no neutrality here. If the Christian is not involved in the transformation process with the Christian view of spirituality, then be assured that the humanists will be ready with their version. The rise of New Age humanism is one indication that the faltering West is looking for a new spirit to breathe life into the decaying corpse of humanism.[3]
Myths, Lies, and Half-Truths
Our nation is in a crisis. The world is crying out for answers in the face of bewildering and seemingly unsolvable problems. Myths, Lies, and Half-Truths shows that the Bible has real answers to these problems—answers the church is currently ignoring. Christianity's failure to show itself practical in the past 150 years has guaranteed the success of secularism and militant Islam, both of which are doing incalculable harm at home and abroad. The rejection of any type of "this-worldly" application of the Bible has resulted in the proliferation of man-centered worldviews that have steadily drained the life out of our world and left behind a spiritual vacuum.
Buy NowGary discusses an article written by a woman who regrets pursuing her own goals and fulfillment in the workforce and being single. Ideas have consequences, but some ideas have very serious lifelong consequences, as this woman is quickly learning. In many ways, the Bible esteems maturity as one of the primary goals of life in this world: learning that it’s not all about you and your own personal happiness.
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[1] James Hitchcock, What is Secular Humanism? (Ann Arbor, MI: Servant Publications, 1982), 10–11. Also see R. C. Sproul, The Consequences of Ideas: Understanding the Concepts that Shaped Our World (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2000), 148.
[2] Herbert Schlossberg, Idols for Destruction: Christian Faith and Its Confrontation with American Society (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, [1983] 1993), 273.
[3] Gary DeMar, Thinking Straight in a Crooked World: A Christian Defense Manual (Powder Springs, GA: American Vision, 2001), 137–198.