"Worldview in Conflict
Pt. 9"

Introduction

In this series we have traced the development of societal ideology from premodern to postmodern times. In this development, humanity replaced God as the center of the Western worldview. In our final installment, we will consider the effects Secular Humanism has on the culture at large.

The Practical Effects of Secular Humanism

In the age of Secular Humanism, self-knowledge is equated with the knowledge of God. God is not objective; He can only be known through one’s perception of Him. As a consequence, any public declaration of a person’s religion is expected be presented as a personal opinion only. The prevailing motto is, “keep your religion in the closet!” It seems the world has lost confidence in propositional truth. Of course, if this is true, the church becomes irrelevant in society. She is no longer the citadel of truth, the community from which the redemptive revelation of God is proclaimed. Of course, since society now considers absolute knowledge a farce, modernity’s hope that education would be the savior has been discarded as well. Secular Humanism promotes an ideal that looks to the government as the solution to all human problems from the cradle to the grave. Society begins to see governmental programs like entitlements and welfare, along with officially promoted ideologies like affirmative action and immoral tolerance, as the fix to the ills that plague humanity.

Another effect of the abandonment of the concept of absolute truth is the emergence relativism in legislation. Special interest groups now form the boundaries of law in America. It is argued that we cannot know the origins of life and the purpose of man’s existence. When this is the prevailing ideology of the day, life becomes cheap. Society justifies the killing of the unwanted (the unborn and elderly) and succumbs to the individual wishes of people who think that life is no longer worth living. Without an anchor in eternal truth, life has no meaning. Since there is no eternal, people begin to live for the moment. They look to what is new and different. The novel becomes the order of the day. Life no longer has a sense of stability. People no longer believe in doing what is right because it is right, regardless of the consequences! What a hopeless existence.

The Practical Effects of Secular Humanism

The effects of secular humanism are clearly evident within the church today. The ethic of Evangelicals has traditionally been one of self-sacrifice. However, this has given way to the notion of self-expression and self-realization. In the 1990s, a survey of aspiring conservative Evangelicals leaders revealed that 62% affirmed this statement: “For the Christian, realizing your full potential as a human being is just as important as putting others before you.” In this same survey, on many issues that should reflect an over-riding commitment to the ideals of Scripture (such as the death penalty, welfare, and education), the views of future evangelical leaders were virtually indistinguishable from those of the liberal camp.

Conclusion

David Wells has formulated a very telling definition of worldliness: “Worldliness is what makes sin look normal in any age and righteousness seem odd.” With this definition in mind, worldliness has certainly invaded the church. As Christians, it behooves us to consider how much of the world-view of this age lurks subtly and deceptively within the larger framework of our thinking. The Gospel does not affirm the culture, it confronts the spirit of the age from which God has purposed to deliver us.

Galatians 1: 3-5 Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5 to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

- Stan McGehee Jr