I grew up in a military family, normally living on Air Force bases with other military families. After high school, I joined the Navy, and for another decade lived/worked amongst people with differing backgrounds, diverse ethnicity, and varying belief systems. The military made little allowance for our differences; once you donned the uniform you were expected to work together toward the greater mission. I didn’t recognize it at the time, but this dramatically affected my understanding of community and family. Even decades later, I still have many friends (and family) who don’t necessarily believe the things that I believe. They grew up differently than I did, their life experience has led them to draw different conclusions than I have, and ultimately they view the world through a different lens than I do. To me, this is not only how it’s always been, but also how it ought to be. This doesn’t mean that we have nothing in common. They love their families, value their communities, and hope to live in peace, just as I do. I find my life is enriched, and my understanding is expanded, by remaining engaged with people who don’t necessarily think, act and live like I do. Thus, I continue to seek the common ground that we all share.
When social media platforms like Facebook emerged, I found them to be a great way to stay connected, especially with friends and family who are literally spread all over the world. At its best, it has allowed us to remain connected in ways we couldn’t have otherwise. No doubt, I want to celebrate their joys with them, and pray for them when they’re in a struggle, and to honor them when they’re gone. But these days there seems to be a lot of pressure to use social media (and every other available platform) as a bully pulpit, where we exalt our preferences, ridicule those who have a differing point of view, and dare people to “Unfriend” us if they don’t like what we have to say. People who refuse to participate in this battle of angry rhetoric are increasingly being criticized for not taking a side, accused of remaining “neutral” on the important issues of the day, and even being compared to those who stood by in Nazi Germany, doing nothing to stop the Holocaust. As it goes with all the other points of view floating around cyberspace, they’re entitled to their opinion, and they’re also entitled to express it, but I don’t find their arguments compelling.
I believe that finding and cultivating the common ground that we share makes for stronger and more united communities. Building and strengthening these bonds of community is an essential first step in addressing the larger social issues we face. Standing on opposite sides of the street, throwing rocks at each other isn’t going to achieve anything other than our eventual destruction. I’m not sure what people think their vitriol achieves, but if posting an angry meme on social media is the extent of one’s activism, they’ve not done much. Getting a bunch of folks, who already agreed with you, to “Like” your post doesn’t really effect change. If there is genuine oppression, it’s going to cost a lot more than some heated words to stand up to it. If we are successful in alienating everyone who doesn’t look, think, and act like we do, we’ll have simply set the stage for civil war. If we want to better understand the issues, we need to engage in meaningful dialogue with people of diverse viewpoints. If we want to battle racism, we need to engage in meaningful relationships with people of other races. If we want to battle poverty, we need to engage in the process of creating opportunities or providing aid to the underprivileged… If we were that committed to change, we’d probably be too busy to spend so much time on Facebook.
The Spirit of This Age
Posted in Commentaries, Social / Political, tagged humanism, humanistic, secular, secular humanism, social justice on January 25, 2021| Leave a Comment »
I didn’t begin writing until I was almost 40 years old, which was about the time I began to discern the Lord’s voice more clearly. As such, my motivation to continue has been centered on sharing what I believe He is saying at any particular time. Within a few years I began to get regular downloads on subjects like relative truth, humanism, cultural revolution, and moral relativism. Though I felt sure these insights were from the Lord, they seemed strange and rather worldly. At the time, I didn’t see or hear anyone else talking about such things, and I wondered if I wasn’t just being pulled off track. These topics seemed more rooted in sociology than spirituality, and generally garnered little or no response within my sphere. Even so, the downloads continued to come.
Over time, I began to understand that God was giving me discernment of the emerging transformation. To the naked eye, America didn’t look or sound much different, but beneath the surface there were monumental shifts taking place. Our collective view of truth was being radically altered, and for the most part, we didn’t even notice. Even those who did recognize the change didn’t necessarily understand the long term implications of it. After all, humanism’s promotion of concepts like the intrinsic value of a human being, community, and social justice, seem to be very compatible with a standard Judeo-Christian value system. Indeed, many mainstream denominations appear to be predisposed to a sort of religious-humanist perspective, where tepid religious tradition is tolerated like a neutered dog, who sleeps in the breezeway, but never actually comes in the house.
With all the supernatural elements stripped away, God becomes more mythological than real (like Mother Nature); Jesus becomes little more than a revered historical figure (like Gandhi or Mother Theresa), and the Holy Spirit remains a ghost in the relentlessly pragmatic religious machine. Effectively, such religion becomes two-dimensional and paper thin, but it is kept around to retain the sense and appearance of being good and moral. The upside to such an arrangement is that it doesn’t interfere with a burgeoning friendship with the world.
With the benefit of almost two decades of hindsight, I can see that the repercussions of this shift have been far more profound than I first understood. This change in course was not circumstantial or incidental, it was birthed in the spiritual realm, and the spirit behind the philosophical construct of humanism is not a passive or mild entity, it is an Anti-Christ spirit. In its purist form, humanism is secular, with no allowance for anything supernatural, spiritual or transcendent. It seeks to exalt man to the position of creator, ruler, and judge; which is as appealing to our human nature as it was to the first man (in the garden). But these are all roles the Lord has reserved for Himself.
Compassionate, and well-meaning believers can easily be pulled into the idea that humanism’s emphasis on human rights might simply be viewed as an extension of God’s love and concern for people, but that is problematic. Within this doctrine there can be no accommodation for the eternal, and no assent to a higher power. It seeks to explain our origin as anything other than coming from a Creator, to promote the idea that we evolve as opposed to being transformed, and to replace the power of the Holy Spirit, with the power of the human spirit. As John Lennon mused in his masterful ballad, “Imagine” we must rid ourselves of notions like heaven, hell and religion, so that we can all live together as one. Indeed, humanism has so much faith in the virtue of mankind, that it presumes that left to its own devices, and separated from its ancient religious ideas, it will quite naturally arrive at a utopian society. Of course, this is diametrically opposed to scripture’s assertions that apart from God, we can do “nothing”.
While some might argue the Christian heritage of the United States, there is no doubt about where our society stands in this current age. It is a culture steeped in humanist thinking, where the emerging generations are taught that evolution and technology have exempted them from the lessons of history, and where young children are taught that they can determine their own gender. Like ancient Greece, we’ve become a nation filled with false gods, and altars to worship them at.
Perhaps no scripture makes the contradiction more plain than proverbs declaration that there is a way that seems right to a man, but it ultimately leads to death, while humanism purports that there is a way that seems right to a man, and it ultimately leads to paradise.
After a disheartening season of watching brothers and sisters on the right exalt a man as though he were a priest, a prophet or a king, and make it seem as though God desperately needed him (instead of the other way around), we now see brothers and sisters on the left being taken captive by a hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ. Indeed, many who are called by His name are likely to perish from this lack of understanding, and many is the teacher leading His little ones astray.
There is no man-made system that can produce or orchestrate real unity, true peace, authentic justice or genuine freedom. If we continue to look to the world for such things, we will continue to be disappointed. We need to quit fighting amongst ourselves, and begin to engage in the battle against the spirit of this age, which is devouring the world around us.
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