Truth Magazine

By Harold Fite

David asked the question, “What is man, that thou art mindful of him?” (Psa. 8:4). This is an age-old question, the answer to which answers other perplexing questions, such as, “Where did man come from?”; “What is his purpose?”; and “Where is he going.”

The Humanist conception of man is expressed in their Manifesto in the following fashion:

Manifesto I

Article 2: “Humanism believes that man is a part of nature and that he has emerged as the result of a continuous process.

Article 3: “Holding an organic view of life, humanists find that the traditional dualism of mind and body must be rejected.

Article 8: “Religious Humanism considers the complete realization of human personality to be the end of man’s life and seeks its development and fulfillment in the here and now.

Manifesto II

Article 2: “Promises of immortal salvation or fear of damnation are both illusory and harmful . . . . Modem science discredits such historic concepts as the ‘ghost in the machine’ and ‘separable soul.’ Rather, science affirms that the human species is an emergence from natural evolutionary forces . . . There is no credible evidence that life survives the death of the body.

Article 5: “We believe in maximum individual autonomy consonant with social responsibility.”

According to the humanist, man is the product of the evolutionary process and his total personality bears the imprint of the social and cultural society surrounding him. His origin was an organic accident. His purpose looks no higher than this earth, and when he dies he ceases to exist. The totality of what constitutes man is placed in the grave.

The humanistic philosophy is atheistic in nature and materialistic in application. When one denies the reality of God, he removes that which makes a man a man. There can be no “manhood” without “Godhood.”

If there is no God, man is not a created being; he does not possess an immortal spirit; he has no moral responsibility and no eternal purpose. He does not bear the image of God, but only the mark of “natural evolutionary forces.”

The humanist begin “with humans, not God; nature, not deity.” The humanist’s man is stripped of the spiritual and stands as a physical, earthbound, materialistic being.

Since humanists begin with man, they attribute to him the exalted position of the highest being. God is dethroned and man is deified. Basically, humanism is the worship of man. As the highest being, his thoughts and actions are always right. They are but the means through which he seeks the “creative realization of human needs and desires.”

The Humanists advocate “maximum individual autonomy consonant with social responsibility.” While some may be fooled by autonomy consistent with social responsibility, what the humanist are advocating is unbridled freedom – the removal of all restraints. The man that demands absolute freedom is the same man that determines social responsibility. As man enlarges his area of expression, he will bring “social responsibility” up to approve it. Humanism is a self-serving, self-centered, religion. Denying self is completely foreign to humanistic philosophy.

Biblical View of Man

What does the Bible say about man? It begins with God. Man’s origin, nature, purpose and destiny relate to Him. The Bible teaches that man is a creation of God: “And God created man in his image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them” (Gen. 1:27). He was formed from the “dust of the ground.” He is God’s crowning creation. He is “fearfully and wonderfully made.” God then breathed into him the breath of life and he became a living soul (Gen. 2:7). Man Is made in the image of God (Gen. 1:27). He possesses mental faculties by which he can know and understand the things of God, and the intelligence to choose between right and wrong. This speaks of the moral responsibility of man.

Contrary to humanist doctrine, the Bible affirms the reality of the soul and its immortality. Jesus said, “And be not afraid of them that kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matt. 10:28).

Man is a dual being. Distinction is made throughout the Bible between the flesh and the spirit (soul) of man. Physical death is the separation of the two (James 2:26). The “dust returns to the earth and the spirit to God who gave it” (Eccl. 12:7).

The apostle Paul wrote of the spirit of man being “clothed’ with flesh. He shows that if his spirit were separated from his body, he would be “present with the Lord.” But if his spirit remained in his body, he would be “absent from the Lord” (2 Cor. 5:1-8).

Jesus said, “I am the God of Abraham,” then affirms that “God is not the God of the dead, but of the living” (Matt. 22:32). Abraham had been dead for hundreds of years, yet there was a part of Abraham then living. Death is not the cessation of existence. Being made in the image of God, man has within him that which is immortal.

Man has a purpose for living. He is to glorify God in all that he does (1 Cor. 10:32). He does so by fearing God and keeping His commandments (Eccl. 12:13).

Not only does man have a purpose on earth, but one which far transcends this earth. The nature of man presupposes an eternal purpose. God has set eternity in his heart (Eccl. 3:11). Some day Jesus will descend from heaven with a shout and all who are in the grave will be raised and brought before God in judgment. “And these (disobedient, H.F.) shall go away into eternal punishment- but the righteous into eternal life” (Matt. 25:46). To realize this purpose is to realize the very best that there is in man. It is a gross perversion of purpose to serve self and to be consumed with the “here” and “now.”

While man enjoys freedom and liberty, he doesn’t make license out of liberty. There are restrictions on freedom; limitations on liberty (Gal. 5:13). Freedom is enjoyed as we live within the confines of God’s law. Man does not have the freedom to do as he pleases. Freedom is not a question of doing what we like but doing what we should! The ideal life is a life of denial (Matt. 16:24-26).

The humanist man is no man at all. He has been robbed of his virtues and values which produce greatness. There remains the twisted, grotesque shell which faintly and fleetingly remind us what he was and what he could become.

“The fool has said in his heart, there is no God” (Psa. 14:1).

God’s Man	Humanist’s Man
1. Created by God.	1. Product of evolutionary process.
2. Image of God.	2. Image of natural environment and social heritage.
3. Has immortal soul.	3. Has no soul.
4. Has eternal purpose.	4. Has no eternal purpose.
5. Purpose on earth is to glorify God.	5. Purpose on earth is to glorify man.
6. Life after death.	6. No life after death.

Guardian of Truth XXVIII: 13, pp. 388-389
July 5, 1984

By Ron Halbrook

Who and what is this monster of so-called “Humanism”? It is Satan appearing as an angel of light, whispering to the heart of man, “Ye shall be as gods – you need no one higher than yourself!” This is the same old sin and rebellion against God. It is atheism, a denial of God and o His authority over man. Man repeats with stupid monotony the experiment of trying to understand himself and the world around him through his own wisdom – without God. Humanism makes Man the measure of all things and puts him on the throne in the place of God. Humanism is idolatry. It worships and serves the creature and the creation rather than the Creator.

But God is still on His throne! We are not frantic or forlorn in the face of this new foe. He is only the old foe in new dress. We rise to meet the challenge of Humanism with confidence in God and in the power of His Word. One person with God can chase a thousand enemies of truth “and two put ten thousand to flight” because “their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges . . . . The eternal God is thy refuge and underneath are the everlasting arms: and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee; and shall say, Destroy them” (Deut. 32:30-31; 33:27). “Greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world , * , . For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?” (1 Jn. 4:4; 5:4-5).

Bible Humanism Starts With God

The Bible teaches the only true “humanism” if the term means genuine love for man and an understanding of his origin, nature, duty, happiness, and destiny. All of this is rooted in God Himself. God not only created man but also created him “in the image of God” (Gen. 1:2627). Like his maker, man has the capacity to love. Man’s duty, happiness, and destiny are bound up in two primary principles: Man with his whole being is to love God and to love his neighbor as himself (Matt. 22:34-40; Rom. 13:8-10). As creatures made for eternity, the highest good we can do is to serve God, to save our own soul, and to save the souls of lost sinners. When Christ died for our sins, He showed us the way to true greatness – in serving God and our fellow man (Heb. 5:8-9; Mk. 10:43-45). The Bible blesses humanity by teaching with unequalled power the spirit of unselfish service (Matt. 25:31-46; Jn. 13:1-17; Rom. 12:9-13:10; Gal. 6:1-10; Ja. 1:22-27; 3:14-16; 1 Jn. 3:1418; 4:7-21).

Secular Humanism Excludes God

Secular humanism is, at its heart, atheism. Human reason, material values, and secular or temporal concerns are emphasized to the exclusion of God, spiritual values, and eternity. That attitude toward life is not the property of a monolithic organization taking over America all of a sudden, but is the common property and logical end of a civilization moving further away from God into a state of decay. Myriad are the movements and men who have mesmerized our world with this message of human idolatry. How did our society get to this point?

The current movement of secular humanism is just another rising of the tide of unbelief such as ebbs and flows throughout history. Why is the tide running so high now? The men and movements which have questioned God, the Bible, and Jesus Christ for 400 years in Western Civilization, especially for the last 100 years in America, sometimes in the name of religion, have all contributed to this emergence of widespread humanism. We shall briefly sketch some representative trends.

The Renaissance of 1350-1650 was a transition from medieval to modern history stimulated by the rediscovery of the classical treasures of ancient Greeks and Romans. Educated and affluent classes focused their interests less on the corporate structure of the Church (i.e. Roman Catholicism) and more on the individual person. This classical Humanism seen first in Italy was soon matched north of the Alps by religious Humanists such as Erasmus (1466-1536) who shared the desire for original sources, discontent with inherited traditions, and hostility to existing structures. Here, increasing emphasis on morals, ethics, and Bible study in the original languages led to the Reformation era of 1500-1650. The influences of Renaissance and Reformation trickled down to less educated and affluent classes when men like John Wycliff (d. 1384) and Martin Luther (1483-1546) put the Bible into the hands of the common man in his native tongue.

Decadent Religion Feeds Secular Humanism

While religious reform spread, so did over-reactions against the superstition and corruption of Catholicism. People who equated “Christianity” with “Catholicism” sometimes rejected even the Bible and were left with nothing but their own intellect. Because so many people in Europe looked to their own mind for light, the 1700s may be called the Age of Reason. This rationalism contributed to Deism, which held to God while rejecting the Bible as a special revelation, Jesus as divine, and all miracles. It was represented by Voltair (1694-1778) in France, David Hume (1711-76) in Scotland, and Thomas Paine (1737-1809) in America along with our founding fathers Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. Other rationalists were skeptics and atheists. Writers like William Paley (1743-1805) in England and L. Gaussen (1790-1863) of Geneva defended the evidences of Christianity and inspiration of Scripture. French liberalism, English rationalism, and secular and political concerns made America extremely irreligious during and after the Revolutionary War.

From the turn of the century until the War Between the States (1861-65), America experienced a series of religious revivals although Unitarianism and other rationalist and liberal ideas persisted. But tendencies toward rationalism, materialism, secularism, atheism, and worship of “the scientific method” in nineteenth century Europe were soon to hit America like a tidal wave. False and decadent religion strongly contributed to theferment of doubt and disbelief in God. It is amazing how many of the spokesmen who arose against Bible principles were raised in some “branch” of Judaism or Christendom. That includes Karl Marx (1818-1883) and F. Engels (1820-1895) who in the Communist Manifesto debunked all religion as “the opium of the people.” Several Frenchmen like Saint-Simon and Comte envisioned a secular “religion” blending science, socialism, and humanism to give the world unending progress. Others like Godwin in England, Proudhon in France, and Bakunin in Russia offered progress through anarchy – annihilation of God and the State. German philosophers like Schopenhauer, Feuerback, and Nietzsche pronounced God dead and pointed to a coming perfect race.

Evolution Feeds Secular Humanism

Secular humanism with its naturalist bent gained great momentum everywhere when an Anglican-turned-agnostic named Charles Darwin (1809-1882) published his hypothesis of evolution. First a scientific theory, by the later 1800s it was being applied to all social and political institutions and offered as the explanation for the origin of religion from natural sources. Everything supernatural – God, the Bible, Jesus Christ, the creation account, miracles, etc. evolved from ancient myths and legends. Such ideas were popularized by English writers T.M. Huxley (1825-95) and Herbert Spencer (1820-1903) along with the American politician Robert Ingersoll (1833-99) and the University of Chicago educator John Dewey (1859-1952).

During the last quarter of the nineteenth century the faith of many Americans began to crack under the pressures of the Industrial Revolution, labor movements, urbanization, waves of immigration, political ferment, and other social changes. Just as had happened during the American Revolution, God was taking second place in many quarters to secular and material concerns. Growing acceptance of naturalism contributes to spiritual decay but is also the symptom of decay already in progress. Just as the gospel requires fertile ground, all forms of unbelief including secularism and naturalism require hearts which are open to the particular message. Unbelief feeds upon itself.

Liberalism Feeds Secular Humanism

Many religious leaders tried to patch their own and their hearer’s cracking faith with the mortar of compromise. The traditional view of Scripture as an infallible revelation underwent such a revolution that the crucial period of 1875-1900 was a turning point comparable to the Reformation itself. With the validity of the Bible at stake, several varieties of liberalism arose as efforts to draw the line somewhere between an infallible Bible and atheism. But the poison of rationalism, naturalism, and secularism were in every pot of liberal compromise. Much of American religion tilted on an angle in the direction of secular humanism during 1875-1900 and has been sliding more and more in the same direction ever since.

Popular preachers – Henry Ward Beecher (1813-87), Phillip Brooks (1835-93), Lyman Abbott (1835-1922), and Washington Gladden (1836-1918) – rode the new tide of evolutionary thought and helped reduce Christianity to a benign form of religious humanism. The effort of German philosophers, historians, and biblical critics to peel away all myths and to find some kernel of truth in Christianity had great impact on American religious leaders such as A.C. McGiffert, C.A. Briggs, and W.R. Harper, President of the University of Chicago. In the place of true and false religions, Hegel put a dialectical process of ever evolving truths. Schleiermacher made experience rather than doctrine the essence of all truth; all religions may share in it. Baur saw God in all creeds and dogmas, Ritschl found values in each individual’s moral judgments, and Harnack peeled off the miracles and deity of Jesus only to find a few humanistic principles.

Just as naturalism dictated the inner thought of liberal religion, secularism dictated the liberal’s plan of action and vision of the future. Liberal preachers and churches committed their resources to the vision of a secular kingdom of God on earth. The Social Gospel offered a whole gamut of solutions for industrial, urban, and political problems. While working toward the great society, churches offered services for every aspect of the carnal man – food, lodging, education, child care, medicine, and recreation.

World War I chastened the optimism and progressivism of the Social Gospel, but the slide toward secular things in the name of religion continues today. Liberalism was proclaimed and popularized by Harry Emerson Fosdick until recently. In this century, the Germans Barth and Brunner along with the Niebuhr brothers in America called upon liberals to find some objective word from God in Scripture. But their Neo-orthodoxy retained such biblical criticism and naturalism, and gave way to the radical secular theologies of the 1960s. The Fundamentalist-Modernist controversy over the Bible and evolution had its roots in the 1890s, received great publicity in the 1920s, and continues today. Einstein’s theory of relativity in physics was borrowed in the 1920s to bolster liberalism’s theory of relativity in morals and religion. About the same time, American society became fascinated with Freud’s naturalistic claim that all human behavior – including the conscience and religion can be explained in terms of sex drives.

A Decadent Society Feeds Secular Humanism

Twentieth century man is ripe for secular humanism. He is made ripe by the self-confidence and affluence generated by industrial and technological revolutions. Science has replaced God as man’s benefactor. The emptiness of liberal religion has betrayed man into the hands of secular humanism with its naturalism and atheism. The convulsions of the 1960s revealed a tremendous shift in moral and religious attitudes. Historians recognize that the strongest force in “this steady rise of religious anti-traditionalism” is “a growing commitment to . . . naturalism or “secularism… and increasing doubt about the supernatural (Ahlstrom, A Religious History of the American People, p. 1087). The “death of God” and birth of secular religion have been popularized in the mass media, as have situation ethics, the 44new morality,” and permissiveness. Polls have shown for fifty years that preachers often reject the basic teaching of the Bible and that most young people have sex before marriage. The shallow vaporings of Norman Vincent Peale and Robert Schuller are a cruel joke in the face of our decadent society!

Nietzsche wrote in 1886, “The greatest event of recent times – that ‘God is Dead’, that the belief in the Christian God is no longer tenable – is beginning to cast its first shadows over Europe” (Johnson, Modern Times, p. 48). The shadows are lengthening in modern America. The Humanist Manifestoes (1933, 1973) and Secular Humanist Declaration (1980) deny God, the Bible, Jesus Christ, the soul, salvation, hell, and moral absolutes. The acceptance of Satan’s lie that man can be his own god is a sign of decay. It is sin. It works death. The darker the darkness of sin grows, the brighter the light of the gospel of Christ shines if we will but preach it (Phil. 2:15-16)!

Guardian of Truth XXVIII: 13, pp. 387, 406-407
July 5, 1984

By Charles Degenhart

While working with the old Central church in San Diego during the late forties I had occasion to meet brother Jimmie Lovell a time or two. In those days Jimmie was an affable, outgoing, cheerful person always bubbling over with enthusiasm. Likewise he was always speaking only good of everybody (even of some of whom I had my doubts). He was always dreaming and talking about doing great things in the service of God. In other words, he was “thinking big.”

However, in the January issue of Action which came to our notice, there seems to be a change taking place in his dotage! In boasting about his World Bible School, he states, “In WBS we have one of the most fruitful efforts for souls – our own included – that we have yet attempted. The bedrock backbone of our soul-saving effort is built upon the solid rock of preaching the gospel. We are not trying to win souls through any indirectness. If food, clothing, medical care or any other material means influence a soul for Christ, we plan to take every advantage of it. Our bellyachers have not as yet found any way to stop our success but Satan never sleeps.” Notice that descriptive term “bellyachers.” Could it be that some of brother Lovell’s coworkers do not see eye-to-eye with him on his great work?

In thinking about his terming those who differ from him as “bellyachers” concerning his “great work,” we call to memory a woe pronounced upon those who call good evil and evil good. In God’s word, we find two different attitudes manifested by men. They just might be classed as “bellyachers” by brother Lovell’s way of thinking.

The first class would include the house of Chloe. They had complained to Paul about some factious brethren at Corinth (1 Cor. 1:11). Would Jimmie class Paul’s informants as “bellyachers”?

Peter could be classed among the “bellyachers” al, a, for he told Simon “Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart is not right before God” (Acts 8:21). Was Peter “bellyaching?”

According to brother Lovell’s thinking another Bible character would be classed as a “bellyacher.” When John the Baptist saw many of the hypocritical Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruit worthy of repentance” (Matt. 3:7,8). Was John “bellyaching”?

Jesus pronounced a woe on the scribes and Pharisees for their hypocrisy. “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you compass sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he is become so, you make him twofold more a child of hell than yourselves!” (Matt. 23:15). Again, He rebuked the cities where he had performed many of his miracles. “Woe unto you, Chorazin! Woe unto you Bethsaida! for if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon which were done in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you” (Matt. 11:21,22). Would brother Lovell accuse Jesus of “bellyaching”?

The above were simply discharging their responsibility to the God of heaven by reproving and rebuking sin. It is not “bellyaching” to reprove one of going beyond the word of God by substituting for God’s requirements! We are living in perilous times indeed. Oftentimes brethren will cast aside the word of God and suit their own likes and dislikes. I have known of some preachers being so cowed by the onslaught of sinning church members against the truth of their condition that they “look the other way,” or “wink at sin.” The result is churches filled with worldliness and sin. Preachers need to cry out against sin in high places today. Brethren need to refrain themselves of conforming to this world (Rom. 12:1,2). We need to “bellyache” today as the men of God did in the days of old!

There is another class of bellyachers revealed in the Book Divine. They are the ones who oppose the will of God. Peter and John had been preaching the word and had performed a miracle to confirm they were the servants of God, and the elders, scribes, high priest, and his relatives had taken them into “custody” and were “bellyaching” to them about their work. Like some today they would not settle for God’s way of doing things (Acts 4:1-12).

Opposing God’s way and the truth is the wrong kind of “bellyaching”! Entirely too many in our day are guilty of such. In many places brethren are getting bolder in opposing God’s revealed plan of marriage, His way of work for the church. Instead of getting the church members working at trying to teach those with whom they work and associate, they are seeking more “gimmicks” to attract people to their assemblies. They have little respect for Colossians 3:17 that tells us we must have chapter and verse for what we teach and practice. Their own “think-so’s” are placed on a par with God’s “say so.” In doing so, they are guilty of impeaching the wisdom of God!

The church as God designed her can do the work God designed for her. There is no need to establish other institutions to do the work. What is needed is teachers and preachers who will teach the brethren how to do it, and to get busy and do it. When that is done, God will bless the church with the increase. Some haven’t learned yet that it is God who gives the increase (1 Cor. 3:6). Let us rise up brethren and plant and water and watch God bless us!

Guardian of Truth XXVIII: 12, pp. 370-371
June 21, 1984

By Raymond Harris

Recently I received a bulletin wherein a church announced that the next Sunday was going to be “Dream Sunday.” Everyone was urged to “Come dream with us.” Then the question was posed, “What would you like to see us doing 1 year from now . . . 5 years . . . 10 years . . . 20 years.”

When one considers the mischief, division and digression of the last twenty years, to try to imagine what some churches will be doing in ten or twenty years is more like a night-mare than a dream.

As we view the current activities of some churches of Christ, it is hard to realize that the restoration movement in this country was born of the philosophy, “Back to the Bible.” What ever happened to the plea for “book, chapter and verse for all that we practiced”? Why do some preachers, elders and church members get angry when they are asked for the verses that authorize many of their current activities?

Over fifty years ago a preacher named Floyd Decker left the Christian Church because they were involved in practices he felt were unscriptural. Among those practices we find the following:

1. The Christian Church “has unscriptural positions in the church such as, educational directors, associate ministers and youth directors.”

2. The Christian Church built and maintained, “Missionary, benevolent and educational organizations to execute the work of the church.”

3. The Christian Church without Bible authority “celebrates special days such as Easter, Mother’s Day, Christmas, etc.”

4. The Christian Church “seeks to get crowds with youth meetings, campaigns for Christ, rallies, drives and promotions.”

5. The Christian Church “appeals to the social and physical nature of men by trying to draw them with carnivals, plays, choruses, dramatic groups, church camps, kitchens, fellowship halls and dinners.”

6. The Christian Church “owns, supports and operates schools for secular education beginning with kindergartens and going through theological schools.”

7. The Christian Church “has a compromising spirit. . has no regard for the authority of the Bible, bases its practice on the silence of the scriptures, and appeals to traditions of elders rather than to the simple unadulterated Gospel of Christ. “

Now, 50 years later, many liberal churches of Christ are practicing some or all of the above. But that’s just the beginning! Now that many churches have bolted away from the restraints of the Scriptures, there is no end to the humanly devised activities, programs and projects that will evolve as the years roll on.

In the past few years many churches of Christ have completely lost sight of their God given mission. Their major thrust is no longer the saving of the soul. Rather, they have turned to fulfilling the social, recreational and civic needs of the community. When Churches turn to such, they are correctly described as practicing “The Social Gospel.”

The past few years have seen a host of additional practices that brother Decker would never have “dreamed” possible in churches of Christ. Consider:

1. Joy Busses	16. Timothy Classes
2. Reward Motivation	17. Investment Seminars
3. Sweet Heart Banquets	18. Bridal and Baby Showers
4. Annual Homecoming Sunday	19. Calligraphy Classes
5. Aerobic Exercise	20. Church Choruses
6. Dale Carnegie Courses	21. Divorce Recov. Seminar
7. Ski Retreats	22. Cooking & Sewing Classes
8. Blood-Mobile Day	23. Poem Writing
9. Sr. Citizens Ministry	24. Family Seminar
10. Singles Ministry	25. Puppet Ministry
11. Annual Church Bar-B-Q	26. Team sports
12. Macrame Classes	27. Baby sitting services
13. Family Movie Night	28 Skin Care Classes
14. Golf Tournaments	29. Youth Church
15. Dorcas Classes	30. Christian Drama

All the foregoing are church activities that churches of Christ would not have “dreamed” of 25 years ago. But, they have ALL been dreamed up and entered into through the ensuing years. Elders of non-instrumental churches of Christ have planned, approved, promoted and to various degrees financed from the church treasury all of the foregoing activities. It shows how far brethren can go when they stop reading God’s word and start “Dreaming,” how they can outdo the denomination, round about.

Woe be to dreaming, scheming Churches that draw nigh to Christ with their mouths, and honor him with their lips,; but teach for doctrines the commandments of men!

Guardian of Truth XXVIII: 12, pp. 371-372
June 21, 1984