September 15 - Christian Humanism

Humanism and Christianity are diametrically opposite to each other and Christian Humanism is a contradiction in terms. Our Christian belief is based on the sovereignty of God, the Creator and Ruler of the universe. Humanism, on the other hand, is a variety of ethical theories and practices that emphasize reason, scientific inquiry and human fulfillment in the natural world and often reject the importance of belief in God. Christian Humanism is an attempt to declare another gospel and that was what Paul saw as a danger in the early church.

Humanism is based on the reasoning of man in total rejection to God’s revelation. The sufficiency of man in science and other forms of knowledge has taken the place of God and His Word. In the beginning chapter of the Epistle to the Galatians, Paul pointed out the danger of such idea in the church. Someone was preaching another gospel that was not according to revelation of God but according to human thinking and tradition. In trying to appease others, many of the early believers, including Cephas (Peter), had fallen into such trap of humanism.

Out of the fear of man, many Christian leaders are trying to make the gospel more palatable in an attempt to have more converts. This always includes tolerance of sin and those ideas and behaviors that are not in accordance with God’s revelation. Paul related his own personal experience in blindly following the tradition of Judaism and so he did what was reprehensible, persecuting the church of God! At his conversion, however, he was introduced to the revelation of God through Jesus Christ. From then on, he shunned humanism, human traditions and human opinions but devoted himself to the revelation of God.

Paul went up again to Jerusalem because of a revelation from God and went before the influential leaders of the church. What he discovered was a big compromise to the true gospel. False brothers were secretly brought in to test his freedom in the Lord. Even later when he was in Antioch, he saw Cephas draw back and separated himself from the Gentiles for fear of the circumcision party. The rest of the Jewish believers acted hypocritically along with him and even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. They were reversing an important doctrine of Christianity, i.e. that of justification by faith and not by works.

Do you honor God’s revelation more than human teachings or traditions? Do you know the Word enough to tell the difference? Most Christians are biblical illiterates and cannot tell right from wrong. So many are just following Christian Humanism instead of God’s revealed Word. Make a decision now to know God’s Word and come out of false teachings of another gospel.