When I was a new Christian, saved perhaps
for two years, I was taking an education class at my Lutheran college. On the
first or second day of class the teacher told us that he was a Christian
Humanist. He said that anyone who thought that that was a contradiction in
terms should come to his office after class. I went. I don’t remember what he
told me, but it sounded like mumbo-jumbo, and I quit the class and changed my
course of study.
Now about 30 years later I am revisiting
the question. What is the difference between humanism and Christianity? Is it
possible to embrace both?
If you believe liberal theology and call
yourself a Christian, I suppose you would say that it is very possible, since
the modernist version of the gospel is essentially humanism with Christian
terminology tacked on to it.
But if you believe the Bible, and believe
that man is a sinner in need of a savior, then, No. Humanism and Christianity
are mutually contradicting. Humanism teaches that man is essentially good, in
need of education and opportunity. The Bible teaches that man is essentially
wicked, in desperate need of regeneration.
Now, on a practical level the two systems
may actually appear to give similar
results. For example, consider working (as I do) with people with disabilities.
Many of the people who qualify for services have severe adaptive disorders. In
other words, they don’t know how to behave. A humanist is taught to look at
these people and say, “They are as good as I am.” If he can make himself
believe that, he is a good humanist who sees all men as equals. The Christian, on the other hand, is taught to look at these people and say, “I am as bad as they are.” This is a
much easier task, for all of us know the sin that lies within. We know that if
it were not for the grace of God and the wisdom to know how to check the lusts
of the flesh, we could easily misbehave as much as anyone. We can probably also
think of times when we actually have done so. Thus, a Bible-believing Christian actually
has an easier time viewing all men as equals. He knows that by nature “they are
all under sin.” Rom. 3:9.
Though the Christian and the Humanist have
essentially opposite views of man, they both come to the same conclusion: That
all men are equal. The Humanist professes to believe they are equally good. The Christian
knows that they are all equally bad.
It is rather ironic that the philosophy
propounded continually on television is that of humanism, and all the while, man
is portrayed by the same medium in all of his vileness and wickedness. On the
other hand, the religion that teaches that man is essentially evil produces
fruit that cannot be denied: love, joy, peace, gentleness, and goodness. Things
which many who believe in the goodness of man are not afraid to make a mockery
of ~ and at the same time accuse Christians of hypocrisy!
