Humanism, Satanism, and The New Age Movement
Humanism Part 2 - Situation Ethics
Humanism is the philosophy that says, "Man is the measure of all things." It is a feeble effort on the part of mankind to take God out of the picture and allow man to be the supreme being. Every one of us feel the effect of this doctrine daily in our lives as we pay for the crime and immorality of others, or become direct victims of such.
One of the most noted tenants of Humanism is the doctrine of "situational ethics." Point number three of the Humanist Manifesto II states, "Ethics is autonomous and situational, needing no theological or ideological sanction." By saying ethics are autonomous, is meant that what is true and right for you may not be so for me. Auto, meaning self; and nomos meaning law.... thus, self-governing. In some cases, such as in the local church government, autonomy is proper. But, when it comes to laws governing lives, it becomes more like the dark ages of Israel when "everyone did that which was right in his own eyes." (Judges 17:6, 21:25). By saying situational is meant that right and wrong is based purely upon the circumstances and motives, so that there are no absolutes, no objective standard of right and wrong. That is, murder is wrong if to hurt someone, but acceptable if it is to aid someone in "dieing with dignity." (But of course the death penalty is absolutely wrong).
This doctrine of situation ethics is practiced from Main Street to Wall Street. Most do so without even realizing there is a name for the behavior. It denies there are absolutes. If there is anything these absolutely deny, it is absolutes. Odd, considering they absolutely deny there is a God!
In John 14:6, Jesus said, "I am THE way, THE truth and THE life. No man comes to the Father but by me." Jesus did not say He is one of many ways along with Buddha, Confucius, Mohammed and others. Or that we are free to find our own way to spiritual enlightenment and self-actualization. He did not say He is one of many "changing truths" (if they change, were they really truths to begin with?). Instead, He stated He is THE truth (singular, not "truths") and ONE way. Ted Koppel of NightLine was speaking to a graduating class at Duke University. In his speech, he said this, "For moral absolutes, we've substituted moral ambiguity. . . . What Moses brought down from Mount Sinai were not the 10 suggestions; they are commandments."
As a result of this subjective Humanist philosophy of ethics, we are hearing slogans like "Get your Bible out of my pants" to try to depict anyone with a sense of values as radical (after all, point six of Manifesto II states, "A civilized society should be a tolerant one."). If opponents of morality can confine God to the four walls, then they have done their job in creating a sort-of spiritual apartheid in which religion is separate but UNequal, and hopefully harmless. Religion itself is being "sanitized" of religion. Think of the influence this has had just in the religious realm alone. Many people look for churches that teach what they want to believe rather than considering God's desire in the matter. Churches that appeal to the physical man with carnal activities, appealing to the "whole man" has fallen prey to a form of humanism. This takes away from eternity as the goal, and places the emphasis in the here and now. It is an attempt to make a utopia here, rather than laying up treasure in heaven. In 1963, a list of 45 goals of communism was presented to the Senate Committee on Un-American activities. One such goal was:
27. Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with "social" religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity, which does not need a "religious crutch."
Since we realize that communism is simply humanism gone to seed, can we see how humanistic our values, ethics and religion have become in America?
We must recognize with the prophet, "O Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself; It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps." Jer. 10:23. - Wayne Goforth