Humanism, a Failed System

Humanism was already a failed system of thinking when Paul wrote: “Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ” (Col. 2:8). The system of belief now called “Humanism” can be traced back 500 years before the birth of Christ. While traces of it are seen in the writings of Homer [between 800 and 900 BC], modern humanism was begun with the Sophists, the most famous of which was Protagoras (485-410 BC) who said: “Man is the measure of all things; of the things that are, that they are; and of things that are not, that they are not.” This concept formed the basis of relativism, the notion that nothing is either right or wrong within itself; and contradictory ideas are equally true.

The Sophists were agnostic rationalists who challenged or denied the existence of gods and substituted conventions among men for divine sanctions. An agnostic differs from the atheist in that whereas the atheist says, “there is no god” (cf. Psa. 14:1), the agnostic says “we cannot know there is a god.” Neither atheists nor agnostics accept Divine Revelation as a source of knowledge. They will accept only what can be known through the “scientific method,” establishing human reasoning as the basis of knowledge.

Socrates (470-399 BC) identified by his contemporaries as a Sophist, sought to establish an absolute morality by the exercise of reason and, ultimately, by the individual’s intuition of good. He was a practicing homosexual, and like such ilk today made himself the absolute standard of his own conduct. His ideas are preserved in the writings of his pupil, Plato (429-347 BC). Aristotle (384-322 BC) was a student of Plato. The Epicurean and Stoic philosophers Paul met in Athens were heirs of centuries of classical Greek culture.

When Paul entered Athens (AD 52) the city was still considered the center of art and learning in the Greek world, but it was also filled with the grossest form of idolatry. Idols were on every hand. Starting with an inscription to a God the Athenians confessed they did not know, Paul proclaimed that this God is the Creator and we are His offspring. He is a Spirit who is not to be worshipped with hands. He has heretofore “overlooked” your ignorance, but now commands all men everywhere to repent. Assurance of judgment and human accountability to the Creator is given in the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead (Acts 17).

The philosophers, who were not themselves believers in many gods, were apparently not upset at Paul’s lesson about God. However, the idea of the resurrection of Christ ran counter to their rationalistic thinking. Some were willing to “take the matter under advisement” to be considered later, but others made fun of the idea. Humanists of today still make fun of the idea, but the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ is still the solution to human problems.
In Rom. 1:18-30, the apostle Paul describes the effect of humanist philosophy on society. The degradation of human society can be traced to the rejection of the knowledge of God and the failure to give Him proper reverence.

Humanists “regard the universe as self-existent and not created” (Humanist Manifesto I, p. 8) and calls faith in the prayer-hearing God “an unproved and outmoded faith” (Humanist Manifesto II, p 13). However, like the Gentiles of old, they are “without excuse” (Rom. 1:20).
Paul declared that “His eternal power and godhead”—His “invisible attributes”—have been clearly discernible “by the things that are made” from the beginning of time (Rom. 1:20). There is sufficient evidence in Nature to convince the thoughtful person that there is an Eternal and Powerful God. Five hundred years before Protagoras a Hebrew poet wrote: “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard” (Psalm 19:1-3). The same writer said, “The fool has said in his heart, ‘there is no God.’ (Psalm 14:1). Foolish, indeed, is the man who can see no evidence of a Creator in the physical universe.

The humanist who believes the universe was not created must believe that it always was. He must believe that dead, lifeless matter spontaneously [without outside stimuli] gave rise to life. He must believe that the carbon/carbon-dioxide exchange dependency between plant and animal life is an accident. He must believe that complex protein molecules composed of thousands of atoms just accidentally happened. You have a “rational mind.” Does that make sense to you? The probability of such a thing happening by accident is about as large as the probability that my computer fell out of an explosion in a junkyard!

Further, failure to honor God as God resulted in idolatry with the immoral excesses that were known everywhere in Paul’s day (cf. Rom. 1:20-22). Because men “exchanged the truth of God for a lie,” God “gave them up to uncleanness” (vs. 24), to “vile passions” (vs. 26), to “a debased mind” (vs. 28). It is no wonder that the heirs of classical Roman and Greek culture were so immoral in their conduct.

In spite of the fact that “it is not in man that walks to direct his own steps” (Jer. 10:23), and the fact that the “heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked” (Jer. 17:9), God gave them up to do as they pleased—because they had already given Him up. Following their own natural inclinations “their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful….” No better description of modern homosexual activity could be given.

Paul’s catalog of the sins of the ancient world is as fresh as today’s newspaper. They were “filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving unforgiving, unmerciful; who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them” (vs. 29-32). They were the heirs of humanistic philosophy. How do modern humanists think they will do better?

Now, as then, men need the gospel of Jesus Christ, salvation from our sins, and a hope for a better life beyond the grave. The gospel, not humanistic philosophy, is man’s hope. Let us preach the gospel to every creature, and vigorously oppose the “empty deceit” of humanism.
— James E. Cooper