Humanism is an ideological, political, and religious belief that denies the existence of God. Atheists are humanist, as are new-agers, and many others. The creation and theory of evolution developed by humanists was to create a world devoid of God. Humanism today is prevalent in our media, schools, and government. The religious humanist believes, as the Humanist Manifesto states, “the religions of the world are outdated due to a vastly increased knowledge and experience, and are powerless to solve the problem of human living in this time. Christians know the power of God, but to the humanist the human is divine and must be responsible for furnishing adequate human goals and providing for the spiritual needs of today. Humanists believe that the universe and its peoples self-exist and are not created; they also believe humanism is the only religion capable of leading humans along the evolutionary path to ‘Christ Consciousness’. In humanism, there is no right or wrong, only experience and an endless struggle to become enlightened, to evolve.”

Obviously, the present day church has not gotten to the place to fit the above “Humanist Manifesto”. However, humanism can be found in the church in various elements. Some of these elements have already been addressed. The reason I continue to explore this vial religion, yes it is a religion, is because it is the largest threat to Biblical faith. The areas that I have already touched on like “pragmatism”, salvation at any cost, “what ever it takes theology”, are rooted in humanism. In this 21^st century there is hardly a church that has not dabbled in this abomination, particularly when it comes to salvation. Where did this blasphemous system start?

Arminianism, Semi-Pelagianism or any works-faith religion can be very subtle, and as one keeps practicing this free will theology, it takes on a life of itself. In fact, if you were to ask those people who are involved with this work system, they would not be able to talk about it. Much of 21^st Century Christendom really has no idea what they theologically believe. I have had the opportunity to ask various Christians if they knew what Arminianism is and I have yet to have anyone tell me the right answer. Walk into any church and ask the difference between Arminianism and Calvinism and you will find a variety of answers, none actually theologically correct. Many seem to think they know what Calvinism is, but largely their answers are always some extreme form. I will admit my sampling is not very large, but what I have sampled is 100% the way I have described it. Most have not even heard of Arminianism. However, if you were to ask Christians whether man has free will to choose God, the answer would be a resounding yes. Yet, I do believe there are some today who do hold to historic Arminianism, and who do believe the depth of Arminian theology historically. The result is a “works salvation” doctrine, becoming more and more humanistic. This is the default of man. Only grace can combat this tendency, where man totally relinquishes all of his works and “lets go and lets God”.

So humanism is the default of man and even one who calls himself a Christian can find himself pursuing humanistic endeavors in the church. How does this manifest? A Christian person is always being tempted not to trust God. It started in the Garden of Eden and has never stopped, because “…Satan is like a roaring lion going about seeking who he may devour”. It is so easy for man who now has had an experience with God to go back to his humanistic roots. As soon as a person starts to walk by sight and not by faith, that person is in danger of trusting the flesh. The Bible is very clear that everything begins with a thought. “As a man thinks in his heart so is he.” (Pro 23:7) This is a profound understanding. It is a fact that everything we do has to begin with a thought in our mind. Now Man is made of body, soul and spirit. Paul the Apostle speaks of this in 1Th 5:23 where he says, “May the God of peace himself sanctify you completely. May your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” The soul is who the person is; the soul consists of three parts, the mind, the emotions and the will. The soul is where the enemy can bring his temptations. 2Co 10:5 says that we are to be “Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.” The Word of God tells us not to allow the fiery darts that Satan fires at us, in the form of thoughts, to overcome us; we are to bring them to the Lord Jesus Christ. If we allow negative thoughts or any of the thoughts that the Devil fires at us to remain, this will defeat us. The reason is that “…as a man thinks in his heart (mind) so is he.” If we do not bring these thoughts to the Lord Jesus Christ, then they can follow a progression that will eventually lead to very serious consequences. This is how it works: When a thought comes in to your mind, then the emotions come into play. Many times a thought will cause the emotions to desire what the mind thinks; then the will has to make a decision. Once the will makes a decision, then what started, as a thought becomes an action. The action is the person actually doing what the thought suggested. This can form a habit, which will mold character and eventually lead to one’s destiny. A diagram of this would look like this:

The thought comes to the mind, the emotion has the desire, and the will makes a decision whether to act upon the thought or not. All of this occurs in the soul. Acting upon the decision of the will brings the entire process out of the soul realm and into body realm. Repeating this behavior will develop a habit, which can mold the character, and eventually lead to ones destiny. It all starts with a thought.

The unregenerate person really does not have a chance to make the right decisions, because he is spiritually dead. The apostle Paul tells us in 1Co 2:14, “…the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness to him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” The natural man, the unregenerate man, cannot understand the things of God, because his spirit is dead to God. Separation from God because of his sin causes him to be dead to God.Eph 2:1 says, that you who are born again and have received the Lord Jesus Christ “…you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins.” He says, that you are now alive (quickened) to God and the Spirit of God has delivered you who were once “…dead in trespasses and sins.”

So the unregenerate person is always going to be driven by their flesh, they have no choice. Yes, some will become religious and even do many good works, but they still have no relationship with the Living God. Conversely, you who are born again can now by “…grace…through faith…” be obedient to the Word of God, have life, and have it abundantly.

However, when a Christian doesn’t have the right theology concerning salvation and thinks that cooperating with God for salvation (Arminian “free will” theology) is the real thing; and still somehow believes that man is not totally depraved and totally “…dead in sin and trespasses…”, that man will eventually go back and operate in humanism, remember, that’s the default. That is the premise I started with, saying that this kind of free will theology (Arminianism) is very dangerous. It robs a person’s salvation.