From the Preacher’s Desk
By Ed Allard
Minister
Monticello Church of Christ
An unknown writer wrote this, titled, Especially For YOUTH. “If Satan does not control you, he is hard at work trying to get you. He will tempt you, lie to you, try to trap you, discourage you, try to defeat you in anything you do that is good. Resist the devil – James 4:7; 1 Peter 5:8-9.”
I would be surprised to find a handful of young people who read this column. I’m hoping that parents and grandparents, who read it and consider it worthwhile, will point it out to their children and grandchildren and encourage them to read it. Would it be too much to ask you to read the scriptures to them or better yet, with them?
Do you have any children or grandchildren in college away from home? It seems that many young people brought up going to church and knowing something about the Bible lose their faith when going off to college. That is because many colleges pride themselves on being freethinking institutions that hire freethinking professors who try to turn their students into free thinkers.
Translate that as Godless, unbelieving institutions and professors who try to turn their students into being unbelievers, or at least skeptics and doubters. Grandparents, things are not as they were when you were growing up.
An e-mail received recently brought information about the CSH Campus Outreach. The “C” in those initials does not stand for “Christian.” CSH stands for Council for Secular Humanism. One of the most important goals of the Council for Secular Humanism is to engage college and high school humanists and skeptics at their Center for Inquiry On Campus.
If you do not know what Secular Humanism is, I’ll let them tell you in their own words: Secular Humanism is a conviction that dogmas, ideologies and traditions, whether religious, political or social, must be weighed and tested by each individual and not simply accepted on faith. [God tells us that without faith it is impossible to please Him in Hebrews 11:6, EA].
It espouses commitment to the use of critical reason, factual evidence, and scientific methods of inquiry, rather than faith and mysticism, in seeking solutions to human problems and answers to important human questions. [Notice the connection of faith with mysticism. Further, God expects us to use true reasoning, and gives us evidence concerning those things He expects us to believe. It is an impossibility for scientific inquiry to answer questions concerning where man came from and our eternal destiny, EA].
Secular humanists accept a worldview or philosophy called naturalism. [Not] “spiritual” beings outside the realm of the natural universe.
Are Secular Humanists Atheists? Secular humanists are generally nontheists. [Non means not. Theists means a believer in God. In other words, yes, secular humanists are atheists, EA]. They typically describe themselves as nonreligious.
Secular humanists do not rely upon gods [sic] or other supernatural forces to solve their problems or provide guidance for their conduct.
In the last 30 years, those who reject supernaturalism as a viable philosophical outlook have adopted the term “secular humanism” to describe their non-religious life stance. Secular humanism is at odds with faith-based religious systems on many issues. [Supernaturalism is the belief in the supernatural, the miraculous. It is not a philosophical outlook but a religious outlook. Selected statements have been excerpted but kept in context, EA].
Jackie Stearsman said, “Humanism is a very subtle, disarming, and sophisticated way of saying atheism.” The Supreme Court in 1961 ruled that Humanism is a religion. A religion of unbelief in God, but nevertheless a religion.
Other such religions are Buddhism, Taoism, Ethical Culture, and others.
Robert McCurry commented, “The religion of Secular Humanism is the avowed enemy of true Christianity and its teachings are diametrically opposed to the teachings of God’s word.”
It is not likely that our children will learn this about Humanism in school, but we can be assured that they will be influenced by it. If your child comes home and tells you that he or she no longer believes in God, this most will most likely be the reason. If I can be of help to you in any way, please call on me.