Witnessing to Those with a Secular Humanist Worldview

Secular humanists, a subset of modern day spiritualists, are skeptics and largely atheists or agnostics who have supplanted the creator with the creature and thus worship an idyllic representation of themselves as scientific evidence and the pinnacle of an unsubstantiated evolutionary hypothesis. It would seem that secular humanists are on a mission to prove that man has no need of anything supernatural, mainly God. A skeptic begins with the assumption that all systems of faith are wrong. (Caner 2009, p. 43) This assumption, along with the humanist’s many other assumptions and presuppositions, must be questioned and dissected according to reason.

Debating humanists on an intellectual or argumentative basis is largely unproductive. An appeal to the need for an ultimate authority might be established after a heartfelt dissatisfaction with the status quo of unanswered questions is acknowledged and then one can present historical evidence for the superiority of the Bible as the God given source of such authority. The unanswered questions of science are a good place to begin (Caner 2009, p.43) as is a discourse on worldview questions such as

1. Where did we come from? (Origin)
2. Why are we here? (Meaning)
3. What is good and what is evil? (Morality)
4. Where is civilization headed? (Destiny)

Such testimony by believers can only help spiritualists refine their worldview and learn that there is more to life and death than what meets the eye. There is mythological, philosophical, empirical, and historical evidence in favour of biblical truth and authority, and God desires an intimate fellowship with us because He created and loves us. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. It’s just that simple. I don’t ever want to be accused of being more in love with my interpretation of theology than I am with my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! The solution to the root of every problem in any life is a person named Jesus. The historical record of the life of the apostle Paul is a most useful, scripturally anchored introduction to the gospel. Why do men reject God and His Son, Jesus? It’s alright if Jesus is anything other than God. It’s alright with humanists if Jesus is just another prophet or just another great historical figure. In fact Jesus is just more fodder for their mountain of relativism which is akin to a pantheism where mere ideas are gods.

I think most people are longing for something that will resonate the general revelation of God’s existence within them and the God shaped hole inside that they try to ignore. They try to fill this abyss with alcohol, drugs, sex, philosophy, materialism, etc. All they know for sure is that they have not yet experienced that ultimate peace that we have learned is only made possible through what Christ has accomplished on our behalf.

The core ideology of Secular Humanism is anti-faith and therefore anti-Christian. It exalts reason as supreme as a way of knowing. The question is what is to be known? What does man need to know in order to “conquer” life. Secular Humanism developed in part as a direct antithesis to Christianity. The primary supposition must be that the universe is inherently hostile to mankind and survival is therefore man’s main pursuit in life. Man is viewed as victorious and superior in an adversarial relationship with nature. Admitting then that man needs anything outside of himself, such as a higher power, God, traditional dogma, etc. would undermine the basic presuppositions of the humanist manifesto and worldview. I doubt that anyone holding to this worldview would welcome prayer or an overt discussion of Scripture because any aspect of anything “religious” offends their sensibilities. One must approach reason from the perspective of either contextual apologetics or negative apologetics as did the apostle Paul in his Mars Hill Address in Acts 17.

Oprah, Dr. Phil, eastern mysticism, New Age fads, and ethical relativism fail miserably to apprehend the centeredness and peace of mind that is so lacking in this world of the twenty-first century schizoid man (King Crimson) where lives are so expendable as acceptable casualties of war and the love of money and prosperity gospels rule. This is perhaps the most world view most aggressively forced upon us in the mass media, schools, and ultra liberal churches teaching far to the left of Scripture in America today. This is the height of vanity and exalts vain imaginations above reason, believing that all that exists is what can be seen with the naked eye, while dismissing the validity of the supernatural. Everything is relative to the secular humanist, which is one reason why it leads to gross immorality and incredible insensitivity to the pain and suffering of others. 1 Corinthians 1:18-29 is also a good place to begin when discussing the gospel with humanists.

© 2010 Brian L Hunter