The Religion of Humanism

Humanism and the Spirit

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: Humanism

Genre: Speech

Lesson: 2

Track: 255

Dictation Name: RR137A2

Date: 1960s-1970s

Hear now the Word of God as it is given to us in Ephesians 4:10-16. Our particular concern will be with verse 14. Our subject, “Humanism and the Spirit.” Ephesians 4:10-16:

“10He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.

11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;

12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:

13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ:

14 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;

15 But speaking the truth in love may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:

16 From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.”

Basic to Humanism is the affirmation of the sovereignty of man, man as lord, whereas we as Christians must affirm the sovereignty of God, the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

Now the word lord and lordship are the same as in our current usage of the word sovereignty. And the battle between Humanism and Christianity in the United States today is one of lordship, sovereignty. Because God is the Lord, all things are naked and open unto His sight. The very hairs of our heads are all numbered. Not a sparrow falls but our Father in Heaven knows it. Known unto Him from the foundation of the world are all things. All things were ordained by Him. Whenever any human agency claims sovereignty, it claims the attributes of God, and therefore it seeks to be the sovereign over man in all things; to be the umbrella under which all things exist, the government upon whose shoulders is the care of all things, and hence when the State claims sovereignty, it claims total control, total knowledge, total rule over all things.

In the Kentucky school trial, it was amazing to see thing after thing come out to the detriment of the State and of its schools. The schools did not have even a testing program to show that a student knew how to read and right before he graduated. Of course, when the trial began and this sort of thing became public knowledge, the state legislature promptly passed such a testing program to cover its nakedness, as it were. The Christian schools were told they were contributing to the delinquency of minor children and the parents were charged, or about to be charged, with such a criminal offense, for having their children in Christian schools. A police officer got on the stand and said there were nine schools in his territory and it was a daily problem to him because he had to deal—in these schools—with problems of rape, assault, arson, theft, narcotics, drunkenness, and so on, and not a single case of any sort ever in the four Christian schools in his territory. He had put his children, for their welfare, in a Christian school.

But the State, knowing all these things about its own schools there in Kentucky and elsewhere, still seeks to control the Christian schools whose students test out two years or better ahead of their students. What is their justification? When we are able to control the situation completely and we remove obstacles such as these Christian schools, these Christians who resist us, then we will be able to do all things well. When we are fully god over man, in effect they are saying, then we will be the saviors of man. So they are insisting that Christian schools be under the State Board of Education, under the state directives, use the state textbooks. In one state they were generous; they said we will allow 15 minutes a day to you for Bible. To be, in other words, exactly a duplicate of the State schools, but privately financed.

The State, of course, when it is sovereign, does not say it is the Christian schools alone that must be under its controls. Some independent missionary agencies are also now the target of such attacks. A church in Alabama has a nursery for the mothers during services Sunday morning and evening and for mid-week meetings. And the State Welfare Department says this is child care and must be under its child care department and controlled thereby. In another state, a church was told any time they changed any usage of the church, any type of different usage—all a part of their services—the facilities had to be re-inspected. And they might be refused permission. This is the exercise of sovereignty.

Humanism insists on the sovereignty of man. Our subject tonight is the doctrine of the spirit, in Humanism. Some years ago, I heard a scholar define Humanism as the spirit of freedom. And I find that Humanists like this definition. They see themselves even as they prosecute churches and schools and missionary agencies as the spirit of freedom, liberating man from the superstitions of an old and obsolete book. And they will tell you they believe in religious freedom. We say where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. If the Son make you free, then ye are free indeed. These men feel if the Humanistic State makes you free, then only are you free indeed—under the State, not under Christ. And where the spirit of Humanism is, even though you are in a slave labor camp of course, there is the spirit of freedom.

In an man-to-man confrontation, I had one top officer in one agency tell me that the First Amendment where it spoke of freedom of religion meant that any given rabbi, minister or priest had the freedom to expound the scriptures of his religion from a given physical pulpit in a given physical building, but the right of that pulpit to exist and the right of that building to be built was totally subject to statist regulations. Now what does that spell out? Why, exactly the doctrine of the Soviet Union since the 30s. The Soviet Union, a Humanistic State, in its constitution, guarantees freedom of religion. But it is totally subject to permits, licenses, regulations and controls. And try to get by those licenses, regulations and control! You can’t do it! And the goal is the same thing here. They say so!

The spirit of freedom; but Humanists see themselves as spiritual and liberating, as freeing man from all the accumulated bigotry and superstition of the centuries. The founders of Humanism definitely set forth a doctrine of the spirit. The spirit of the new god, humanity.

Octavius Brooks Frothingham, writing a century and a half ago, in one of the key books setting forth the new religion in this country, titled The Religion of Humanity wrote, “Humanity has but one life, breathes but one atmosphere, draws sustenance from one central orb. To be reconciled with humanity…” (You see, they believe in reconciliation. You must be reconciled with the One World Order, with a united humanity) “…to be reconciled with humanity, to feel the common pulse is life. To be alienated from humanity, to have no share in the common vitality is death. The slightest material separation is felt disastrously. The interior spirit of any age is the spirit of God and not faith can be living that has that spirit against it. No church can be strong except in that alliance. The life of the time appoints the creed of the time and modifies the establishment of the time.” What is the “Spirit of God,” according to the Humanist? Why it is the spirit of the age. Today, of course, we call that Existentialism, to know the truth of the existential moment, without any reference to the teachings of the past, or the older generation. The Humanistic holy spirit is whatever is the interior spirit of that age, whatever expresses the life of the times, provided that it is reconciled with humanity.

This means that every impulse toward a Humanist equality in a world brotherhood is the working of Humanism’s holy spirit. It means too that popular fads and movements like rock music express that infallible spirit. Thus, they are beyond criticism for the moment.

Now about 10-, 12-years ago, the Beatles were very much criticized, and misunderstood when one of them declared that they were more important than Jesus Christ. Now as existentialists, they meant that existentially. They meant that humanity at that moment found a better focus in themselves than in any person who lived and died two thousand years ago. They represented the spirit of the moment and therefore the spirit of the age spoke through them. It means too that if everybody is doing it, it’s all right. Why? Because if everybody’s doing it. It’s the spirit of the age. What Christians have often seen as the proud arrogance of rock musicians, of politicians, of existentialist philosophers, and of churchmen who share this type of thought, is the Humanistic holy spirit, the revelation of the spirit of the age, and their expression of it—self-consciously and triumphantly. Now because man changes, the witness of the Humanistic spirit changes. The Humanistic spirit of truth speaks a new word each time it speaks, because it changes as humanity changes.

Now in any faith, it will be held that the spirit determines man. In any sound theology we will hold that. The spirit determines man. For Humanism, it is the spirit of man, the spirit of the age which determines man. For us it is the Holy Spirit which determines us. Now it is well known by those of you who are seminary students that in Hebrew, wind and spirit are the same words, although their meaning varies as the context determines. The New Testament writers are of course also aware of this very obvious fact. It was their mother tongue, Aramaic or Hebrew. We are told in Acts 2:2 that the Holy Spirit at Pentecost came from Heaven with a sound as of a mighty rushing wind. Paul has this in mind also in Ephesians 4:14 as he compares humanistic doctrines to winds. He summons Christians to be henceforth no more children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the slight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive. Be no more determined by the world and by its spirit, but by the Spirit of God. Paul sees two spirits at work in the world and in the Church; the Spirit of God and the spirit of the age. When men within the Church are influenced or possessed by the spirit of the age, by Humanism, they are (Revelation 21:8 tells us what they are when it gives the chronicle of the reprobate) fearful and unbelieving. They head the list of the reprobate—the fearful and the unbelieving.

I mention the types of cases now going to court. In one city, pastor of a Reformed congregation found that the one organist that they had in the congregation moved away so he advertised for an organist. One presented himself as a Bible-believer who believed the book from cover to cover, and was open to Reformed Doctrine. He was hired and they found out within a matter of weeks that he was a homosexual and he was fired. Within hours they faced legal action. He had denied the civil rights of this man. Now, of course, they are beginning to realize that it was probably a set-up case. The pastor is making a stand. But he has some in his congregation who are fearful—fearful, because they are possessed by the spirit of the age, not by the Holy Spirit and they are fearful and unbelieving.

God tells us where all such belong.

But they are not alone. A few years ago, California repealed the laws against homosexuality and the criminal statutes concerning it. it was an amazing fact that it was repealed. One state assemblyman introduced it to satisfy the homosexuals in his district (because they were numerous), quite sure that the Christian community would arise in outrage and defeat it. No one came forward to protest. In the early stages, when it was all but through, it passed the legislature and then went to the senate, only one statement was received—mine. And so suddenly all the legislators got on the band wagon and it was passed. Then one of the state senators and some of the Christian laymen, a lawyer and some others, decided to have a measure putting it back on the statute by initiative. And so they distributed the copies of the initiative to Christians to take to their churches and they were sure on a single weekend they would have enough signatures. And what happened? These were taken to Arminian and Calvinistic congregations, and almost all of them were rejected. The pastors and church boards barred them from the church with their petitions. They used a variety of excuses. They called it the Social Gospel, to seek any such legislation. Others said it was s confusion of Church and State. Others said it was involving the Church and Christians and legalism and we’re not under the Law any longer. And others said we might lose our tax exemption if we do any such thing. They didn’t get any signatures to speak of. And the movement backfired so dramatically, that the legislature began to treat Christians and anything they may believe as a joke.

When I was at the state capitol, one of the senators told me, he said do you know the kind of story they’re telling here about Christians? They tell that two Bible-toters were walking down the street and they saw a big bully beat up on a small elderly man and rob him. And they stood there and debated, should we do something in this situation? Should we step in and help that elderly man? And then they concluded no, we mustn’t do it, after all, that’s involving ourselves in works and what we need to do is to witness to that big bully and how can we have a witness to him if we offend him? The men who tell this story are ungodly legislators, but I think they’ve got the number of a great many churchmen, and they regard the churches now as a joke. Why? Because they are fearful and unbelieving. They manifest not the Spirit and the power of God, but the spirit of the age and they are fearful of men rather than of the Lord.

If you believe in God truly, then you are afraid of God. But if it’s man who is your sovereign and you lord, then you will be afraid of men!

Humanists are governed by the spirit of the age. As Frothingham said, the life of the time appoints the creed of the time and modifies the establishment of the time. And so all over the country we have churchmen who will say—and I’ve heard them say it—the times have changed and we must change our views about abortion and about homosexuality and about the sexual revolution and so on and on and yet assure you, I do believe in the Bible from cover to cover. They may believe in the covers, but not much between! [Laughter]

The Humanists declare that theirs is the spirit of freedom. And we must agree. Theirs is the spirit of freedom from God and His Law-Word. To them it is the Word of God that is the great enemy. Freedom is from God to man. And it is a spirit which is tender to sin but not towards the Word of God. Humanism is man’s attempt to be free of God but it results in bondage to man because it is governed by the spirit of man and the fear of man. Solomon tells us in Proverbs that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. He tells us again in Proverbs 19:23 the fear of the Lord tendeth to life, and he that hath it shall abide satisfied. He shall not be visited with evil. Again in Proverbs 29:25, he tells us the fear of man bringeth a snare, but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe. The spirit of Humanism is all around us. And it makes men fearful and unbelieving and they listen to voices other than the Word of God and they feel it’s important to study everything except God’s Word.

You know I went to seminary and it was a very liberal seminary and I heard a great deal about the Graf-Wellhausen Theory and a great many other hypotheses but next to nothing about the Word of God. I fact, one of the ‘A’ students who went on to great things in the academic world boasted to me, he was in the room in the dorm next to me, that he’d never cracked the Book, but he got ‘A’s’ in Old and New Testament. And during his final examination in Ezekiel, and he came out with an ‘A’ he kept trying to get me to tell him how to spell Ezekiel. [Laughter] Someone else told him.

Because of my own principles I wanted to be, and I was ordained as, an evangelist because that was how I see my ministry. And I went to a great many conferences on evangelism and I heard a great deal about the techniques for successful evangelism and nothing about the Word of God or the Spirit of God in evangelism. As a missionary to the Chinese and to the American Indians, the Piute and Shoshones, I attended many missionary conferences and I heard not the Great Commission nor the promise of the Spirit, but one sociological cult after another, concerning missions. And of course today we have Liberation Theology; liberation, really, from God. And it presents itself as a doctrine of missions.

But equally bad is Humanism in the pew where the spirit of man is at work, fearful and unbelieving, decrying tithing, ignorant of the Bible, content with minimum Christianity. Humanism in the pew rejected Elijah. In Paul’s day it made it necessary for Paul to support himself in order to be able to continue to preach the Gospel freely. Humanism in the pew wants salvation but not the Lord as sovereign. It wants the fruits of the Spirit but not the Spirit which commands, which governs, and which makes us bold in His power, in the face of the enemy. The spirit of Humanism in the pew is the spirit of compromise with State schools, with anti-Christian politics and economics, with every aspect of a world indifferent to Christ the King. And the spirit of Humanism crowds out God from our lives and it limits God at best to being a resource for man to use. Instead of being commanded by the world, we are carried about by the winds of the world’s doctrines, by the spirit of the world.

When Paul in Ephesians 1:14[Ephesians 4:14] speaks of the sleight of men and the cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive, the word for sleight which he uses has reference to dice playing, the roll of the dice. And he is saying men who are ruled by the spirit of man, by the spirit of Humanism, by the spirit of the age, are like dice that a dice player uses at his will, commands totally, they are the creatures of men. When men are not ruled by God they are tossed about by men.

Early in the 50s, a group of sociologists wrote a very telling book which has been prophetic in its description of the American character. They saw shortly after World War II the shift in the American character; it was a shift from being God-centered to being man-centered, being consumption-oriented rather than being production-oriented, governed by the group rather than by their conscience, concerned with morale rather than morality, with appearance rather than reality. And ever since then we have seen increasingly the predominance of that spirit of Humanism, of government by the spirit of man and the fear of man ruling in and out of the Church, in and out of the councils of State, in and out of the schools so that we have become practical Humanists in every area of American life.

To be governed by the spirit of man is to be the enemy of God, and to be fearful of man is to incur the wrath of God, who tells us that it is the fear of Him which is the beginning of wisdom. And thanks be to God He is raising up men today who are confronting the powers that be in the states and saying here I stand, I can do no other; take me to jail, I will not surrender.

I spoke in Alabama to a group of Christian schools last October. I shall be back to speak to them again next month. I spoke last year on Humanism and they want me to speak on the subject again. But I thought it was very interesting that they had some men from the Christian Law Association there to carry on a special seminar for all the ministers and Christian school principals. The title of the seminar was, “What to do When the Sheriff Comes to Arrest You.” It was a great deal of technical data on exactly how to conduct themselves, but first and foremost, one of the men who conducted that seminar said unless you go to the door armed by the Word and the Spirit of God, you’re helpless, and they’ll crush you. Sooner or later, they’ll be knocking in one form or another at all our doors if these battles these men are fighting are not won because Humanism is determined to be sovereign, to be lord over all our lives. And you had better be prepared now, when the time comes and before the time comes. Is it the spirit of man or the Spirit of God, the word of man, or the Word of God that governs your heart, your actions, all your being? When you answer the door, in which spirit will you answer it?

Let us pray.

Glory be to Thee, oh God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Who Thy grace and mercy has raised up onto Thyself saints who stand boldly in these troubled times, who confront the enemy at the door, and all their writs and summons and warrants, and the confidence of Thy Spirit and the boldness of Thy Word and who in the courts of law give a goodly witness. bless them oh Lord and deliver them and make us as Aaron and Hur to support them and to be strong by Thy Spirit and by Thy Word and to stand with them wherever we are, to move not in the fear of man, not to be like the reprobate, fearful and unbelieving but to go forth with a holy boldness through Thy Word and by Thy Spirit as more than conquerors through Christ who loved us and by His blood redeemed us. In His name we pray, amen.