THE RELIGION OF MAN

Secularism does not provide a neutral meeting place for all of us to gather together. Instead, it is a new and thinly veiled religion with its own belief system. Chris Cuomo, CNN, recently expressed the central hope of this alternative religion:

·       "If you believe in one another and if do the right thing for yourself and your community, things will get better in this country. You don't need help from above. It's within us." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZPRvHlBvls

Secularism places hope in humanity instead of in God. However, are we fitting objects of hope? Are there nations that have replaced the hope in God for the hope in humanity, and can we learn any lessons from them before we have gone too far?

“Fortunately,” the last century has given us many models of nations where the “religion of man” has forcefully replaced traditional forms of religion. However, these nations have also modeled the loss of freedom, speech, liberty, and even of life. Communist nations have slaughtered one hundred million of their own people. They all have served as exemplars of repression and the enslavement of thoughts, minds, and words at the threat of death. Only the Party’s word can be heard, and children have been taught to expose their parents if they are speaking a different word.

Today, in the West, their proponents tend to call themselves “democratic socialists” to not evoke images of their genocidal past. However, several groups still call themselves “Marxist” or “Communist.” They set up their tables at the yearly Brooklyn Book Fair andy still call for “revolution.” Therefore, I have asked them, “You are not calling for a violent revolution, are you.” On a number of occasions, they have answered, “Yes!”

I therefore asked, “How is it that you are willing to pay such a price in lives for an experiment, which has universally failed and proved unsustainable.” On one occasion, the Marxist answered, “That’s not true!”

I asked if he could provide just one example where it hasn’t failed and resulted in a bloodbath. I was surprised to hear him answer, “Cuba.” I knew that, economically, it had been a failure, which had required the USSR to continually prop it up. I also knew that it was highly repressive of any other religion or of speech which opposed the communist party. But had the Cuban communists also been genocidal as had all the other Marxist regimes. Perhaps it hadn’t been. After all, Fidel Castro and Che Guevara remain heroes for large segments of the West. How could genocidal tyrants be held up as heroes?

When I returned home, I immediately made a Google search and found that these “heroes” had exterminated 125,000 of their own people, even on this tiny island.

Today, most young Western idealists, rarely call themselves “Marxists” or even “communists” but “social democrats.” However, a limited number of young people are still advocating violent revolution. We encountered a very likeable group of proponents on the steps of Columbia University in NYC. They assured me that it wouldn’t be a bloodbath as it had been before. Instead, they winsomely explained that they would merely make a clean surgical strike to eliminate the top 1%. I therefore responded:

·       Usually people do not want to be eliminated, even surgically. My guess is that they will retaliate as they always have done. Won’t this just result in another wholesale genocide?

They confidently assured me that it would not, and that they had learned from past mistakes.

The religion of man is energized by idealism and not the facts of history. Instead, of looking to a God of love for meaning and identity, it has substituted the opportunity to find redemption through their social justice cause. As a result, they attempt to overthrow the present system by painting it as the pinnacle of injustice, while presenting their own cause as the  of justice.

I asked two young ladies carrying a placard, “No justice, no peace,” “How much justice will you need in order to live at peace?” They couldn’t answer and became defensive. I was trying to make the point that no system will ever be perfect, not in this world. Therefore, would they continue to agitate, even violently, for an unattainable level of justice? However, they promptly walked away.

The religion of man is a propaganda machine of clever sayings and not of clear thinking. History has shown us that there is a vast difference between the two religions. So too has the Bible:

·       Thus says the LORD: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the LORD. He is like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see any good come. He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land. Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.” (Jeremiah 17:5-8)

Secularism is a belief in the earned goodness of man through self-sacrifice for a worthy cause, rather than in the worthiness of our sacrificial Savior and the goodness He freely confers upon us. These two religions are in opposition. However, “the religion of man” has proven that it will resort to any means to win, while the religion of God is convinced that truth is on its side and will eventually, in God’s timing, prevail. Therefore, it is willing to resort to peaceful means: reason and the gentle persuasion of their God.

These two religions are opposed to one another. Consequently, I know of only one “communist” regime that, at least for now, values the contributions of its fledgling Christian community and does not oppress them.

Lacking any assurance of the truth, the religion of man demands complete submission and will oppress and denigrate any dissenters. Even now, we are witnessing secular “social democratic” oppression and silencing, a mere foretaste of what is surely to come. Jesus has warned us to not be surprised:

·       “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. (John 15:18-20)

PEACE AND HARMONY

One Facebook poster asked: “What is the one thing that can unite us all in peace and harmony?” The answers were varied. Some answered “love,” others “death,” “music,” and “globalization.”

However, the answer is really very simple. It is only the Christian who can supply a real hope:

·       If your treasures and hopes are all invested in this world, then anyone who tries to take them from you is taking everything you have. This makes them a threat. However, if your treasures and hopes are invested in the next life, and these are preserved for you by a God who loves you and has redefined you as His own beloved children, then you can accept the deprivations and persecutions of this world with a smile.

We therefore have to remind ourselves who we are and what we have been given:

·       See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. (Colossians 2:8-10)

POPE FRANCIS’ CONDEMNATIONS

Is it fair to call us “haters” if we hate sin? The pope seems to think SO. He had reserved his strongest condemnations for traditional Catholics:

·       During his general audience at the Vatican today, Pope Francis condemned Catholics who go to church every day but “go on hating” their fellow men. He said it “is better” that they not go. https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/pope-francis-its-better-to-be-atheist-than-attend-daily-mass-as-hypocrite

·       “How many times have we witnessed the scandal of those who go to church and spend all day there or attend every day, and later go on hating others or speaking ill of people. This is a scandal,” the Argentine pontiff said.

While Francis is correct that Christians shouldn’t hate others, even those who do things regarded as repugnant, it seems that he also regards their traditional beliefs as “rigid.” To make this point, LifeSiteNews.com cites Catholic blogger Laurence English’s “The Pope Francis Little Book of Insults”:

·       These [condemnations] include: “superficial Christian,” “climbers...attached to money,” and "fomenters of coprophagia!" The pope has regularly referred to some traditionalist Catholics as "rigid."

However, it is clear that God hates sin and hypocrisy:

·       “Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates; they have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them.” (Isaiah 1:14)

Therefore, we too are to hate evil:

·       The fear of the LORD is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate. (Proverbs 8:13)

·       you who love the LORD, hate evil! He preserves the lives of his saints; he delivers them from the hand of the wicked. (Psalm 97:10)

This is true even of NT teachings:

·       Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. (Romans 12:9)

However, we are not to seek revenge. This is because God will avenge for us:

·       Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” (Romans 12:19)

·       For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. (Hebrews 10:30-31)

Is this teaching troubling? It should be, and we shouldn’t hide it if we really care about the ultimate destiny of our friends and family.

While we are to love the sinner, we must hate their sins (even our own) and expose them (Ephesians 5:11). But we will be called “hypocrites” because we too are sinners.

However, Scripture makes an important distinction between those who confess and seek to turn from their sins and those who gladly continue in their sins without repentance:

·       “Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, “‘Return, faithless Israel, declares the LORD. I will not look on you in anger, for I am merciful, declares the LORD; I will not be angry forever. Only acknowledge your guilt, that you rebelled against the LORD your God and scattered your favors among foreigners under every green tree, and that you have not obeyed my voice, declares the LORD.’” (Jeremiah 3:12-13)

Of course, if we refuse to repent of our sins, we have no right to tell others to repent. Therefore, Paul had added this condition:

·       Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. (Galatians 6:1)

When we sincerely confess our sins, we are restored to holiness and spirituality. Consequently, we then can correct the wayward. We have first taken the medicine, which we are to administer to others. We have removed the blinding log from our own eyes (Matthew 7:1-5).

ARE ALL MORAL ABSOLUTES ABSOLUTELY HARMFUL

When I write about God-given moral laws, someone will object, “Moral absolutism leads to some of the worst consequences.” I therefore responded:

·       “You are correct that moral absolutism can be dangerous. It empowers. But this empowerment can be used for good or for evil. In fact the only way to counteract the evil of moral absolutism is for us to be absolute ourselves in our conviction against certain "absolutes."

A good place to start is with your own intuitions of right and wrong. Why do you follow them? Because you know that they are more than just an alarm system, a biochemical reaction. Instead, these intuitions are like a fire alarm system, which alerts us to a genuine reality, a real fire that is raging and which requires our attention.

But why believe that our moral intuitions are alerting us to a real fire, a genuine right and wrong? We have been wired that way by our Creator.”

Perhaps we are all moral absolutists? In fact, my respondent had been morally absolute against moral absolutism. Even those who say, “we cannot know,” tend to be absolutists about their agnosticism.

WHAT IS “WHITE PRIVILEGE” AND HOW DOES IT AFFECT US?

“White Privilege” is more than just the acknowledgement that, on the average, whites have more money and education than blacks. (For that matter, Asians have us all beat, and perhaps they should. They study more a least twice as much as do others.) Wikipedia defines this concept more robustly, as do others:

·       White privilege denotes both obvious and less obvious passive advantages that white people may not recognize they have, which distinguishes it from overt bias or prejudice. These include cultural affirmations of one's own worth; presumed greater social status; and freedom to move, buy, work, play, and speak freely. The effects can be seen in professional, educational, and personal contexts. The concept of white privilege also implies the right to assume the universality of one's own experiences, marking others as different or exceptional while perceiving oneself as normal.

This definition, as do others, suggests that whites look down upon non-whites. Whether they do this more than other groups is highly debatable. Instead, surveys have indicated that blacks have a higher self-esteem than whites, and they commit suicide at a rate of almost three times less than whites.

In any event, “white privilege” has been used as a battering ram to shame whites, reasoning that they have been enjoying their privileged status at the expense of blacks. As a result, universities require whites to attend “white privilege” (WP) seminars, racial reconciliation groups often require white participants to recognize that their duties begin by listening and adopting the WP, “systemic racism” narratives. They must atone for their WP by also acknowledging that they no longer have a right to speak about these issues. Nor does the humiliation stop there. These malleable youth are then called upon to become “allies,” who then prove their allegiance by joining their black tutors in their pursuit of “social justice.”

The key question is why do these youthful whites submit to this degraded and unequal status? What do they derive from this form of self-hating masochism? Absolution from their “guilt” and the offer of a virtuous identity, which, to some extent, has been stripped from them! Black Lives Matter (BLM) offers these fledgling social justice warriors (SJWs) a ladder by which they can now achieve a sense of value and worthiness, as does any cult, which proclaims, “We are superior to others,” the new racism.

However, to depend upon anyone for our value is psychological slavery. It forces us to tow-the-line and to constantly seek the approval of those who grant us our value. Once we try to pursue an independent course, approval is replaced by scorn and condemnation.

But are these SJWs truly helping their black brethren in the long run by adopting their narrative of victimization and “systemic racism?” Many black conservatives have argued persuasively that, by reinforcing this dysfunctional identity, SJWs have caused the black community more anguish than had Jim Crow. In, “Shame: How America’s Past Sins have Polarized Our Country,” Shelby Steele argued that White guilt, the terror that Whites experience of being labeled a “racist,” has harmed the Black community:

·       It has spawned a new white paternalism toward minorities since the 1960s that, among other things, has damaged the black family more profoundly than segregation ever did.

·       Post-1960s welfare policies, the proliferation of “identity politics” and group preferences, and all the grandiose social interventions of the War on Poverty and the Great Society—all this was meant to redeem the nation from its bigoted past, but paradoxically, it also invited minorities to make an identity and a politics out of grievance and inferiority.

Walter E. Williams, professor of economics, George Mason University, does not think that the problems that the Black community are now experiencing are a product of slavery, Jim Crow, or even systemic racism, but of welfare programs, white guilt, and “political correctness”:

·       A major part of the solution should be the elimination of public and private policy that rewards inferiority and irresponsibility. Chief among the policies that reward inferiority and irresponsibility is the welfare state. When some people know that they can have children out of wedlock, drop out of school and refuse employment and suffer little consequence, one should not be surprised to see the growth of such behavior. The poverty rate among blacks is about 30 percent. It’s seen as politically correct to blame today’s poverty on racial discrimination, but that’s nonsense. Why? The poverty rate among black intact husband-and-wife families has been in the single digits for more than two decades.

According to economist Thomas Sowell, the Black community had been far better off before white liberalism had gotten a hold of them:

·       Many things that are supposed to help blacks actually have a track record of making things worse. Minimum wage laws have had a devastating effect in making black teenage unemployment several times higher than it once was.

·       In later years, as the minimum wage was repeatedly raised to keep up with inflation, black teenage unemployment from 1971 through 1994 was never less than 3 times what it was in 1948, and ranged as high as more than 5 times the 1948 level. It also became far higher than the unemployment rate of whites the same age.

What does “white guilt” and BLM need? The same thing as the rest of us! They need to know that they are loved and washed entirely clean of their sins by Christ’s payment of our sins and the love we receive through faith. This is an empowering love that has transformed the lives of many millions and has freed them from the opinions of society and its oppressive power to value or to devalue us. When we know that we are beloved by our Savior, we have the courage to live according to our God-given conscience and to take-a-knee to the only One who really matters.

Knowing that He will always be there for us has enabled us to face all the indignities of our malignant society and even martyrdom.