Breadth of Mind and the Bible - An Illustrative, Philosophical View

There are three systems from which human thought springs: Humanism, Naturalism and Theism. It is doubtful anyone is a purist in any one train of thought - so, each holds some degree of a mishmash. When conflicting conclusions are reached on a subject, it may prove helpful to trace back each conclusion and identify from which fount it springs. The real question then becomes, “Which system is actually the most sound?” To answer this requires an understanding of each thought system - honestly pitted against each another - and honestly weighed.

Defined

Humanism is human opinion. It is an effort to formulate valid metaphysical constructs with no appeal to a power higher than man. Naturalism, on the other hand, confines itself to physical materialism. Naturalists think from a scientific base ... with any “values” or conclusions extrapolated in accordance with gathered physical data. As to Theism, if Jesus Christ physically rose from the dead, then the material that can be credibly connected to Him carries weight ... actually a phenomenally great weight. A Biblical Theist has determined the Protestant Bible of 66 “books” meets that test. The goal is to then accurately represent the position of the Bible’s Author on the given topic.

Humanism: The Weakest of All Human Thought

The bulk of humanity is not really serious about the deeper questions of life. Most are occupied with the present tense. Sometimes the struggle to survive forces this, but oftentimes people simply choose to fritter away their time in trivial pursuits. “Thinking” is not something to which they are inclined. There are many reasons for this state of affairs, but the reasons are ultimately irrelevant as the reality is all that matters. When pressed, “insights” might be forwarded, but when examined, the material drawn from is usually quite spurious or of uncertain origins. At one time, some “saying” may be forwarded that has been handed down through the family, or, at another time, some catchy phrase from a song or movie - or something they ran across that happened to “strike a chord.” Humanism, as a mental discipline, is dedicated to accumulating these opinions of man and seeks to assess and categorize them. In its mature form, Humanism boasts of its sciences, but these are the “soft” social sciences of man’s metaphysical pursuits. Things like Political Science, Psychology, Sociology, Economics, etc. These studies are actually social observations, measures and assessments. The word, “science” should be reserved for the “hard sciences” of Naturalism - Chemistry, Physics, Astronomy, Biology, and the like.

When Humanistic values conflict with Naturalism or Theism, the Humanist chooses Humanism. But, if there is objective science (which there is) and if there is a valid Theism (which, based upon Jesus’ resurrection, there is), to then choose human opinion over either of these is an embrace of the most shallow and weakest of all human thought. Humanists occupy themselves in a kiddie pool. The most substantive abode they can construct beside this kiddie pool is a lean-to. Here are a few examples of the Bible’s assessment of Humanism. “A fool does not delight in understanding, but only in revealing his own mind (airing his own opinions)” (Pr 18:2). “There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death” (Pr 14:12). “Your memorable sayings are proverbs of ashes, your defenses are defenses of clay” (Job 13:12). The Bible is tremendously aggressive toward Humanistic metaphysical thought that conflicts with it. No quarter is given ... and it will not survive.

Naturalism: A Mud Hut ... by the Lake

Atheistic Naturalism promises objective truth - absent opinion. Its only concern is physical reality. An authentic, atheistic, evolutionary Naturalist does have some solid tools and building materials at hand. Unbiased application of scientific procedure and analysis does lead to accurate present-tense information. But, as the Creator of that truth is left unacknowledged - or denied - the best that can be constructed is a mud hut. But, at least the Naturalist scientist has left the kiddie pool and has built by a great lake. Unfortunately, interpretation of the discovered data often sours things. For example, while physicists may be accurate in their analysis of current physical law - it is error to assume these laws have always been ... or will be. I call this, “The Mother of all Errors” in a section of my Ebook, “Death and the Bible.” In summary, the Judgments in Genesis 3:14-19 ushered in tremendous physical changes ... with new physical laws. The impact has been immense - affecting all the organic and inorganic sciences. In fact, the entire universe has been immersed into a deep, but temporary, degenerative trough. At the other end of this trough is the re-created order. This will be an act of God that either restores the original creation, with its laws, or will perhaps be an even better order. By rejecting these Bible claims, the atheistic, evolutionary Naturalist explores in the great fresh water lake of scientific truth, but is operating without a full deck. At best, the Naturalist is playing with one card of the fifty-two ... and it is not a trump card. This mud hut - and all the others along that shore - will not stand a chance against the coming Tsunami.

When scientists are working in truth, they are working with God’s things. Any scientific discipline honestly pursued, evaluated and weighed with perspective - will run into “God.” He states it this way: “ ... that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made ...” (Ro 1:19, 20). Failure to acknowledge the Creator, by those who are peering into the mechanics of His creation, will be part of their accountability when standing before Him. “My glory I will not give to another” (Isa 48:11).

Intelligent Design

Every discipline has scientists who advocate Intelligent Design. It seems this is on the increase, but maybe such sentiments have always been constant, but there was no platform for this material disbursement. When I went through my formal scientific studies, I do not remember any textbook material that had any challenge to evolutionary Naturalism. But now, with the Internet, a platform exists for giving voice to these contrarians. Much of their work is extremely well researched with penetrating analysis and challenges to their Naturalist peers ( See, http://www.icr.org - Institute for Creation Research). But, I suspect the biggest challenge for Naturalists with a high IQ ... is for them to be able to imagine a Being with the ability to create - out of nothing - their particular field of lifetime study. And if they also have a grasp on the complexity of other scientific fields - and are told the same Designer made those too ... well, the concept of such an Entity probably stuns their mind into unbelief. How could Someone invent chemistry, mathematics, physics, organic life, inorganic materials, energy ... out of nothing - and weave them altogether into this ... place? This is unfathomable. And when the Bible asserts this Designer has even catalogued each person’s actions, words, thoughts and secrets - this becomes a pill incapable of being swallowed.

The Corruption of Atheistic Naturalism

The corruption of atheistic Naturalism occurs in one of two ways. The first is when it conflicts with Biblical claims. This is usually obvious. For example, the Naturalist immediately relegates to fantasy - every miraculous Biblical account. But, the second corruption to Naturalism occurs when Humanistic opinion is mixed into it. This is rampant. In some ways, I can understand why a Naturalist would completely reject the Bible’s supernatural claims. The Naturalist wasn’t there - and those claims undermine Evolution at its core (See, “Death and the Bible”). But what is amazing to me is how readily professing Evolutionists adopt Humanistic metaphysical values that violate fundamental principles of Naturalism. Whether abortion rights (See, “The Stunning Civil Rights Parallels Between American Slavery and Abortion”) or homosexual rights (See, “Evolution and Homosexuality”), or all the civil rights (the list is almost endless) ... they all violate, or restrain, the ones who were always the naturally superior up to the moment of this metaphysical mutation. So, a 6,000 year old mutation against a successful 1,000,000,000 year lifeline is not to be questioned (or evaluated) - just embraced as progressive in our natural development? On a 24 hour clock, this represents the last tick (1.44 of the 86,400 seconds). Of course, some believe life is more like 4,000,000,000 years old ... so, I am being generous to this mutation.

The Skipped Subheading

You may have noticed I did not include a subheading, “The Corruption of Humanism.” It isn’t possible to corrupt what already is. Even if I spent time exposing a deviously employed Humanistic value that brought down some other competing Humanistic value, such a corruption would not create ... another shade of black.

Biblical Theism: The Ocean

The dead body of Jesus Christ coming back to life after being in a tomb for around 40 hours (parts of two days and all of the middle one), establishes Him as the Boss. Jesus “was declared with power to be the Son of God as a result of the resurrection from the dead” (Ro 1:4). Paul basically said that absent the resurrection, any theology is essentially meaningless. “And if the dead are not raised, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die” (1Cor 15:32). Without that event, I do not know how a person could determine which Theism, if any, is actually worth pursuing. Without recounting the details here, after some investigation, I personally became persuaded Jesus did rise from the dead, and that the Bible is the sole written material from the Creator. Some of this persuasion is objective (i.e., fulfilled Bible predictions), but some of my conviction is subjective. He uses His word to change me. He knows how, and when, to place His material in my experience so as to alternately challenge, encourage, warn, or guide me. And because I have experienced this activity always leading to my personal benefit, I have been won - and seek only to promote Biblical Theism. The Bible is the introduction into the inexhaustible Ocean of God - of unending bounty. In Christ “are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col 2:3).

The importance of the resurrection of Jesus Christ cannot be overemphasized. It is obvious there are competing value systems in the world. While I do not agree with Nietzsche that “might makes right,” I will say that might, if exercised, creates dominance. The hope is that the value system of the exercising dominant ... is right. Herein lies one of the great hopes of Christianity. Even before the crucifixion, “the Father had given all things into His hands” and after He rose from the dead, Jesus announced, “(A)ll authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth” (Jn 13:3 and Mt 28:18). In Hebrews, after detailing more thoroughly Jesus’ current position of eternal dominance, comes this: “For in subjecting all things to Him, He (God the Father) left nothing that is not subject to Him. But now, we do not yet see all things subjected to Him” (He 2:8). For His own reasons, He has not yet decided to impose His standards. But, this is a temporary situation. Such claims are either myth, or impotent bluffs ... or true. The bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ serves as a marker dispelling myth or bluff. It stands as an immovable book divider between two great bookends. At one end is the original Creation and at the other end is the recreated one. There are multitudes of competing “books” on each side of the Resurrection Divider - all hoping, and believing, He is incapable of imposing His system and standards. An actual resurrection casts a long and intimidating shadow over all the other books. They all hope, against all hope, He is still entombed somewhere.

Conclusion

If one is serious about constructing a world view - with the greatest breadth of mind in weighing all available materials, the assertions by the Author of the Bible must be included. Again, the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the “attention getter” for its inclusion. To ignore this is similar to an attempt to construct a great mansion - yet, the use of a hammer is prohibited. Additionally, prime building materials are replaced ... with what? The best such a maimed builder can hope to construct ... is a lean-to or a mud hut. After decades of formal and self Bible study, when I think back, I am often ashamed at how narrow minded and close minded I was ... before I became a Christian. I’ve been in the kiddie pool, and I have been in the lake. But, there is nothing like The Ocean. “I’m going fishing” (Jn 21:3). If you want, you can come with me.