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Humanism is Destroying Us ... Literally
Humanism is the worst disease that has ever plagued mankind. If left untreated, it becomes malignant, ultimately killing its host. At the same time it spreads to others throughout the community, eventually destroying whole nations in its wake. It's like a silent cancer, and since the fall of Adam, humanism has caused the degeneration of the spirit of mankind. Any trace of courage or righteousness has been, for the most part, erased from most of mankind.
While courage and righteousness still do exist to some extent, it can only be seen within a small part of mankind. Unfortunately, the majority of the people in the world today have succumbed to the sickness of humanism and they don't even know it; they suffer under the delusion that people are basically good. They have become acclimated to the human decay that is happening all around them — the decay known as humanism.
To begin to understand what I mean, let's look at the basic definition of humanism:
humanism: {noun}: 1. A system of thought that centers on humans and their values, capacities, and worth. 2. Concern with the interests, needs, and welfare of humans. [The American Heritage Dictionary, Fourth edition, 2000]
humanism: a doctrine, attitude, or way of life centered on human interests or values; especially: a philosophy that usually rejects supernaturalism and stresses an individual's dignity and worth and capacity for self-realization through reason. [Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary, 2001]
There is no room for Yahweh and His plans in humanism; the second definition above makes that very clear: "a philosophy that usually rejects supernaturalism". It's all about each person's wants and desires. Humanism is the direct opposite of Torah. A true understanding of who man is and who God is means an understanding that Yahweh is all in all and that He alone is to be worshipped. There is no worship of money, career, rock stars, movie idols, inanimate objects, political leaders, democracy, sports figures, etc. This true understanding means that we know that man is imperfect, that he is like a flower that blossoms today and is gone with the wind tomorrow. Yahweh, however, has always been here and will always be here — He is the only constant in all of creation.
Placing the Blame Where It Properly Belongs
For the most part, we have the ancient Greeks to thank for humanism. They didn't bring this sickness into the world; it's a basic problem within man. It was Adam's problem in the first place. He put his own needs first, before Yahweh. But it was the Greeks who nourished humanism — in fact they worshipped it — and helped it to fester and grow on a worldwide scale. Unfortunately, most people love it so much, it has become the basis of the world's educational system (which is one of the main reasons cited by parents for home schooling their children).
Even though humanism is the disease, it's man who is responsible for its spread throughout the world. Humanism is not an actual organism which spreads as other living diseases do. It must be embraced by its host who willingly passes it along to others around them, who, in turn, willingly accept it. Man alone is accountable for its spread. And even though with a bit of discipline, and a proper perspective of who Yahweh really is, the disease could easily be wiped out, man chooses instead to help it spread to every distant village around the world.
Finding the Proper Focus
There are several types of humanism. But they all agree on one thing: man is the center of all things, he is the main focus. From that comes the focus of mankind as a whole, i.e., the society in general. Humanism works for the greater good of the society, while affirming the dignity and worth of all people as individuals. And while this may all sound great it does not allow for the inclusion of the Creator by those who embrace humanism. Remember our original definition of humanism: "A system of thought that centers on humans and their values, capacities, and worth."
The idea that individual beliefs and values must be compromised in order to live in peace with others is a reoccurring theme in humanism that has grown rapidly in the last few decades. Unfortunately it's a concept that has also been embraced wholeheartedly by many people who claim to also embrace the teachings of Yahweh — two differing belief systems which are totally incompatible. But rather than stand for what they know is right, people make compromises because either they or their families might be at risk to some real or imagined danger. So instead of taking a stand and paying the consequences — which was once looked upon as being a righteous act, it is now deemed acceptable to compromise on your beliefs and play it safe. That, by the way, is actually an excellent definition of a coward — not standing up for what you believe in and making compromises on your beliefs.
People who claim to be righteous make compromises with the society around them in order for them or their children to fit in. They don't want to be ostracized; they want everyone to accept them. And while some branches of medicine, along with other "alternative" sciences, claim that is a basic human need, it is not something that can be tolerated by someone who truly desires to obey Yahweh. It's a choice that we all must make: obedience to Yahweh or friendship with the world.
Standing for Our Beliefs, No Matter What the Cost
An excellent example of those who stand for what they believe in, no matter what the cost, was displayed by Daniel's associates Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah (better known by the names given to them by King Nebuchadnezzar's chief officer: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego). After building a large gold statue, the king ordered that all the "peoples and nations of every language" must bow down and worship the statute. Those that didn't were to be thrown into a burning fiery furnace (Daniel 3.1-7). Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, however, refused to do so, which, of course, greatly angered the king. Despite repeated threats of torture and death by the king, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah continued to refuse to worship the false diety, stating, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter, for if so it must be, our God whom we serve is able to save us from the burning furnace, and He will save us from your power, O king. But even if He does not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your god or worship the stature of gold that you have set up" (3.16-18). (I have always admired the boldness of these men with their addition that "even if He does not" they would still not bow to Nebuchadnezzar's false god; the mark of real dedication and truly righteous men.) So what happened? Even though Nebuchadnezzar made good on his threats and tossed Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah into the burning fiery furnace, Yahweh delivered them from the fire, even to the point that there was no smell of smoke on their clothes, nor was even one hair on their head singed, despite being in the midst of the fire (3.27). Yet Nebuchadnezzar was not an ignorant man. He knew that he had just witnessed the power of the real God, not one of his hand-made ones: "there is no other God who is able to save in this way" (3.29), he declared. In fact, Nebuchadnezzar even calls Yahweh "the Most High God" (3.26).
So what would have happened if Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah had decided to be tolerant of this ruler's gods, as so many religious leaders do today? After all, they were in his land, and he had treated them very well, even placing them in his service in the palace. Shouldn't they have at least honored the king by bowing to and worshipping his gods? Would it really have hurt anything? Yet to do so would have been a dishonor to their own God, "I Yahweh am your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods besides me" (Exodus 20.2). They took that command very serious, and did not try in any way to justify serving any other god. And so by honoring Yahweh's commands they not only spared their own lives, they provided an excellent opportunity for Yahweh to be glorified by the ruler of the known world at the time.
Humanism and Tolerance
Humanism is more commonly known as tolerance. This is practiced by people who, while professing to believe in and follow the commands of Yahweh, have no problem praying with others who serve a god whose stated goal is the destruction of the people of Yahweh in order that all people might attain to some false worldwide peace. It's tolerance that says in order to have peace with their neighbors people will gladly give up land that Yahweh declared is His and gave to them for an inheritance. It's tolerance that is practiced by those who would encourage someone to do something they know is unrighteous as long as it results in goodwill for everybody. It's tolerance that allows an avowed terrorist organization to pass itself off as a peaceful entity in order to steal land from its sworn enemies while the world believes the lies and forgives the killings, torture, and terror the organization brought upon the world. We can only thank God that Adolf Hitler did not come to power in this "tolerant" world today. Even sixty years ago, the Allies were plenty tolerant of the Nazi regime so long as they could gain benefits from it in order to further their own agendas.
Truth no longer means anything today. In fact, truth has been accepted as being relative to each person and each society. Most people no longer believe in anything. Upon seeing the moral decay of man in today's world, most people don't expect too much from others, and they usually aren't disappointed.
But take a look at the Maccabees 
. One man, Mattathias, who loved Yahweh more than his own life, had had enough of the Greeks attempting to force their pagan ways onto the Jewish people in their own land. He rose up and killed those who had blasphemed Yahweh, including those apostates of his own people. He stood for what he believed in; he was willing to die for a cause — for the cause of Yahweh. Mattathias encouraged others who loved Yahweh to follow him. When it was all over, a small unorganized band of men who fought for what they believed in defeated the greatest army in the world. Yes, it was with the help of Yahweh, but they needed to believe first. They needed to be strong, they needed to have faith that Yahweh would strengthen them and lead them. They needed to be willing to die for Yahweh, for what they believed in.
Phinehas, son of Eleazar son of Aaron the priest, is another excellent example. The Torah states:
"While Israel was staying at Shittim, the people profaned themselves by whoring with the Moabite women, who invited the people to the sacrifices for their god. The people partook of them and worshiped that god. Thus Israel attached itself to [the pagan god] Ba'al-peor, and Yahweh was incensed with Israel. Yahweh said to Moses, 'Take all the heads of the people and have them publicly impaled before Yahweh, so that Yahweh's wrath may turn away from Israel.' So Moses said to Israel's officials, 'Each of you slay those of his men who attached themselves to Ba'al-peor.' Just then one of the Israelites came and brought a Midianite woman over to his companions, in the sight of Moses and of the whole Israelite community who were weeping at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. When Phinehas, son of Eleazar son of Aaron the priest, saw this, he left the assembly and, taking a spear in his hand, he followed the Israelite into the chamber and stabbed both of them, the Israelite and the woman, through the belly. Then the plague against the Israelites was checked. Those who died of the plague numbered twenty-four thousand. Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 'Phinehas, son of Eleazar son of Aaron the priest, has turned back My wrath from the Israelites by displaying among them his passion for Me, so that I did not wipe out the Israelite people in My passion. Say, therefore, "I grant him My pact of friendship. It shall be for him and his descendants after him a pact of priesthood for all time, because he took impassioned action for his God, thus making expiation for the Israelites."'" (Numbers 25:1-13)
Now, I am positive that the majority of all the people in the world today — including a great many followers of Yahweh — would consider what Phinehas did quite extreme, if not downright murderous. They would never condone that type of action today. Yet Yahweh granted Phinehas an eternal "pact of friendship" for him and his descendants for this very action. How awesome! Yahweh said that Phinehas had a passion for God, so how can what Phinehas did be wrong? Yes, I have heard the statements that that was another time, and that today we are "civilized" (whatever that means). Well, if that is the case, then I guess being "civilized" means not having a passion for God. No, I believe, and Torah teaches, that what Phinehas did was a very righteous act, and God supported it! And He would support it being done today as well, in the same situation! There is no evidence in the entire Tanach that says anything to the contrary.
The problem many people have is that they confuse morals with the commandments of Yahweh. Many times these two belief systems are the same, but in many other instances these are two entirely different things. Morals are what a given society determines to be what is right and wrong behavior at a given time, and which changes from one society to another and from time to time, even within the same society. For instance, in some societies today killing your unmarried sister for having sexual relations with a man is considered moral, whereas in other societies it is not. In some societies taking the life of an unborn child is considered acceptable (i.e., moral), whereas in other societies it is considered murder. To say that certain things applied only during "biblical times" and not now is ludicrous. First of all, Yahweh is not yet reigning in Jerusalem, and Zechariah 14 and Joel 3.5 (2.32 — Christian Bible) have not yet happened so "biblical times" still exist today. Second, Yahweh has said that His Torah (instruction) is eternal. That does not change with what man considers to be moral; instead, it remains the same throughout all eternity, even though man will change his morals from time to time. This should be very comforting to those who follow Yahweh; we never have to worry about what the new rules are or when they will change again. We always know what is right and wrong; what Yahweh expects of us.
Is biblical faith not applicable today? Is it wrong to have a passion for God? Are we more worried about "acting civilized" or "being accepted" than we are about fighting for God? Now, let's not be foolish. I'm not saying to go around killing people. Many of the instructions of Torah apply only to when Israel is in the Land. What I am saying is to stand for what you believe in, without compromise, no matter what the cost. People do it all the time for political causes but for some reason many are not as serious about their "religious" beliefs.
Consider Abraham. He picked up and moved his family and all of his possessions to a place he knew nothing about all because he believed Yahweh. Today, most people would call someone who did something like that an "extremist" — Yahweh called him His friend (Isaiah 41.8; 2 Chronicles 20.7). The prophets were stoned and jailed for speaking what Yahweh had told them. Once again, people today would call someone like that an "extremist". Yahweh, however, says that they have a passion for Him.
How about you? Do you have a passion for Yahweh? Are you willing to do something that might seem "uncivilized", or might make you look like an "extremist"? Are you willing to take a stand and suffer the consequences?
See also
