Contrasting Definitions of Humanism and Theism

Contrasting Definitions of Humanism and Theism

*Secular Humanism*	*Biblical Theism*
“Simply defined, humanism is man’s attempt to solve his problems independently of God.”[1]	Theism is more than man’s attempt to solve his problems by relying on God.
“Humanism is the religion which deifies man and dethrones God.”[2]	Theism is the religion which deifies God and dethrones humanity.
Humanism is “a pre-occupation with man as the supreme value in the universe and the sole solver of the problems of the universe.”[3]	Theism is a pre-occupation with God as the supreme value in the universe and the solver of the problems of the universe.
“Humanism is a philosophy which affirms the value of what is human, or which holds that humans have value in and of themselves.”[4]	Theism is a philosophy which affirms the value of God, and which holds that humans have value because they are created in the image of God.
“Humanism is the viewpoint that men have but one life to live . . . that human happiness is its own justification and needs no sanction or support from supernatural sources; that, in any case, the supernatural does not exist.”[5]	Theism is the viewpoint that humanity have eternal destiny and that temporal human happiness and needs are sanctioned and supported by the supernatural.
“Humanism is the placing of Man at the center of all things and making him the measure of all things.” It “means Man beginning from himself, with no knowledge except what he himself can discover and no standards outside himself.”[6]	Theism is the placing of God at the center of all things and making Him the measure of all things. It means God beginning from himself, with man having no knowledge except what God gives through general and special revelation.
“Man is the measure of all things, of things that are, that they are; and of things that are not, that they are not.”[7] - Protagoras	God determines what does and does not exist and judges everything.
In practice, humanism is a system of beliefs about humanity which excludes God from reality and makes man the judge of all things. - Robert L. Waggoner.	In practice, theism is a system of beliefs about God and humanity which makes God the center of reality and the judge of all things while making humanity accountable to God.

[1]Tim LaHaye. The Battle For the Mind (Old Tappan, N. J.: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1980), 26.

[2]Homer Duncan, Secular Humanism: The Most Dangerous Religion in America (Lubbock, TX: Missionary Crusader, 1979), 7.

[3]John Eidsmoe, The Christian Legal Advisor (Milford, MI: Mott Media, 1984), 180.

[4]Norman Geisler, Is Man the Measure? An Evaluation of Contemporary Humanism (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983), 104.

[5]Corliss Lamont, The Philosophy of Humanism (New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., 1949), 14.

[6]Francis Schaeffer, The Christian Manifesto (Westchester, IL: Crossway Books, 1981), 23-24.

[7]Milton C. Nahm, ed., Selections From Early Greek Philosophy (New York: F. S. Crofts & Co., 1934), 239, as cited by A. James Reichley, Religion in American Public Life (Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution, 1985), 42.