Your posts on this thread make a lot of sense. Secular humanism is a religion in and of itself.
But, I would like to add: The problem isn’t really secular vs. Christian. Moral relativism has infected the churches, too, as the article indicates.
I myself was accused of bigotry by a group of “Christians” when I (politely) stated that I opposed so-called “same-sex marriage”. And I’m not the religious one - I don’t belong to a church.
Secular humanism hasn’t just infected one denomination, either. This was an interdenominational Christian group with Methodists, Baptists, Catholics, etc. You’d think they’d all share some common ground. Well, they didn’t. But, they did agree in the end to draw up a “statement”. No, NOT a Statement of Faith but a Statement of DIVERSITY! :-0
Anyway, it dawned on me that I’m being too hard on myself - apparently, I know more about Christianity than a lot of Christians do. (Not here on FR, but in Real Life.) And, from what I’ve noticed, Christians lose their own moral compass when their faith depends on belief alone.
For example, this particular group would pray all the time for “things” to be delivered to them. They’d have collections for the poor. They’d make sweeping statements, such as, “We’re here to honor God.” They were always smiling and mentioning God. That seemed to be the extent of their “Christianity”. For the life of me, in two years with them, I couldn’t figure out what else they stood for. My kids were baffled, too.
There were many members of the group who agreed with me on marriage, but their loyalty was with the group because, after all, at least THEY all go to church and actively pray. Believe in WHAT and pray to WHOM is what I’d like to know.
Yeah. We’ll be checking out another church I found soon.
Meditate on Exodus 3:14 for a while...then cross meditate on the Genesis story when God says “Let us make man in our image”.
In one sense all that we can know about God is what he chooses to reveal about himself...either through the Bible or in his direct presence in our hearts through a relationship with him.
When God spoke to Moses out of the burning bush, he called himself “I AM THAT I AM!” (or “who” depending on the translation). He is the “IS” in all that exists. We humans exhibit the very essense of God’s image impressed into our beings by the use of the phrase “I” in our every day conversations and by possessing self awareness, a sense of our own “IS’ness”!
It can help clear the head and heart when praying, by realizing that while we can scarcely know God in his vast wonderfulness, we at aleast are praying to a God who is self aware, self sustaining, and self Identifying another words...”I am not praying to a god of sticks or stones, or to Satan or Demons who masquerade as God, but to the Living God, the GOD THAT IS GOD, and the GOD WHO KNOWS THAT HE IS GOD! BLESSED IS HE THAT COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD!”
Here is something I meditate on(a kind of exercise in logic): God said to Moses “I AM THAT I AM” there fore
HE is that HE is ergo
God is that God is...
and believing that we are made in his image,
We are what we are, only
because He is what He is!
Strife and confusion can try to shake our faith and confidence in this “Is” God, and Satan has many voices with which to confuse our knowledge of God’s presence...but just remember; the real God knows that HE IS GOD! Center your self on that priciple when you pray even in uncertainty of the knowledge of just who you are praying to and your pleas will fly true like arrows to HIS heart.
The meaning of the story in which Jesus incensed the religious leaders by declaring, “Before Abraham was I AM” should now spread across your heart like a dawning sun. This is the very essence of Christianity, God as a man visiting us bodily in our fallen state. Have confidence in Christ even if churches sometimes fail, and be confident the the “IS” God will complete his work in you as it appears to me he is doing in you!