📖 Biblical Definition
Scripture affirms the dignity and value of human beings -- they are made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27). But this dignity is derived from God, not autonomous. Humanism makes the fatal error of detaching human value from its source. When man becomes the measure of all things, he inevitably becomes his own god -- which is the original temptation: "You will be like God" (Genesis 3:5). The result is not human flourishing but human self-destruction. "Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength" (Jeremiah 17:5). The biblical alternative is not anti-humanism but God-centered humanism: man has immense dignity precisely because he is made by God and for God.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
Human nature; the study of polite literature, or the humanities.
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HU'MANISM, n. Human nature. Also, the study of the humanities or polite literature. Note: In 1828, humanism simply meant the study of classical literature and human culture. It had not yet become the anti-theistic ideology it is today. The Renaissance humanists were often devout Christians who saw classical learning as compatible with faith. Modern secular humanism is a fundamentally different project -- one that explicitly replaces God with man.
📖 Key Scripture
• Jeremiah 17:5 — "Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength."
• Genesis 3:5 — "You will be like God, knowing good and evil."
• Psalm 118:8 — "It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man."
• Isaiah 2:22 — "Stop regarding man in whose nostrils is breath, for of what account is he?"
• Psalm 8:4-5 — "What is man that you are mindful of him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Secular humanism is the operating system of modern Western civilization.
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Secular humanism is not a fringe philosophy -- it is the default worldview of public education, media, government, and increasingly, liberal Christianity. Its core doctrines are: man is the highest being; there is no transcendent moral authority; human reason and science are sufficient to solve all problems; and the purpose of life is human happiness and social progress. In the church, humanism appears as man-centered theology -- worship designed for the audience rather than God, sermons that address "felt needs" rather than sin, and a gospel reduced to self-improvement. The Humanist Manifesto declares that "No deity will save us; we must save ourselves." This is the antithesis of the gospel.
Usage
• "Humanism puts man at the center where God belongs -- this is the serpent's original promise: 'You will be like God.'"
• "When the church designs worship around what people want to hear rather than what God has said, it has adopted humanism."
• "Scripture says man has immense dignity -- but only because God gave it. Remove God, and you remove the ground for human value."