As our western society sinks ever deeper into materialism and hedonism,
the church must take an uncompromising stand, as Paul did on Mars Hill,
and confront the secular establishment with the truth
by Dr. David N. Samuel, Devizes, Wiltshire
The prevailing philosophy and outlook of our age is secular and
materialistic. This view has gained ground steadily over the last one
hundred and fifty years. In a sense there is nothing new about it; it
is
the age-old philosophy of Epicureanism, which was popular in Greece and
the
ancient world when Paul preached on Mars Hill in Athens. Epicurus, who
lived 341-270 BC, adopted the theory of atomism and related it to ethics.
The tenets of his philosophy have a remarkable resonance with the general
philosophical outlook of our society today. He claimed that the universe
consisted merely of matter and emptiness. Matter is indestructible and
consists of atoms, which make up all that exists. Atoms and their movements
are therefore the ultimate fact about the way things are, but their
movements and combinations are the result of complete randomness. There
is,
of course, no Creator, no divine power that brought atoms into existence.
All combinations of atoms, according to Epicurus, are not only random
but
of limited duration, and life being just a complex of these atoms will
eventually become extinct when they disperse.
It cannot be denied that such a philosophy sums up pretty well the outlook
of people generally today in the western world. They may not think deeply
about these matters, but these are the principles, which seem to guide
their thinking and actions. How did our society come round full circle
from
the divine principles of Christian theism, which Paul preached on Mars
Hill, which conquered the world, certainly western civilisation, to the
base materialism of Epicurus? There are several answers that we can give
to
this question.
THERE IS A CYCLICAL MOVEMENT IN THE THOUGHT OF MEN
1] The first is that we often see in history a cyclical movement in
thought. Philosophies go out of fashion and come back in. As the wise
man of Israel said, "there is n0 new thing under the sun. Js there
any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it hath been already
of old time, which was before us.,, (Ecclesiastes 1:9-10).
THERE IS AN AVERSION TO THE TRUTH IN THE NATURAL MAN
2] Secondly, the fallen mind of man has an aversion to revealed truth.
"Because the
carnal mind is enmity against God." (Romans 8:7). It refuses to give
God
the glory and to attribute the creation of the world to God himself. The
instinct of Adam after the fall was to escape from God and to hide from
Him. It is the same instinct and motivation that man has had since, and
still has today, to seek out some refuge from the truth that there is
a
God, who is the Creator of all things, and to whom man is answerable.
THE RISE OF DARWINISM
3] Thirdly, the speculations of Darwin in the nineteenth century provided
the perfect excuse and alibi for resuscitating the corpse of Epicureanism.
Hume, a thorough going sceptic, sought to broach the matter in the
eighteenth century in his 'Dialogues on Religion', but had nothing to
harness his speculations to. Darwin found the perfect vehicle for his
purpose in the supposed evolution of species by chance variation and
natural selection. The evil ingredient in Darwin's scheme was 'chance'.
This gave it its affinity with Epicureanism. This, for those who have
embraced his philosophy, and that is most of our contemporaries, makes
the
world and human life meaningless and purposeless.
In such a world, the only thing of which we can be sure, they would
argue,
is pleasure, as indeed did Epicurus. The rich live for their refined
pleasures, and the underclass for their boorish pleasures. This view of
human existence has gripped the contemporary western world, and is
responsible for the hedonism and so-called permissiveness of society.
The
late Roy Jenkins, afterwards known as Lord Jenkins, and his associates
in
the Labour government of the sixties, did much to effect the transition
from the former view of society, as based upon Christian values, to the
godless, secular, so-called libertarian view of society. In fact, it is
true to say, that the permissiveness which Jenkins, and the liberal elite
like him, succeeded in bringing in, has dissolved the cement that held
society together, and created the modern jungle that life has become for
so
many in our cities today. At one stage he had the affrontery to call what
he created 'the civilised society'. On the contrary, permissiveness leads
straight to the free-for-all society where life is 'nasty, brutish and
short'.
The only way out of the jungle which has been created by modern secularism
and unbelief is to embrace once again the teleological view of man and
the
world, which is given to us by God Himself in Scripture. There man and
his
environment are matched and both are given purpose and value by the God
who
made them for His glory. Evolutionism or Epicureanism has become an excuse
to justify man's rebellion against his Maker, and to assert his
independence and autonomy. "The fool hath said in his heart There
is no
God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none
that
doeth good." (Psalm 14:1) Such is the wilderness man is now creating
in the
modern world.
It is, of course, true that there can be no perfect society in this
present
evil world, but order and purpose and value there can be. It stands to
reason that you will not get them while you make their opposites your
creed, and attribute the order and design we see in the material world
to
blind chance. This is not only perverse and unreasonable, but also evil
and
those who so believe and act will bring chaos and disorder to the world
and
human society.
As our western society sinks ever deeper into materialism and hedonism,
the
church must take an uncompromising stand, as Paul did on Mars Hill, and
confront the secular establishment with the truth. Modern scientific
humanism is unsustainable and society is collapsing into a new dark age.
Human reason and autonomy cannot save mankind; that is an illusion.
Salvation is through Jesus Christ alone and the Good News that He brings
in
His own person. The time is coming when God will strip away the refuge
of
lies and all illusions, for He has appointed a day when He will judge
the
world by Jesus Christ. God has given assurance of this by raising Him
from
the dead.
Our Inheritance, Spring 2003, 12 High Street, Polegate, BN26 5AA
http://www.bible-christian-heritage.co.uk
