Page 24 - Personal Spiritual Life Syllabus w videos

The Bible states that a true follower of Christ will be willing to take up the cross of Christ daily and follow
Him (Matthew 16: 24-26). Romans 12:1-2 tells believers to offer themselves up as living sacrifices to
God to do whatever He wills. It is not what makes us happy that God wants. He desires that our will is
submissive to His, regardless of the circumstances.
Humanism - affirms the dignity and worth of all people, based on the ability to determine right and
wrong by appeal to universal human qualities—particularly rationality. Humanism
entails a commitment to the search for truth and morality through human means in
support of human interests. According to humanism, it is up to humans to find the
truth, as opposed to seeking it through revelation, mysticism, tradition. Humanism
asserts that knowledge of right and wrong is based on one's best understanding of
one's individual and joint interests, rather than stemming from a transcendental truth
or an arbitrarily local source.
Christian Example: “The Bible says …..” Response: “Well, you may see it that way, but
I don’t. I have a right to my opinion and it is just as valid as yours!”

Humanism, like existentialism, finds it source of truth based on man’s own interests
and desires. It holds that man himself is the source of truth. To regulate behavior, the
views of the majority are deemed to be truth. According to the humanist, if 65% of the nation believe
abortion is acceptable, then it is acceptable and right.

Again, truth is not based on what man thinks. It is based on what God declares. It does not reside
within mankind. It has been declared by God Himself in His Word and through creation and is infallible.

Pantheism - literally means "God is All" and "All is God". It is the view that everything
is of an all-encompassing immanent abstract God; or that the universe, or nature, and
God are equivalent. Classical pantheism believes in a personal, conscious, and
omniscient God, and sees this God as uniting all true religions. Naturalistic pantheism
believes in an unconscious, non-sentient universe, which, while being holy and
beautiful, is seen as being a God in a non-traditional and impersonal sense.

Christian Example: “God is everywhere. He is in the trees, the animals around us, and
in us. We should not do anything to harm our environment because in doing so, we harm God.”

Putting God into an object is to create an idol. God is omnipresent and is not limited by time and space.
But to say He resides in the creation is a grievous error. In I Corinthians 10, Paul’s reviews the history of
Israel when they wandered from God and began to worship idols. And in verse 14 he commands them
to flee from idolatry (making an animate object like deity). God created Adam to care for the creation
(Genesis 1:28-30) and as such, men today should care for the creation. But the creation is the
handiwork of God, not God Himself.

Behaviorism is a philosophy based on the proposition that all things
which organisms do—including acting, thinking and feeling—can and
should be regarded as behaviors. Behaviors, as such, can be described
scientifically without recourse either to internal physiological events or
to hypothetical constructs such as the mind. According to the
behaviorist, there are no differences between publicly observable
processes (such as actions) and privately observable processes (such as
thinking and feeling).

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