CHRISTIAN ANTHROPOLOGY

PSALM 8

What is man that You are mindful of him, the son of man that You care for him?

(Psalm 8:4).

Anthropology is the study of man. Once God has been removed from the scene of thought, either by saying that God does not exist or by saying that we can know nothing about Him, then only the study of man remains. We became, in the words of Heraclitus, homo mensura, man the measure.

The German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche said that since God is dead, man must become God. The only true vision of humanity, said Nietzsche, is that men should become “supermen.” His vision, called “biological heroism,” called for the elimination of the weak and the wiping out of all philosophies like Christianity that make a virtue out of suffering and humility. Adolf Hitler used Nietzsche’s philosophy as a blueprint.

Our understanding of what it means to be human affects how we treat other people. Modern evolutionary secularism provides no foundation for valuing human life. The universe is in a process of decaying from the “Big Bang” downward toward a state of complete dissipation. As the universe rots and loses heat, one stage in its degeneration is the manifestation of self-conscious and intelligent beings (human beings). Such intelligence and self-consciousness is only an illusion.

One modern thinker, Jean-Paul Sartre, concluded that man is a “useless passion.” Sartre was at least consistent. Modern secular humanism is one of the stupidest beliefs ever concocted. Secular humanists maintain that intelligence and self-awareness are important, in spite of their belief that man originates in cosmic soup and has a destiny only in dust. Such a belief is nothing but sentiment and wishful thinking.

Christianity teaches that man, as the image of God, is the highest of all creatures, given dominion over the universe. Because of man’s sin of rebellion against God, however, man is now the most wicked creature on this planet (except for fallen angels). Such a view of man’s sinfulness does not come from a low view of man, but from a high view of man, because it takes man seriously. It means that human action has cosmic consequences, and thus it treats human beings as having real value.

CORAM DEO

Matthew 8–10

If “man is ooze that oozed out of ooze, and is oozing back into ooze,” why should anyone care about oppression, murder, and rape? Why should Christians care? How does the Christian view of man impact how you view suffering? How is your view different from that of secular humanists? from that of Moslems?

For further study: 1 Chron. 29:10–17 • Jer. 24:4–7 • Ezek. 36:24–28

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