Episode 13 discussed the rise of secularism and its opposition to the religion and morality. This episode details other unforeseen problems and the inability of present-day religion to overcome this secular menace.

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Transcript

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The Future of the Teachings of Jesus

3: The Unforeseen Problems Brought by Secularism 

The Ineffectiveness of Present-Day Religion (Ep. 14)

           

Secularism leads to war and worldwide disaster. How has the modern turn away from faith in God and the teachings of Jesus worked out? Not so well! This Godless philosophy of modern secularism has led to unrest, animosity, unhappiness, war, and worldwide disaster. In the twentieth century, when secularism came to dominate Western society, more humans were killed in wars than in all the wars up to that time. Further, when we look at today’s world we observe that modern nations are armed to the teeth with weapons that have grown many times more lethal than those of the past—and they continue to rapidly grow in destructive power. Simultaneously, natural antagonisms between nations are everywhere evident and grow more threatening. We are indeed living in a time of “wars and rumors of war.” (Mt. 24:6) Our materialistic secular world is heading towards even more devastating wars and destruction.

Social disintegration brought by secularism. The complete secularization of science, education, and industry has led to disaster. Without God secularism can never co-ordinate and unify its many and rivalrous interests, races, and nationalisms. In spite of its unparalleled materialistic achievements modern society is slowly disintegrating. We see this all around us as marriages, families, churches, institutions, states, and nations are increasingly splitting apart. Of particular note is the modern trend of radical secularists to split off from the Judeo-Christian culture and tradition that has dominated Western civilization for almost two thousand years. This modern trend towards the disintegration of present-day society will only increase as secularism continues to strengthen its control over modern life.

Belief in God unifies society. Secularism can never bring peace to the world. Secular social and political optimism is an illusion. Without God neither freedom and liberty nor property and wealth will lead to peace. The higher our civilization climbs the more necessary it becomes to seek first the realities of heaven in all our efforts to stabilize society and solve our increasingly complex material problems. It is the belief in God that unifies societies, nations, and civilizations. A shared belief in God is the glue that holds us together and facilitates the solution of our ever more complex problems. Without this “glue” our difficulties and problems will only increase and eventually overcome and destroy our civilization.

Summary of the ill effects of secularism. It has been observed that the twentieth century secularization of Western life has brought us many ill effects. To summarize, these include the blighting of spiritual experience, a determined opposition to the adoption of the teachings of Jesus, the attempt to completely purge the religious element from society, the loss of a God ordained moral authority, and a moral relativism in which the ends justify the means.  Other ill effects of materialism and secularism include widespread unrest and unhappiness, the most lethal wars in history, the threat of even more destructive wars in the future, and the ever-growing disintegration of society.

Secular totalitarianism. In addition to all this secularism has brought us another very great evil that must be recognized and opposed. After secularism freed us from the total control of life by medieval ecclesiastical authority, it betrayed us into the tyranny of the totalitarian political state. It freed the Western world from totalitarian church control only to replace it with economic and political slavery to the totalitarian state. For more and more citizens the maintenance of their economic livelihood and their status in society is dependent upon their subservience to the tyranny of the modern leviathan state. The freedom of the individual and the right to choose one’s own way of life taught by Jesus is being increasingly overcome and canceled by the dictates of the secular state. This secular totalitarianism that is rising in our world is a great evil that threatens to engulf the individual liberty and freedom of religion that has characterized the Western world.

Weakness of secularism. The great inherent weakness of secularism is that it discards ethics and religion in favor of politics and power. The moral righteousness and religious way of life taught by Jesus is ignored by modern secular society and opposed by powerful secular states that are determined to shape our behavior in their own Godless ways. But we can never achieve social unity and the brotherhood of man while ignoring or discarding the Fatherhood of God. Without belief in God and the true morality that is anchored in genuine religion, modern society can never hope to be unified.

The ineffectiveness of present-day religion. How do we escape from the dire situation in which we find ourselves? It has been observed that present day society has ceased to make religious progress in the spiritualization of successive generations of mortals. Many sincere Christians have diverted their focus from their spiritual mission to bring Jesus’ gospel of the kingdom to the world and substituted for it an emphasis on social service. Such social service is good, and is the natural fruit of believing Jesus’ gospel and achieving the birth of the spirit, but it should not take the place of our religious obligation to expand the kingdom of heaven. Our Judeo-Christian heritage is in decline, and we find ourselves in a state of spiritual stagnation. Present day religion has proven ineffective in staving off the growing and powerful modern trend towards a totally secular society, devoid of moral righteousness and true religion.

What can be done? The critical question that we must face and find an acceptable answer to is this: What can be done to overcome this ever more powerful Godless secularism and the numerous destructive and evil results that follow from its widespread adoption?

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