I made very brief notes on Sproul’s Worldview DVD as I listened. I knew I wouldn’t be able to remember all those different philosophies that exist in our culture presently, so I created some ‘nutshell’ definitions for my own reference.
I think Christians would benefit from hearing Sproul’s DVD on the various philosophical belief systems alive in our culture, hopefully, this will whet some Christian’s appetites for studying Sproul. One would certainly come away with a fuller understanding by listening to Sproul’s lectures.
He presented each philosophy in a 22-25 minute lecture during the 1980s.
SECULARISM: This is first because it is an overarching philosophy in which the others operate; the following are points I noted [bracketed statements are current explanations of my brief note-card points]:
- The now generation [purpose of life is to revel in the present]
- Short-term focus and emphasis
- Right now counts for right now [as opposed to Christian worldview which affirms that right now counts for eternity]
- [Instant gratification of all lusts is a core theme of this culture]
- [Salvation is of the future and is therefore not important to the secular humanist, or to Christians who have been brainwashed to be a member of the ‘now generation’ which I struggle with every day, having been converted at age 53, and thoroughly brainwashed by this culture. If you observe your motives carefully, then you may find that you have been too?]
EXISTENTIALISM:
- Nietzsche and other philosophers
- God is dead
- Mankind is thrown into a purposeless existence, no purpose in life, no after life
- However, man can lead a noble life by confronting the absurd with valor
- The irrational is embraced
- Words need not communicate meaning because there is no meaning behind them, hence, absurd art, despair in movies… [postmodernism]
- Focus of living is on self: self-help; self-improvement; introspection; subjectivism
- The ladder to God no longer exists and was always a delusion
- [Nietzsche believed that Christianity erred in giving meaning to the future life; he ascribed meaning to this life and believed it could be realized in part, “by how it advanced a new generation of human beings.” That phrase was taken today, from a definition of the goal of the life of which Nietzsche spoke because my notes were lacking: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%9Cbermensch ]
- THEMES: 1. nothingness; 2. despair/dread: since there is no purpose, man can only war against the void and then plunge to his meaningless end like Hemingway, when he chose to end his own life
- 3. Angst: from being hurled into a meaningless existence; being destined for annihilation
- 4. Freedom and authority: one is free and responsible to work out his own destiny; the concept of the ‘dialectic hero’ who defiantly lives a life of valor and ultimately plunges himself into the abyss.
- 5. There is NO eternal life; man is stuck in the here and now to deal with a purposeless existence; pessimism and despair reign
HUMANISM:
- Broad, vague, pre-Socratic (Protagoras)
- Man-centered: ‘man is the measure of all things’
- Naturalism, an alternative to Christianity
- Erasmus was a humanist
- Naturalism –> Christian Liberalism –> Social gospel – Humanist dream to rid the world of pain and suffering via man’s efforts
- Humanism is opposed to religion because of the conservatism it breeds
- [In our culture, the progressives view religion that way; they are definitely secular humanists. Despite all the wars and misery man has caused man, they go on believing that education, e.g., can cure the ills of the world – they have to deny reality to hold such beliefs]
- Humanism espouses Christian values [until recently] as seen in the social gospel; but it rejects Christian foundations in supernatural scriptural events
- They believe that man is nothing, and that he has no purpose, but can nonetheless lead a noble life
PRAGMATISM:
- Developed in the USA
- Professor Harvey Cox, wrote The Secular City, he described pragmatism as, the good; what works, as truth
- Short-term focus
- FDR in his New Deal, started SSI, for example, knowing that the USA would have to figure out how to keep it going in future generations. He resolved one problem by creating several more, down the road [his concern was providing a solution in the now; what works is good, true]
- Pragmatism vs Christianity: what is expedient vs what is right
- [Christian pastors who subscribe to pragmatism instead of biblical truth, conduct fairs, concerts… to draw in the lost, and they tailor their messages to those people whom they typically refer to as the un-churched, while they neglect to feed the true sheep. Biblical pastors preach the whole counsel of God and pray to God to build His church by bringing in new members. That is an example of the expedient vs the right.]
POSITIVISM:
- Auguste Comte devised this system in which he stated:
- The only absolute is that there are no absolutes
- There is only diversity, since there is no absolute
- [Sproul went into an explanation of the argument of the One and the Many that philosophers of antiquity struggled with. The philosophers assumed a connection between the physical world (the many) and the metaphysical world wherein the One exists. The one, being the original or the source…. I cannot yet explain the debate but Sproul summarized it in one lecture.]
- Comte believed that there is only diversity
- That science should determine what is real
- Man-centered
PLURALISM / RELATIVISM:
- Pluralism is diversity with no overt unity to make a coherent whole
- [Sproul explained that by using the statement on paper money, E pluribus unum, out of many, one. I can’t be of further help on this, that is all my notes state and I haven’t listened to the dvd for years]
RELATIVISM:
- The buzzword of the 19th century was ‘evolution;’ it was used to show how men evolved, how religions evolved from polytheistic to monotheistic [just the opposite is what truly occurred]
- The buzzword of the 20th century was ‘relative.’
- Einstein used it to describe movement of a thing from different reference points
- People made a belief system out of it [as with ‘evolution’]
- If everything is relative, then there is NO ultimate reference point; nothing is concrete or fixed
- The crisis of relativism is that if everything is relative, then I am relative and therefore, there is no substance to my life
- Those who subscribe to relativism have values without an absolute value [standard?]; they have truth with no absolute truth
- They have personal narratives but no meta-narrative [testimony of Jesus]
- The body of Christ, in its diversity, is only unified in its head, Christ
- Pluralism says all views are tolerable AND valid = Truth is Slain
HEDONISM:
- Defines the good and the true in terms of pleasure and pain
- The highest good is found in the enjoyment of pleasure and the avoidance of pain
- THE HEDONISTIC PARADOX: too little pleasure = frustration; too much pleasure = boredom
- Epicureans sought a right balance
- Stoics sought imperturbability or detachment
When R C concluded the above, he discussed in several lectures how these impact art and other aspects of culture.
NOTE: Sproul did not talk about Marxism, which is a huge ideology in our culture. To learn basic aspects of that, see CATEGORIES: CRT / CT.
Knowing these philosophical systems can enable you to observe areas wherein you stray from biblical understanding and belief.
For example, I see that secularism is still alive in me after having been a Christian for 18 years or so; it needs to be rooted out. If I were to practice self-denial more, then I could move in that direction.
Hedonism is a huge problem for me also. Pleasure seeking seems to be a problem for most people who have been brainwashed by this culture. I don’t think one needs to eradicate the desire for pleasure, but one needs to find pleasure in God instead of in the trinkets and bobbles… that society encourages us to pursue.
Psalm 16:11 You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. [ESV]
Link to purchase Christian Worldview at Ligonier Ministries for $38.40 https://www.ligonier.org/learn/series/christian-worldview
Link to Christian Worldview at Amazon Prime for $31 (currently out of stock but coming)
https://www.amazon.com/Christian-Worldview-R-C-Sproul/dp/1567697925
Featured Image: Ligonier.org