Worldview Class #2 – Part 6 – Cosmic Humanist (New Age) Philosophy

While teaching a Sunday morning class at church on the topic of various worldviews, I plan to share some of the more significant findings which our class is learning. The main text for the study is The Battle for Truth by David Noebel. A good deal of this class is also based on personal research.

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We have defined philosophy as the “rational investigation of the principles of knowledge.” Put more clearly – How do we know what we know?

While secular humanism philosophy glories in naturalism (nothing is spiritual), and the Marxism worldview believes in a variant of that called dialectical materialism, the Cosmic Humanist (or New Age) philosophy goes completely in the opposite direction. For a New Age follower, everything is considered to be spiritual rather than material – people, rocks, light, methane gas – you name it. This philosophical belief is called non-naturalism.

This belief system admits to a God – and we are it. All things, living or otherwise, are considered to be part of a larger “God-force”. David Spangler, a principal proponent of New Age writing, says, “From a very early age, I was aware of an extra dimension or presence to the world around me, which as I grew older I came to identify as a sacred or transcendental dimension.” Such thinking pervades our society at every level today – in public schools, colleges, and community activities.

A popular bumper sticker seen around town proclaims that “The Earth is your mother” (something I’m pretty sure my mother, who endured a great deal of pain to bring me into this world, might find offensive). This New Age thinking comes from the Gaia Hypothesis (pronounced “guy-uh”) – a belief system that considers the earth to be alive. In fact, Gaia enthusiasts believe that the earth behaves like a living organism, able to regulate its own conditions and adapt for its own survival.

Consider the Gaia thinking around something as common as the amount of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the air. From a Cosmic Humanist standpoint, here are some “known” facts:

· At one time, the earth had no atmosphere – it was a big, cold ball of rock circling the sun
· To create an atmosphere, the evolution of photosynthetic life forms was required
· Molecular oxygen is a waste product of plant photosynthesis – plants use carbon dioxide and water to create oxygen, while gathering sunlight during photosynthesis
· Atmospheric oxygen is now at a very convenient 21% level, and appears to have remained stable for “millions” or even “billions” of years
· If this concentration were to edge up to as little as 25%, forest fires would be raging across the globe (oxygen is a great catalyst for fires)
· Carbon dioxide is created by combustion, exhalation, volcanoes and plants at night (when there is no sunlight for photosynthesis)
· The oxygen/carbon dioxide balance seems to maintain itself very well, and has done so for a very long time

The conclusion that a New Age proponent reaches is that the earth is “alive” and takes charge of regulating this gaseous mixture – because that is what is good for its own survival. It all sounds very neat and tidy. But I have a couple of questions. Looking back to the second bullet point, how did the earth “know” that it needed an atmosphere? Why wasn’t it “happy” just being a cold rock? Does the earth “regret” its move now that evil man is trying to destroy the environment?

New Age philosophy often gets very close to the truth, but then veers off down an unfortunate path. They see the beauty of balance in the way things work – in this case, the regulation of our atmosphere, even when changes are introduced into the system. But instead of seeing this as a great and grand design by an all-powerful God, they attribute the wonder of such things to “smart” matter and material. In short, New Age thinking talks about us being God, but never about God being God.

Romans 1:20-23 bears repeating:

“For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.”

When a person sees the handiwork of God, but fails to attribute the grandeur to God, they become fools. Join with me in prayer, that these people’s eyes can be opened once again to the wonder of God’s creation – and that they will proceed down the path of giving God the glory.

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Next: Worldview #2 - Part 7 – Biblical Christian Philosophy
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Radical Environmentalism – Paganism, Earth Worship, and Al Gore (Part 2)

The idea that “the earth is our mother” is not new. In Greek mythology, the goddess Gaia was the deity which personified the earth itself. “Gaia” literally means “grandmother earth”. The idea of the fertile female representation of earth is not unique to ancient Greek culture – many other cultures adopted just such a goddess to worship.

Gaia worship has been revived recently, notably through James Lovelock’s 1979 book, Gaia: A New Look at Life on Earth. Through this book, Lovelock promoted the idea that all things on the earth, both living and non-living, are part of a cooperative dynamic system which forms the ecology of the planet. He put forth the idea that the whole system could be thought of as a single self-regulating organism. Later, he supported the theory by postulating a fantasy system called Daisyworld, in which white daisies and black daisies cooperate to regulate the temperature of their fictional planet.

Since publication of Lovelock’s book, there has been a substantial rise in the belief that the earth is sacred, often to the point of the earth possessing god-like qualities. This has become more evident each year as the rise of environmentalism attacks the purposes and rightful place of man as the steward of the earth. It has reached such proportions that man is frequently relegated to second-place status, even by those who deny God’s existence. The earth is often assumed to have anthropomorphic qualities, able to regulate and maintain itself as long as cruel man is finally stopped from pursuing his own selfish and evil purposes.

A new pagan promoter has come on the scene in recent years. While his grandmother was raised in the strict Campbellite Church of Christ tradition, and though he has maintained that he is a Baptist Christian, Al Gore may have done more to raise the awareness of Gaia worship than any other individual in our world today. He has certainly become well-known as an avid promoter of global warming theory and anti-industry efforts in his movie An Inconvenient Truth. I have watched the movie and read the book. It is full of fascinating pictures and stories designed to convince the public that 1) global warming is real, 2) man is the primary reason for global warming, and 3) we have very little time left to change our ways before we cause irreversible damage. For the uninformed, it is at the same time an interesting and terrifying presentation. That probably explains its popularity.

So if we are to follow Al Gore’s philosophy, putting aside for the moment any question into the veracity of his scientific presentation, we should know a little about his thinking. For the Christian, it is imperative to compare any teaching with the ultimate Source and Creator. The Bible warns that men will be led astray by false arguments which have the look of wisdom, but which are foolishness at their core. If foolishness were obvious, very few would fall for it. Radical environmentalism, while foolish in its premises, is not an obvious fallacy to the many who have come under its spell.

In his book Earth In The Balance, Gore maintains that man has abandoned his responsibility for the earth precisely because he is devoted to God. On pages 258-259, Gore says, “The richness and diversity of our religious tradition throughout history is a spiritual resource long ignored by people of faith, who are often afraid to open their minds to teachings first offered outside their own systems of belief. But the emergence of a civilization in which knowledge moves freely and almost instantaneously through the world has spurred a renewed investigation of the wisdom distilled by all faiths. This panreligious perspective may prove especially important where our global civilization's responsibility for the earth is concerned." In this statement, Gore essentially pins environmental blame on Christians for sticking to their faith, and not being open to other teachings which might open their minds to diversity.

In Romans 1:21-23, the Bible says, “For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.” This warning is precisely fulfilled in the modern environmental movement. Adherents like Gore would have us add man’s wisdom to God’s teaching, but this is the very temptation that we are warned about in the closing words of the New Testament - the last words left to us in God’s book (see Revelation 22:18-19).

Christians need to be aware that there is an insidious temptation to compromise God’s word, even to seemingly “good” causes such as taking care of the earth. While there is a need for godly stewardship of the things we have been given, the elevation of these efforts as being superior to God or man is wrong. Should we listen to new age prophets such as Al Gore? When asked about his feelings on the Christian faith of George W. Bush, Gore commented in an interview with The New Yorker magazine that, “It's a particular kind of religiosity. It's the American version of the same fundamentalist impulse that we see in Saudi Arabia, in Kashmir, in religions around the world: Hindu, Jewish, Christian, Muslim. They all have certain features in common. In a world of disconcerting change, when large and complex forces threaten familiar and comfortable guideposts, the natural impulse is to grab hold of the tree trunk that seems to have the deepest roots and hold on for dear life and never question the possibility that it's not going to be the source of your salvation. And the deepest roots are in philosophical and religious traditions that go way back.”

We must decide where our source of salvation comes from. “As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15). I’m willing to stick to that – and only that.

Next: Part 3 - How National Geographic has adopted an unscientific and pagan approach

Radical Environmentalism – “Earth Hour” and Bad Science (Part 1)

Last Saturday marked the third annual observance of “Earth Hour” – an environmental event where people around the world switched off their lights for one hour in order to call attention to the dubious problem of global warming.

The Internet is full of pictures, observations, praise, and comments about the significance of the Earth Hour event. One website posted pictures of several famous places around the world, showing them brightly lit up before the hour came, followed by a “fade-to” photo of these places as dark monuments during the observance hour. These photos included darkened images of Hong Kong's financial district, London's Parliament, the Acropolis in Athens, the Water Cube in Beijing, the Colosseum in Rome (maybe it became the “Colo-not-sseum”?), the Sydney Opera House, the Eiffel Tower and The Strip in Las Vegas. I cannot help but draw attention to the fact that darkening these places is nothing less than a step back in time, and represents a denial of human achievement. No doubt, there are many who long for that very thing.

Comments posted about the event included “wonderful to see the world participating....we need to be united in these efforts as we all are part (sic) responsible and guilty for this climatic change, let’s do our small bit for the EARTH” and “I am so glad that people are getting on the move and expressing their love for the earth. It is a grand place to be and so appreciated. As a person, I do all the green that I can and encourage my family to do so.”

Curiously, Al Gore came under fire when someone took photographs of the trees on his lawn being lit up at night during the event. It seems that the chief promulgator of global-warming hype either forgot about the event, or just assumed that no one would notice his non-participation. The irony almost makes the whole thing worthwhile.

I enjoyed one individual’s comment, who pointed out the senselessness of Earth Hour when he said it was "a great attempt at futility. Maybe if everyone held their breath for one hour, we could reduce the CO2 a lot more effectively."

The danger inherent in radical environmentalism is that it is based largely on myth and propaganda. Until someone can definitively prove that global warming is really occurring (and the seeds of doubt about this theory multiply every day), or until someone can demonstrably show that global warming is attributable in large part to human activity (instead of solar cycles, ocean currents, and cyclical weather patterns like El Niño), this is all still very much a theory. But the news media and millions of people are content to settle for bad science, even in an age where we pride ourselves in our advanced scientific process. Global warming and increased carbon emissions from human intervention are accepted as fact, and anyone who questions these scientific assumptions risks ridicule. Scientists who are promoting this dubious theory would fail basic high-school science class methods of hypothesis testing.

To many, Earth Hour was akin to a religious experience. They worship Planet Earth as if it is the goddess mother of all. Indeed, that is what many believe. But the earth is not our mother. What has been forgotten by many is that God is our Father. The Bible points out this very phenomenon in Romans 1:25, when Paul observes that “they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.” When man forgets God the Creator, and turns instead to the things which God made for man, then God turns him over to “foolish thinking”, as verse 28 promises. Aren’t we witnessing this very thing all around us right now?

Next: Paganism and anti-Christianity are promoted in Al Gore’s book Earth In The Balance.