Contemporary Christians rebuke “humanism” as being evil and a tool of Satan; they are right BUT they are also wrong. Let me explain.
Humanism is the belief that humans are divine and have the power within themselves to overcome any obstacle and prevail. New Age and eastern religions advocate “self-awareness”, “enlightenment”, and a higher level of “consciousness”. New Age religion’s goal is to achieve the Highest Level of Consciousness and to teach others how to achieve the highest level of Consciousness.
To understand what I am about to say, one needs to understand the root meaning of the word “consciousness”. Let’s break it down. The root “con” in consciousness means “with”, the root meaning of “sci” is “to know or have knowledge”. Does this sound familiar? How does this relate to Adam and Eve sinning by partaking of the fruit of the tree of “Knowledge” of good and evil?
Keep in mind that Satan is the Great Deceiver, the Father of Lies. Knowledge is not bad, or evil BUT, Almighty God wanted to reveal “Knowledge” of the mysteries of creation in His time. God rebuked Lucifer and the fallen angels because they revealed God’s Mysteries without His authorizing them to do so. Remember, Lucifer and the fallen angels were cast out of heaven because they were planning and attempting to overthrow God’s sovereignty, deity, and authority. Following their being cast out of heaven, they embarked on a mission to corrupt God’s creation and human flesh. They continue with that mission today.
The sin of mankind was to accept learning and gaining knowledge from Lucifer and the fallen angels to live a “humanistic” life where humans could be their own “god”. Simply put, mankind “Turned Away” from God so they could be their own god. The opposite of this is to “Turn To” God acknowledging Him as Most High God. This is salvation, it is repentance, the act of “Turning Back To” God.
Now, back to humanism. God intended for humans to be gods on earth but under His authority. When God created the earth and humans, He clearly stated “Let us make mankind in our image, after our likeness” (Genesis 1:26) so humans can “reign” over the earth. God intended for us to be little “g” gods under His authority the big “G” God. This is the same relationship Almighty God has in the Spiritual Heaven, His Kingdom, with little “g” gods (Elohim). The Hebrew term for the “Most High” God is Yahweh who is Almighty and Sovereign over-and-above the heavenly host of Elohim gods. Elohim are citizens of the spiritual heaven where they are little “g” gods with authority granted them by the big “G” God, Yahweh.
We don’t fully know all the inhabits or citizens in the spiritual heaven or what roles they have, but the bible does make mention of them; they include Elohim, Seraphim, and Cherubim. Elohim are little “g” gods having some type of leadership role within the government of the spiritual heaven. Both Seraphim and Cherubim are angels having different duties, responsibilities, and authority in the spiritual heaven. The angels are servants of God, and messengers of God. Angels are also protectors of humans.
Little “g” gods are simply overseers, both in heaven and on earth under the authority of the big “G” God, Yahweh. Overseers are part of God’s government as ordained by Him, the Most High God.
Humanism, as we know it, views humans as supreme in and of themselves. This viewpoint is sinful. It elevates humans to the level of big “G” God. This is the same sin of Lucifer and the fallen angels. They were little “g” gods in heaven who desired to elevate themselves to become big “G” Gods.
To be blunt, this isn’t going to happen, and it didn’t happen; The big “G” God cast them out of heaven. So, who is the most powerful, almighty, Most High God? Yahweh! How do we know Yahweh is the Most High? Because the angels and demons both declare Him as the Most High (Luke 1:32, Psalm 82).
God, from creation, planned for humans to be little “g” gods to rule the earth, but under His, the big “G” God’s authority. This means, yes, humans have the power and ability of gods but not the same power and authority of the big “G” God. Humans are the image of God and yes have the power within themselves to accomplish many feats and power to overcome obstacles, but only under the big “G” God’s authority.
Again, we can see how manipulative, conniving, and deceitful Satan is in his attempt to destroy humankind and all that belongs to the Almighty Most High God.