Season: 10 Episode: 150
Listen to episode 146 in Spanish:
Summary:
Most people in America deny Marixsts beliefs and ideologies, but per George Barna’s American Worldview Inventory, 10% of Americans live by and believe in Marxists ideas. Shanda talks about the victim mentality and why no one wins in a culture that promotes this type of thinking. She also gets into post-modernism and secular humanism and ends with why Christianity is the worldview that answers life’s biggest questions. You will be encouraged!
Quotables:
Recommended Resources:
Website: shandafulbright.com
Instagram and Facebook: @shandafulbright
Email: hello@shandafulbright.com
Join my Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2584147064952378/?ref=group_browse
Free Resources: https://www.shandafulbright.com/links
YouTube: Shanda Fulbright
Take the quiz!!
Hey guys! Welcome back to another episode of Her Faith Inspires podcast where we take cultural issues and we tackle them with biblical truth. I have a great episode for you today and we will be finishing up our last session on worldview. We’ve already talked about MTD, New Age, Syncretism, and now we’re going to talk a bit about Marxism and Post Modernism.
Again, this is all from Dr. George Barna’s AWI from 2021-2022.
If you want to know more about worldviews I highly suggest his book.
Before we dive deep into the information for today, I want to give you a heads up as to what is coming up on the podcast so you can look forward to all of the great guests and information coming your way.
We are going to have guests on to discuss issues like apathy in the church and how to get younger generations interested in God. A stat coming out about religion is that more and more people just don’t care whether God exists or not. We’ll talk about that.
We’ll also talk about toxic relationships (friends) and if it’s biblical to cut them out of your life. When is that necessary and what does the Bible say about it? And Albert and I are discussing some topics because he’s going to come back on the podcast. And finally, my husband Dean and I are planning to do an episode between Mother’s Day and Father’s Day to discuss the differences between moms and dads and why you need both in a family.
So there’s just a bit of what’s coming up in the next few months.
If you have a podcast topic you’d like me to discuss, email me at hello@shandafulbright.com and I’ll be happy to address that for you. I am also going to talk about anxiety and how to practically deal with it on a daily basis. I plan to give away a free downloadable study guide on biblical tips and practical tricks to help you set your mind on things above when I do this.
If you enjoy the podcast, please leave a 5-star rating and/or review as that helps get the podcast into the earbuds of others.
Here is what we’re going to discuss today:
- What is Marxism and Post-Modernism?
- What does the Bible say in regards to these beliefs and why aren’t they Biblical?
3. Recap of the worldviews we discussed
So let me start by saying that most people you meet will not say, “I believe Marxist ideas are wonderful.” Marxism itself has a negative stigma. However, per George Barna, Marxist thoughts and beliefs are creeping into the worldview of many Americans and of course, they don’t realize it. But offhand, Marxism isn’t a worldview openly and knowably embraced by Americans. Which is good, but at the same time there are concerning things about Marxism that are creeping into the culture.
Per Barna, 10% of American adults lean strongly or moderately toward Marxism,both behaviorally and with their worldview beliefs.
In fact, if you heard my episode from a while back on Critical Race Theory, you heard me talk about how CRT derives from Marxist ideas.
We’ll get into that more in a bit.
For now, here is what Marxist believe:
“Marxist ideology denies the existence of God or a living deity in favor of vesting authority in government and social elites. Although a slight majority of adults in the US (52%) still believe in the existence of some type of transcendent, supernatural being(s), the most rapidly growing religious segment of the population (34%) contends that they don’t believe, know, or care whether God exists. This expanding niche – labeled the Don’ts – represents a spiritual foundation that is compatible with Marxist thought and practice and could facilitate the expansion of the ideology.”
From a biblical worldview, we know he is right because, as Solomon says, ‘God put eternity in man’s heart.” Man will always have something on the throne of his heart and for the Marxist, the government and social elites are the authority, the saviors, the problem solvers. So it might not be so much that Marxism is growing in the US, but the idea that we are paving the way for it’s growth when your “Don’ts” in America -don’t believe, don’t know and don’t care if God exists – is growing.
Here are some deeper details about Marxist ideas that you need to be aware of.
This is all taken from AWI.
| The prevalence of Marxist views on Creation and Humanity (% of adults who embrace it) | % |
| Human beings have developed over a long time from less advanced forms of life in a process that occurred naturally, without any supernatural intervention | 48% |
| There is no such thing as God, or a higher power may exist, but nobody really knows for certain; or don’t know what to believe about the existence of God or a higher power. | 34% |
| The universe came into existence without any type of divine assistance; it is solely a physical phenomenon | 34% |
| History is a human narrative, so it may differ from person to person | 24% |
| Man is a biological machine whose natural goodness is inevitably corrupted by society | 23% |
| Truth and Morality, Marxist Style | |
| Determining moral truth is up to each individual; there are no moral absolutes that apply to everyone, all the time | 54% |
| Objective moral truth does not exist; all moral truth is perusal and subjective | 42% |
| Having sexual relations with someone you love and expect to marry in the forte is morally acceptable | 68% |
| Telling a falsehood of minor consequence in order to protect personal interests or reputation is morally acceptable | 43% |
| Regardless of motivation, suicde and euthenasia are morally acceptable choices | 32% |
“41% of US adults believe that race is used by white people to advance their own economic and political interests at the expense of people of color.
Although America has few citizens whose life philosophy is undeniably Marxist, the table is set for Marxism to grow in this nation.”
The rebuttal from a biblical worldview.
To believe that humans evolved naturally over time is obviously not a biblical belief. Genesis 1 tells us how God created the heavens and the earth. But to belief there is no God is a naturalistic worldview meaning there is no meaning to life, no purpose, and nothing happens after you die. This makes man the authority and in the case of Marxism, the government is the authority. We place our hope and trust in the law of the land.
To say history differs from person to person because it is a human narrative means we cannot even learn from the sins of the past. That means history can and often will repeat itself. Now why would history repeat itself? Because man is evil and wicked and with the cycle of sin comes the atrocities of history and we must remember what humans can do when they replace God with themselves.
To say that man is a biological machine and only corrupted by society means that they believe man is inherently good but society makes him bad.
This is the exact opposite of what the Bible says.
Jeremiah tells us the heart is desperately wicked in all its ways and who can know it? David said he was brought forth in iniquity in his mother’s womb, and Proverbs tells us above all else guard our hearts for out of it flows the issues of life. The claim that man is good and corrupted by society doesn’t make sense because if man came by natural forces, wouldn’t he have been good and therefore have kept the cycle of goodness going throughout the generations? Who corrupted the first good man since societies are made by man?
With Marxism, each person determines their own truth. Relativism is a dangerous philosophy because if everyone gets to choose what is right in their own eyes, then society ends up as chaotic as the book of Judges ends. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes because there was no judge in the land. We have to have structure. Kids need it. Teens need it. Studies show this is true. And without it, chaos abounds.
Premarital sex is forbidden by God.
It is sexual immorality and designed for the marriage covenant. But if people don’t believe in God, why would they believe in God’s commands?
Suicide and euthenasia are morally acceptable choices with Marxists. Why not? If you don’t believe humans have a soul and are biological machines that showed up by accident with no purpose, you reduce the value of the human to nothing more than material and approve of suicide and euthenasia.
Christianity values humanity because God created us in His image. Each life is comprised of a mind, body, and soul. We are not only flesh and bone but God gave us a mind to know the truth and to know Him, and a soul that longs for eternity.
CRT
I said I was going to come back to CRT and it is not in George Barna’s AWI, but it needs to be addressed. CRT is something being promoted by many in the education system and it began in the universities. It comes from Marxism in that it classifies everyone as the oppressed and the oppressor. This is where we get things like intersectionality. The more of a minority you are, the more “points” you get, or intersections. For example, if you are a white heterosexual male, you get no points. You are the oppressor. If you are a white female, you have one intersection because you are a female but you only have one intersection because you are white and heterosexual.
If you are a woman of color who is a lesbian, you have three intersections and you are more oppressed. You are the victim, per CRT.
This is what Marxism through CRT promotes.
Everyone in society is a victim or an oppressor. No one wins. But this kind of thinking encourages a victim mentality. We glorify the things about us that rack up the intersectionality points and we claim our weaknesses are our greatest assets. The result is looking at the outward appearance instead of the heart. That goes against God’s commands to not judge a person by his outward appearance. I am so tired of Christian women playing into this. I see it on social media with Christian women who have platforms and you’re playing into the cultural narrative and glorifying the victim mentality.
God never called us to have a victim mentality.
The Bible does not promote glorifying our weaknesses but glorifying the one who saves us and changes us from darkness to light, from death to life, from distant from God to reconciled to God. But that’s what Marxist thought does. That’s what we get when we remove God from the equation – everyone loses.
Post-Modernism
Post-modernism is a very self-focused worldview that says there is no absolute truth. In fact, 54% of Americans believe there is no absolute moral truths. It dismisses the importance of God and even the very existence of God. All beliefs are considered equally valid. So to say that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life is offensive because how dare you tell someone else their belief system is wrong because Jesus is the only way?
Have you ever seen the co-exist bumper sticker? That explains post-modernism pretty well. The fact that all belief systems cannot be true because they contradict each other doesn’t matter. It’s up to the individual to decide.
George Barna lists the following beliefs for Post-Modernism and how many Americans have adopted these beliefs:
Common Postmodern Ideas:
39% claim that human life has no intrinsic value.
29% express their commitment to getting even with those who wrong them.
29% believe there is no way of knowing whether God or a supernatural being exists.
28% indicate that they treat people based on their current feelings and circumstances.
24% believe that historical narratives are unreliable because they are subjective human perspectives.
Let’s take a look at these ideas from a Biblical perspective.
First, we know all human life has intrinsic value because as we mentioned with Marxists who believe suicide and euthenasia are permissible, all humans are created in the image of God. If there is any other criteria for why a human being is considered valuable, then the standard can change at any time. Or if life is expendable then it is no different than anything else in life that can be replaced.
The bible tells us vengeance is God’s. We are not to seek to get even with those who wrong us but to love them and do good to them.
Doesn’t mean it’s easy, it just means it’s what God commands us to do.
To say there is no way to know whether God, a supernatural being exists – this is why we do apologetics. That’s what we talk about with the cosmological argument and the design argument. The universe has a beginning and everything that begins to exist has a cause. That cause has to be outside of space, time, and matter and all powerful in order to create the universe that is intelligently designed.
And finally, the claim to treat people according to their current feelings and circumstances – again this goes right along with postmodernism because it is all about the feelings and happiness of the person.
Recap of worldviews we discussed.
As we started this worldview series a couple of months ago, we discussed:
Syncretism: The worldview that most Americans have which is no specific worldview. It takes beliefs from different worldviews and mushes them together to get a customized worldview.
MTD: The idea that God is distant but He exists, life is all about what makes me happy. Many in the church fall into this category. It’s counterfeit Christianity.
In fact, 75% of people who call themselves Christians believe:
God is distant from their lives
People must be good to each other
The universal purpose of life is being happy and feeling good about oneself
There are no absolute moral truths
Good people earn their way into Heaven
God places limited demands on people
We also need to briefly talk about Secular Humanism.
This is straight from AWI:
Some of the more common expressions of SH held by millions of people include:
54% believe the universe had a scientifically explainable beginning; it was not created through any type of supernatural intervention.
48% contend that human beings are the result of an explicable evolutionary process; the worldview rejects the idea that humans were created by God or are made in His likeness.
36% identify “success” in life as the various human accomplishments that produce happiness or a sense of fulfillment.
33% say that their primary guide to morality is human reason.
24% believe that truth can only be determined through scientific inquiry and proof.”
Notice what all of these worldviews have in common: the absence of absolute moral truth. The absence of God. The absence of intrinsic human value. Why would there be when God does not exist?
The Christian worldview is the worldview that values all life.
It values the life of the young. Jesus astounded 1st century culture when He said, “Let the little children come to Me.” He astounded the 1st century culture when He talked to the woman at the well in John 4 and showed value to women. Mankind, human nature, will elevate themselves and with that, devalue the vulnerable and the weak. Oftentimes this is women and children. Christianity, God, does not do that.
Christianity says there is absolute truth and God is the author of truth. He is the truth. He is the source of all truth.
Christianity shows mankind how to treat one another when it tells us to think of our brothers and sisters more highly than we think of ourselves. It talks about hard work and providing for your family. Christianity brings purpose to life because God uses humans to have a relationship with their Creator and He uses humans to make Him known.
What other worldview answers life’s biggest questions better than Christianity?
Those questions are:
Why am I here?
What happens after I die?
How did I get here?
Does God exist?
Can I know anything for certain?
Think about these worldviews that we went over and really evaluate what each one claims. We need to put these ideas under the microscope and evaluate them against a biblical worldview and ask ourselves if we truly believe what the Bible says and if so, why?
That’s what good thinkers do and that’s what God has called us to do as we love Him with all of our minds.
Close:
I want to close this out today by reminding you that you can be confident in Christianity. But don’t take my word for it. If you only take my word for it but don’t dig in and find this out for yourself, my word won’t be enough to withstand the tests and trials of life. There will be times when your faith will be tested and it will be the relationship you have with God that gets you through.
If you hold to any of the beliefs I mentioned in this episode or the other ones, go back to the show notes and pull those out and ask yourself where that belief aligns to Scripture.
If it doesn’t then don’t adopt it as a belief.
In fact, my sister told me a few weeks ago that she always heard that God is not the author of confusion over and over from Christians. She thought it was in the Bible and she was confused over an issue so she thought, “Well, this can’t be from God so it must be the devil confusing me.” She went to the word of God and found the verse in 1 Corinthians 14 and realized it had nothing to do with being confused about life issues but of orderly church services. Now, does that mean the devil doesn’t confuse us? It doesn’t mean that. But it also doesn’t mean that if we are confused it is because of the devil. She said it brought clarity to her issue just to know what the Bible says. Since God is truth, He will sort out the confusion when it aligns to the truth.
My point? Open the Bible and find out for yourself. That’s the only way you can own your faith.
I hope this episode encouraged you. If you have any questions for me, you can email me at hello@shandafulbright.com and I’ll catch you on the next one.
Leave a Reply