As silly as it may seem, there is a “man” that keeps people down. That man follows the idol of humanism, and the consequences of humanism are responsible for keeping people enthralled and enslaved.

The humanistic decision making tool is simply sentimentality. Since humanists reject any exterior absolute standards, they are left with only their own sentiments by which to determine right and wrong. Though determining right and wrong would be a bit of an overstatement, since the humanist tendency is to avoid judgments. Instead of making moral judgments (which would have to have a basis of truth to state), they instead classify or define things. By classifying something, the humanist needs nothing to base his classification on, since he determines what the criteria for the classification is, based solely on sentiment.

Schlossberg states this succinctly in Idols for Destruction:

Sentimentality, as we have seen, finds expression in autonomous, pragmatically based decisions on right and wrong, and in the refusal to declare absolute standards on all matters, including poverty. What sometimes seems to be an intellectual vacuity in humanitarian polemics is associated with this trait, which we may think of as the propensity to define or to classify rather than to make judgments. As long as the conception of poverty is relative to what others have, the humanitarian retains his freedom to declare poor whomever he wishes. We have seen that Ryan included 15 percent of the population in that category in 1970 but 75 percent in 1976, and the reason he gave is that he enlarged his vision. Sixty percent of the population became poor at a stroke of the pen because, on the basis of his subjective, sovereign act he classified them so.

Thus the humanists can exercise control over people, since by the act of classification the observer exercises power over those people he classifies. To further quote Schlossberg:

Thomas Szasz, a maverick psychiatrist, has described this process in the determination of psychiatric disorders. Szasz shows how classifying people changes them into the image that accords with the classifier’s assumptions or his desires. In that way, “classification is the lever: it gives one a purchase on whatever it is one wants to move.” To classify people psychiatrically, Szasz, believes, is to establish control over them. To classify people by their culture, as the humanitarians do, is by extension to establish control over whole populations. To the extent humanitarian policies become national policy, a whole society falls under the power of the classifiers.

The government in America has fallen into the hands of the humanists. The poor are found by our government, and showered with property belonging to others (ressentiment motivating their redistribution), they insure that people remain in poverty living off others and becoming a ward of the state. Ultimately, the goal is power. Power over the poor. Power over the objects of ressentiment (the rich and middle class). They wish to steal from those who have (wealthy and middle class), give to those who have not, make a nice profit in the exchange, and keep those who have not wallowing in self pity and victimization, thus ensuring their continual power over the poor.

Any and all political philosophies that deal with redistribution of goods from those that have to those that have not are the offsprings of the humanist lies, and need to be cast off. The classification of people and races needs to be opposed, since the classifier is seeking slaves and thralls to do his bidding. An example pointed out by Schlossberg:

John Perkins, a black man who founded and directed for many years a wholistic ministry to poor people in Mississippi, has recently described the humanitarian gospel of redistribution as a guilt-ridden ploy that has kept blacks under control. “This made us dependent on the government and gave us a welfare mentality. Consequently we were not able to communicate to our own people a philosophy of spiritual self development and indigenous power and leadership.” These currents in the black community express determination to insist upon the humanity of black people and are daggers in the heart of humanitarianism, which wants its victims to be docile.

So, by classifying people and defining those classifications, the few control the many, as long as those people fall prey to allowing themselves to be classified. Unfortunately, this has happened already. There is a welfare mentality among those who live off state subsidies that causes them to think they are victims and cannot support themselves. It also creates envy and the mentality that since they are victims they deserve the fruit of other peoples labors. This is a sad mentality, as all it does is give power to those who dole out the state subsidies, make the recipient dependent on the state, and take away the dignity of that person by causing them to think they cannot be self sufficient.

It is simplistic to say, “don’t be classified” to those who have already fallen victim to this false thinking. To those who haven’t been so fooled, I would encourage you to not fall victim to the welfare mentality that the humanists want to label you with. To those who have, realize that you have been lied to. For your own sake, try to cast off the lies that you have been labeled with. There are Christians, like John Perkins, who will help you out of the shackles that have been placed on you.

Ultimately, humanism is de-humanizing. Ultimately, it destroys human value. Our worth becomes subject to ressentiment thinking and subjectivity. This is the lie of the enlightenment and modernism that has crept into our way of thinking.

Human beings have value, period. Because you were created by God, you have intrinsic value bestowed upon you by your creator. You are worth something, and your life has a greater meaning than you are aware of. If fact, those who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ know exactly what they are worth (or they should know what they are worth). You are worth what someone is willing to pay for you. The death of God’s only Son was the price paid to redeem mankind. God poured out his wrath on His only Son in order to save people from the curse of sin. That alone is the greatest demonstration of the value of humanity, not the dehumanizing platitudes of those who would keep you in bondage.