Naturalism
<p>MacArthur (his commentary on 2 Cor 10.5): "Naturalism, as its name implies, is the belief that nature is ultimate reality. James Sire defines it with the following propositions:
</p>
<ol>
<li>Matter exists eternally and is all there is. God does not exist.</li>
<li>he cosmos exists as a uniformity of natural cause and effect in a closed system.</li>
<li>Human beings are complex “machines”; personality is an interrelation of chemical and physical properties we do not yet fully understand.</li>
<li>Death is the extinction of personality and individuality.</li>
<li>History is a linear stream of events linked by cause and effect but without an overarching purpose.</li>
<li>Ethics is related only to human beings.</li>
</ol>
<p >(See chapter 4, “The Silence of Finite Space: Naturalism,” in The Universe Next Door, second edition [Downers Grove, Ill: InterVarsity, 1988], 61-83)</p>
<p>
Naturalism attempts to fortify itself against God by altogether shutting Him out of public life, social policy, the courts, and eliminating all biblical influence in morality and ethics."
MacArthur New Testament Commentary – 2 Corinthians.</p>