For a person who loves the heady thrill of never-ending argument, the Internet is nothing short of a drug. For even mildly tech-savvy fundies who would rather argue than eat, the internet provides a venue to argue ad infinitum about every topic under the sun.
Nothing represents this non-stop battle of words better than The Fighting Fundamental Forums, a place where you can stop in on any given day and trade earnest verbal fisticuffs about subject matter that nobody else in the world cares about (other than the readers on this blog, of course). There is no detail too small, no doctrine too minor, no standard too outdated to be defended to the last man. The Truth must be preserved, even if virtual blood must be spilled to do it.
If you wish to stand in the gap, perhaps you too can gird your loins and join the fray on topics such as  Cheerleading, Water Parks, Tattoos, Female Song Leaders ,More Tattoos, Mid-Week Services, Even More Tattoos and Pastoral Authority. But I’d beg you not to. That way lies madness.
Others may differ, but even though I check the FFF once and awhile I find that it can be a waste of time. The arguments are usually silly and what really drives me nuts are the one-word responses. The layout of the site is also terrible. What I find especially odd are all the pastors who post there. Good grief, don’t they have other things to do?
Darrell – I’m sure a thread will now start there in response to yours.
Wow this is straight out of the 90’s as far as website design. Anyway I found this one interesting “What are you Listening to Now” http://www.fundamentalforums.com/the-fighting-forum/29292-what-are-you-listening-to-right-now.html
I am not sure you really want an answer to that from me :-).
Also Darrell I noticed they had a post or two already pointing to your site. Is that how you found the site from referral traffic? I wonder what post wil appear about this one :-).
Dear Lord.
I spent 10 minutes trying to figure out if the site was satirical like Landover – http://www.landoverbaptist.org/
I found a typo in your post. When you say “the internet provides a venue to argue ad infinitum about every topic under the sun,” I believe you meant to say “ad nauseam.” 😉
Only a matter of time before one of their trolls comes forth in all-caps in defense of this drivel.
So after reading a few pages it could be summed up as, “Hey hussies, dress more modestly, because you’re enticing we upright forthright righteous Christian men to SIN.” I’ll pass, thanks.
Visiting that site is a waste of time. Much better to discuss wasps elsewhere.
$10 to the first person who posts a thread on FFF about how church business meetings are unbiblical. (Darrell will pay you the $10 from the royalties he gets from his SFL book.)
You can’t spell StuffFundiesLike without “FFF”
http://www.fundamentalforums.com/the-fighting-forum/82478-good-work-guys-we-made-it.html
I dare not go anywhere NEAR that forum, for fear of wasting my life away arguing about this crap….It would do me in.
i’ll give a shiney nickel to the first person who starts a thread stating that that “f” is the 6th letter of the alphabet.
fff=666.
sit back.
watch heads explode.
Hey there, Mo,
I’m a member of the forum in question, and I promise the 6th letter thing has come up before… I think all the heads that were gonna roll over that one have rolled. 😉
On a side note, as an FFF member, I frankly think our inclusion on this blog is hilarious, and long overdue… don’t know what anyone else from there will think though. 🙂
Oh you know you want to join us. LOL. For most of us it’s a hoot. I would say that two-thirds are no longer “cultural fundie’s”, having left the craziness of KJVO, no pants on women, no movie’s, etc. We do like to “fight” though but mostly for fun. Nowadays it’s the Fundy X’tremes who come on there and complain it’s not a “real fundamentalist” forum anymore. LOL
I also am a member of the FFF. The SFL website reminds me a little of Prairie Home Companion, 25 years ago when I was on staff at BJU. Garrison Keilor made fun of us, and we loved the show. I think SFL has many fans among FFF-ers. But John (above) is right: more people on the FFF are exiles from old, hardcore Fundamentalism than are jumpin’ fundies. Among the cantankerous posts and arguing, there are some very informative and helpful posts. We even have a Lutheran posting, and he gave us such good essays on the presence of Christ at communion that I have the topic on my list of things to re-examine.
Peace, Love, and Bobby Sherman, Brothers,
BASSENCO
Oh, I didn’t see that you carry a copy of my book, SCHIZOPHRENIC CHRISTIANITY on your site. Thank you very much. For posting on the FFF, I named myself after my favorite ale, BASS ALE, and so I became “BASS AND CO,” or BASSENCO. But my real name is Jeri Massi. I appreciate that you carry the book. Thank you. I hope it was a help to any here who read it.
Cheers,
BASSENCO/Jeri
@Reader Mo: good catch. 🙂
Let me once more point out the utter immodesty and inappropriateness of men discussing women’s clothing and modesty, as in some of the threads linked to above. ‘Nuff said.
I’ve popped in there from time to time… it’s almost as bad as TV Tropes wiki. Only not as much fun.
@BASSENCO: i have your book in my amazon shopping cart. just waiting for the green light from my help-meat to make the actual purchase 😀 very much looking forward to reading it!
RE: women in britches: i can’t help but share this: when explaining the “no pants on women” thing to a friend, he got a genuinely confused look on his face and said “i don’t understand… it seems like it’d be much easier to gain access through a skirt than through pants.”
Amanda: “Let me once more point out the utter immodesty and inappropriateness of men discussing women’s clothing and modesty, as in some of the threads linked to above. ‘Nuff said.”
Yeah… I’m not going to lie. The first post in the “water parks” thread was just a bit too visual. Someone’s been giving that issue way too much private thought.
Those forums always remind me of this xkcd comic: http://xkcd.com/386/
ReaderMo – About the britches thing: At my high school, the good girls wore blue jeans. Only the sluts wore skirts (except to formal events). And if her skirt was long and full, that just meant she was a pothead slut. I’ve also had more than one jerk make sleazy comments about it when I was wearing a (long, loose, heavyweight) skirt instead of my usual pants/jeans. I tried to explain this delicately to a fundy friend once, but she just didn’t get it at all. I guess their trick is to isolate themselves so completely from “the world” that they don’t ever encounter people who might think that way?
Thanks Pita, the comic was perfect!
As for the other insite… that is the way of the cult…Seperation, Isolation, indoctrination, assimilation… We are the Borg, IFB chapter, resistence is futile….
@Reader Mo: Please let me know your thoughts after you’ve read it.
BTW, I will confirm with Moi that “FFF” easily translates to “666” has been discussed on the forum. Everything has been discussed on the forum–again and again and again.
From time to time, I visit the site, just to see people defend BJU. The fact that people talk about the changes Stephen Jones is bringing is ringing endorsement how bad the place has been under the Bobs.
I was banned from the Fighting Fundmentalist site when I disclosed that I was a Catholic.
Fighting Fundies are too scared to allow a Catholic join the group. Cowards. Afraid they might be proven wrong?
To be fair, I’ve seen a good number of times when Catholics come onto boards that are explicitly Protestant and attempt to argue with everything posted. It makes it very difficult to have a deeper discussion from a Protestant point of view when you constantly have to return back to a basic apologetic on the topic viz Catholic dogma.
All that to say that I can see why a particular forum might not welcome every point of view equally for reasons other than cowardice. By the same token I wouldn’t presume to go start fights on Catholic theology forums just out of common courtesy.
Without rules, most online discussions just turn into yelling matches.
True, but Protestants can be just as divisive in Protestant discussions as any non-Protestant could be. Banning people for what they do is different from banning them for who they are.
i have to agree that, if i had a forum, i would totally ban everybody with whom i did not wish to speak. for example: if i ran a cat lover forum, i would ban people with a “dogs only” agenda, because if i’m trying to have a conversation with other cat lovers about the best brand of cat litter, i don’t want a bunch of people interrupting with “YOU GUYS SUCK DOGS RULE!” posts.
as an aside, being an ass on the internet knows no denominational boundries. something about the quasi-anonymity of the internet makes it easy for us to speak to one another in ways that we normally wouldn’t (at least it’s that way for me- i’m way more of a jerk online than in real life).
@Morgan: my membership was declined at fff. i’m not sure if it’s because my religion is Eastern Orthodox, or if it’s because under “salvation testimony” i put “N/A”. probably for the best, though.
Preach it!
I might be wrong but I don’t think anyone is/was banned for just “being” a Catholic. We have a forum room for atheists and some visit the main room, the “Fighting” forum of course. LOL. There’s a homosexual or two, treated quite well by most. It’s a fairly unmoderated forum for the most part. I can only remember in my 10 years or so a handful of people being banned for language, potentially legally actionable offenses, or trying to skim some users away. There was a competing “FFF” for awhile that was quite selective as to whom could join. I think they died of boredom. Who wants a forum where everyone agrees? Come on come all I say. Fresh meat to the Colosseum! LOL
I was banned because I am a Catholic. I know this, because I never made one post! So the obvious conclusion is that Catholics are not allowed to become members. For a board called “Fighting” Fundies, that confuses me. Who are they fighting? Themselves? Circular firing squad?
<>
Yes, and, sometimes, it’s fun to get some popcorn and watch them eat their own.
Yes Morgan, they do often fight themselves. I welcome the presence of Catholics and others, but the majority want it to stay, at least loosely, Fundamentaslist,
Should Christians use the Internet? After all, there is a lot of Pornography out there, and how can you prove you weren’t viewing a triple-XXX site? Or be tempted to sneak a peek? Also there are so-called “Chrisians” who propagate False Doctrines that do not agree with Fundamentalism. To read anything that is not endorsed by Fundamentalism would cause a person to commit the sin of Thinking and that leads to Heresy, and will prove you never were a Christian and you will burn in Hell for all eternity. So there!
I visited that site back in the day when I was a young fundie. The most interesting thing that I discovered was that usernames/passwords were part of the address hash. So if someone logged onto the forums on another user’s computer, they could get their info. One of my friends used my computer once and his website link was changed to Al Gore’s campaign website. 😈