357 thoughts on ““Honesty””

  3. For a moment I had to ask myself if that was a fake poster or if it was a real college. Why ‘commonwealth’. The US is not part of The Commonwealth. Did they just think the word sounded good? Or are they such a cult that they seriously intend to secede and make an independent state or something?

    1. OH wow, at the end of their ‘institutional distinctives’, they state that they intend to be balanced in all that they do.

      Right after saying that attending movies is banned.

      WOW. These guys are loony.

      1. A Fundamentalist preacher who claims to be balanced is like a Fundamentalist who claims to be trustworthy. People who have a balanced mindset don’t have to go around assuring others about it.

    2. Kentucky is officially the “Commonwealth of Kentucky”.

      If you want some entertainment, search for @drjefffugate on Twitter. Also look up his son @JoelFugate its a hoot!

      My favorite tweet from yesterday was:

      “A true Fundamentalist is known by the Company that he Avoids.”

      I shake my head and can’t believe I was wrapped up in that stuff a few years back.

      1. I believe Pennsylvania & Massachusetts are both commonwealths as well and not technically states.

      2. ““A true Fundamentalist is known by the Company that he avoids.”

        That pretty much says it all, doesn’t it? Any they wonder why no one wants to become one.

      3. There’s also the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, home of a recently failed Republican contender for POTUS.

        1. whoa whoa don’t blame us for that guy, he’s out in utah most of the time these days and he’s from michigan originally anyway

    3. It’s called Commonwealth because it’s kocated in Kentucky , ie “The Commonwealth of Kentcky.” Some states have that designation.

    4. Your Highness,

      Several states of the US use the term “commonwealth”. I think Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Massachusetts are among those, but I could be wrong.

    5. Actually four states in the USA have the official title of “commonwealth” – Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Virginia, and Massachusetts – but they are politically states (though the reasons for the wording choice I’m sure had a lot of meaning when they were chosen). The USA also has two commonwealths – political units having local autonomy but voluntarily united with the USA – Puerto Rico and the Northern Mariana Islands.

      1. Yes, I’ve heard those states called “commonwealths” (mostly by politicians from those states), but I’ve never understood the difference(s) between a “commonwealth” and a regular state.

        (I’m not including Puerto Rico or the Northern Marianas, since their relationship to the federal government is different from that of the 50 states.)

      2. I don’t know either! I really don’t think it makes any practical difference, but it would be interesting to read up on the reasons and implications of using that nomenclature.

      3. It’s a minor distinction but a commonwealth is explicitly organized for the common good of its citizens. A state exists for itself, although it’s usually accepted that the good of the citizens are good for the state.

        1. It’s also worth noting that Mass., Virginia, and Penn. are the three oldest English colonies.

          New York is as old but was founded as Dutch colony.

      4. Virginia has had two states formed out of it’s territory (arguably, all states west of it were, but the land west and north of the Ohio was ceded to the Confederation in the 1700’s). Kentucky and West Virginia both split off from Virginia. Kentucky is a commonwealth like its mother state. When West Virginia split off later, for whatever reason, they chose to be a state, despite three of its five neighbors being commonwealths. Not sure why– I suspect it was probably the economic influence of Maryland via the B&O railroad on the northern economic centers.

    6. No its named after the commenweath of Lexington, ky. So If I were u do ur study on where they got the name from.

    1. I see they declined the picture of me in heels and pearls, serving my husband a martini as he walked in the door, with our nine children under the age of 10 smiling behind me. The chlidren, of course, are all clean and neat, wearing suits and dresses and holding the appropriate toys.

      1. Don’t forget the frozen grimaced smiles on their faces and the abject fear and despair in their eyes, masking the silent prayers “pleasedontletdadnoticemetonight, pleasedontletdadnoticemetonight, pleasedeargidplease…” 😯 🙁 :wicked:

        1. Hey, nine under 10? That’s kept me busy. How do you think I’ve stayed 100# at 5’5″ for the past 10 years?

        2. My oldest was 3 when my third (and last) child was born. I’m 5’4″, and it wasn’t until 8 or 9 years later that I got above 105. But it wasn’t long after that that my health crashed, and I discovered some of the awful side effect of some medications. (Cardiac meds in particular packed the pounds on.) There are times I *almost* wish I was back chasing toddlers, wearing a size 3, and soooo tired all the time…

      1. Yes. They will be wearing droopy jeans that show the top of their boxer shorts.

        2. Reminds me of a scene from The Wire where one of the narcos asks a thug where he can buy a cap with the brim on the side, because all the caps he sees for sale have them in the front. The young teen replies, quite sincerely, “Naw, they the same man; you jus’ gotta turn ’em sideways.”

        3. When the backwards cap thing was at its height, I was going to apply for a federal grant to teach young men and teens which end of a hat is the front. My project never got funded, though.

    1. It should be named the commonpoverty state. I should know, I live here.

      1. Kentuckian high five! Or not. Yeah, Kentucky has serious poverty issues. Everywhere, but especially in the mountains.

        1. Another Kentuckian High Five! There’s no place quite like it. I actually enjoy it here in Lexington. But you’re right- our commonwealth has more than its share of problems.

      2. So either Kentucky is on fire for gid and y’all are being persecuted for being so gid-like or gid has handed Kentucky to the debbil because of your wikkid heathern ways.

        Here’s a joke, no offense intended. Know why Kentucky is called “God’s Country”? Because the Devil doesn’t want it. (You could easily substitute “New Jersey” or “Vermont” or “Upstate New York”.)

        2. When you look at a map, Bethel does seem to be in about the right location for that procedure, although a lot of Alaskans think Wasilla would be a more likely spot.

        3. Another generic state joke:

          Q: Where’s the best place to be in Kentucky?
          A: In the center, because that way, anyway you move, you’re leaving the state.

          🙂

        4. Texas Aggie joke:
          Every time an Aggie moves from Texas to Oklahoma, the average IQ of both states increases sharply.

        5. BG, that was hilarious. Here’s another one for Houstonians:
          The mayor’s new hurricane evacuation plan works like this: All the Mexicans will take I-10W to San Antonio. All the Whites will take I-45N to the Woodlands. All Blacks will take I-69N to New Caney. All the Aggies will take I-610.

        7. Hurricane Katrina made some of us doubt the wisdom of a disaster preparedness plan that consisted of “Everybody get in your own cars and drive like hell,” but that’s still about the extent of many cities’ plans in the Gulf Coast area.

        9. I wonder just how many Kentuckians can answer that old saw: How do you pronounce the capitol of Kentucky, Lou-EE-ville or Lou-IS-ville? 😛
          (ps even as a buckeye i know the answer, so you can put down those tomatoes)

        15. In “Blue Highways,” William Least Heat Moon says that a useful shibboleth to separate Americans from non-Americans is to spell the name Puget Sound and ask them to pronounce it. Foreigners usually guess “Pugg-it” or “Poo-zhay” or “Pooh-jet.” They rarely hit on “Pyoo-djit,” which is how people near that body of water pronounce the name.
          This probably doesn’t work with British Columbians, since they are neighbors of Puget Sound.

        16. Even better- you can tell folks who aren’t from around there by asking them to pronounce ‘Juan de Fuca’. Results can be hilarious. I well remember a radio DJ being fired for pronouncing it correctly on the air.

      3. I have heard that parts of Kentucky are reluctant to accept anyone who moves in from another place (even if it’s a nearby county.) Don’t know if that’s true.

        2. Yep, it’s true. There are at LEAST five distinct areas of Kentucky, and it will be clear in minutes to any other Kentuckian which of them you belong to. The North/Northeast part, where I’m from, whose culture is influenced mostly by Cincinnati. Lexington and its sphere of influence in the central part of the state. The Eastern/Southeastern Mountains. Louisville and its sphere of influence in the northwestern part, and the true Western Kentucky area. Not to mention all the smaller regional distinctions that are tough to even generalize.

    2. I’ll be spending next week in Kentucky. Things to like: Mammoth Cave, bourbon, Kentucky Shakespeare Festival, Wendell Berry, Louisville Zoo, state parks. Things not to like: coal companies, Creation Museum, politicians who want to be to the right of Mussolini, and, yes, endemic poverty.

        1. I know its current director. In fact, I will see three of the plays in the upcoming week, perhaps while sipping Old Forester.

        3. I will be at Pericles on Wednesday, As You Like It on either Tuesday or Thursday. It’s hard right now to be more definitive as I have a few hanging, unpinned-down promises to meet with various people. But Pericles on Wednesday is almost a certainty. jack(dot)heller62(at)gmail(dot)com

          And that gives me away. I used to post here has JHeller. For those who remember, I am the guy who works on Shakespeare in prisons, as I will be doing while I am in Kentucky.

      1. It’s too bad you never see any of Dr. Batty’s Asthma Cigarettes these days.
        Maybe because they were not recommended for children under 6?

        “Spud” Cigarettes is another bygone brand. Maybe people started smoking potatoes instead?

        4. I prefer to smoke turkeys. Use butcher paper, though. it doesn’t tear easily as Bugler, and comes in larger sizes.

  8. Went to their website to check it out. Under “Institutional Distinctives”
    7. Commonwealth Baptist College is old-fashioned. We have a dress code, and we believe in discipline. Absolutely no drinking, smoking, dancing, card-playing, movie-going or other questionable activities are allowed. We take a strong stand against modernism and apostasy.

    Guess I’m out. They’d probably take a dim view of my Bible interpretation questions too.

    1. I’d love to know when movie-going became a “questionable activity”. The only questionable thing about it that I can think of is how much people are willing to pay for an old bag of popcorn.

      1. In the 1920’s. That’s when most of this list became questionable. These are people still living the Scopes trial.

        I remember some guy connected with Child Evangelism Fellowship and they were running a week long bible camp. One of his rules was “no t-shirts with questionable writing” LOL

      2. well, amongst the holiness churches, movies were originally disallowed because of ties between hollywood and liquor manufacturers (both real and imagined)… a lot of them have eased up on this, though – hating on the movie industry means no veggie tales or left behind movies, after all! I’m sure some of the “racy” content of some films, though, is what ultimately kept this particular rule going.

        1. An ex-fundy once explained to me that (according to his church) it was OK to watch videos at home, but not in a movie theater, because back when the rule was made (probably the 1920s or before), movie theaters were known as unsavory places where couples went for hanky-panky.
          They were supposed to avoid bowling alleys as well, due to some kind of immoral activity that went on there once upon a time.

        2. this reminds me of how a guy I knew in college (assemblies of god) told me about how holy his hometown was and how ungodly the town immediately next door was since they had a liquor store, and also since the folks in his hometown who weren’t churchgoers would go to that town on sundays to go to the bowling alley. he seemed rather perturbed when not a single person he was telling this to gasped at the inherent wickedness of a bowling alley (esp. when used as a refuge on sundays by the godless).

        3. Big Gary- I wonder how some fundies even get to church because some pretty unsavory stuff happens in the back of cars and buses too.

          Yes I did go there…

        4. I ran into the bowling alley prohibition just after I graduated BJ. I was eating lunch with adult Andrew Bixby and he confided in me that one of his dreams was to go bowling someday because his parents didn’t allow it and he had always thought it would be fun. Aim high, my friend.

        5. It’s amazing how long the ‘appearance of evil’ prohibitions can last.

          A family member doesn’t like me walking on a particular single block of sidewalk in her town, because ‘some man might try to pick you up’.

          That was the place the town prostitutes used to congregate, apparently. They stopped congregating there sometime during Prohibition. But nope, some guy might think I was a prostitute – even if in Sunday church clothing while carrying a Bible, which is what I was doing the first time I heard the ‘oh woe, never do that again’ lamentations – for walking down a street in broad daylight because his granddaddy once saw a couple of prostitutes standing there in the 1910s.

  9. My home state of Virginia is also a commonwealth. There are four in the U.S..

  10. I am going to drive right past this fine institution today. I need to remember to stop and get some eggs and toilet paper.

    1. Well, I am glad to hear that they have a charitable mission on the premesis where they assist the less fortunate by handing out high protein food supplies and basic necessities.

  11. You have to realize this ad is trying to appeal to parents who are already scared of letting their “babies” leave home. Bro Fugate wants parents to know they can trust his 24hr day care facility for emerging young adults.

    1. But if they ever actually try emerging as an adult, they will be disciplined.

  12. Trust me I never went to college but I am highly qualified to educate the sheltered IFB

  13. To be honest their “banned activities” aren’t any worse than most fundy schools. The most trouble I would have gotten into in fundy bc was getting caught going to the movies. But I perfected going to the right one just far enough away from campus to avoid the well placed snitches in the mall.

    Not saying their rules are right but when you are bringing in people from a pendulum of opinions the swing will always be toward the more conservative.

    1. Yes, their rules are only as abusive and restrictive as other fundies’ rules. But they then go and say that they strive to be balanced. On the same page. The complete lack of self awareness is… well, it’s something. I can quite place the word I’m looking for right now.

  15. I was on the fence, but it was the “Apply Today” starburst that really pushed me over the edge, and convinced me to go for it!

      1. No, Lucifer is Lucifer. We must keep the Latin, Catholic Bible translation of “morning star” because it is what KJV readers are familiar with and only those modern and demonic translations use morning star and you know those translations are demonic because the manuscripts were found in … … … Catholic monasteries.

  16. Am I the only one who read Darrell’s last line and now has “I’m inright outright upright downright happy all the time” running through my head?

    1. But at Commonwealth Academy, er, uh—–College, it is sung as
      “I’m inright outright upright downright honest all the time”

      They are training door-to-door salesmen, you know.

    3. Grrr! I DIDN’T have the song stuck in my head until you mentioned it. Thanks a lot!

  17. I’m not a highly trained educational professional, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

    1. Ha! Good thought. But not to be, though. A quick look at the back of the phone book here in Lexington shows a big ad for Associated Family Dentistry. At least the Verizon-issued one. Seems like we get 5 different phone books every year.

  19. Other than being legalistic, non-accredited, not licensed in Kentucky as a post-secondary learning institution, and a HAC clone, what’s the problem?

    Should these schools be called “HAC jobs”?

        1. And now I have Stairway to Heaven stuck in my head.

          ………Ooh, it makes me wonder,
          Ooh, it really makes me wonder.

      2. Makes me wonder what the franchise fee is. Probably a donation to the CLA for the next HAC victim of an underage predator seeking to do Satan’s work in bringing down a mog.

        1. Don’t forget that they need capital, too, which means Sunday night’s sermons for the next 2 months will be on tithing.

    2. If you’re going to plagiarize, steal from somebody good, not from a HACk.
      Copy Rembrandt or Da Vinci, not Thomas Kinkade or Leroy Neiman.

  20. This is from the “Activities” page on the school website.

    The college lobby offers a warm atmosphere for students to socialize and study. Students can easily schedule their own activities by having them approved by the college staff.

    Do they need permission to go to the drug store for shaving supplies too?

    1. I have no idea why my question shows as a quote. My guess is George struck. And I thought he had forgotten me………………

    3. It must be great to be a 20 year old and have to get permission to go to the library.

    4. I’ve been going to the store by myself since I was about 12.
      Does that make me a child prodigy?

    5. “Students can easily schedule their own activities by having them approved by the college staff.”

      That sentence takes a 180° turn right after the word “activities.” And at most Christian colleges, the first half would not have to be said.

      1. deer collage president Fugate,

        Can we have permision to play checkers tonight if we get our homework done and none of us is in trouble with the demerit board and our rooms are clened up the way the handbook says they are claened up and we finish our supper?

        Sinserely, mans dorm room #4

    6. I can verify that at least during my time there a few years back that YES you had to fill out “permission slips” 24 hours ahead of leaving campus for anything other than regular church activities. Had to list where you were going, people involved, time leaving, time returning, and purpose.

      2. Wow I honestly believe it would be better to be incarcerated for some serious crime and probably have a more enjoyable experience serving four years! Probably even learn more and actually come out a REAL Christian. Oh dear…

        2. It is literally “putting yourself under the schoolmaster.” Paul told us that, having become adults, we are not under the schoolmaster, the Law.

          No more Bondage!

        3. Redgrosbeak, you remind me of Samuel Johnson’s famous comment about the Navy:
          “No man will be a sailor who has contrivance enough to get himself into a jail; for being in a ship is being in a jail, with the chance of being drowned. A man in a jail has more room, better food and commonly better company.”

          Substitute “Bible College” for “ship.”

    7. Can someone please explain to me why anyone with function above the brain stem would choose to go to a college where they have to get permission from the staff to do anything?

        1. Obviously the fundy brainwashing techniques have worked well for thousands over the years! I feel bad for the people who wasted money and time at these “colleges”.

  21. Why is it that upon first glance at this ad, I feel like they’re selling a used car or payday loan?

    “Apply Now!!!!”
    “CLICK HERE!!!”
    “Money from the sky!!!!”

    Don’t they know that God speaks not with the earthquake, wind or fire but with a still, small voice?

    I get so tired of the whole gid is a used car salesman or scheming’ for gid style of religion. As though a relationship with God were a one-time event that one could be conned into and the church a grand pyramid scheme.

    2. Why do people always pick the “still small voice” to hear from God? He also spoke through an ass, too! At Commonwealth, you’ll see lots of asses speaking, but I’m not sure God is the one speaking through them.

      Heaven forbid that God just speak through the Bible and not “standards”, even if it is a KJV.

      I’ve actually grown to detest the “still small voice.” This is the same voice that always “led” someone to tell me that “the Lord led” them to tell me something. That way, whenever I told them they were full of crap, then I wouldn’t be arguing with them, I’d be angry with the so-called still small voice of God that they heard.

      1. The still, small voice Elijah heard was audible, not inner. The inner voice those people think is God is simply their own ego.

        “Has your still, small voice ever, at any time and in any way been mistaken? Then it isn’t God talking to you!”

      2. Technically, God did not speak through Balaam’s donkey. He just allowed the ass to give it’s opinion.

        Still remarkably similar to what goes on in fundyland.

      3. I know an “ass” that thinks God is speaking through him. I guess I should just give up on hoping he changes since God used and ass before.

  22. 16 years ago I interviewed a guy who was a substantial cocaine dealer. Funny. When I confronted him he denied it. “I swear on my mother’s eyes I didn’t ship that coke!”

    The axiom in interrogation is that when they swear so vehemently they’re normally guilty. He was.

    2. I’ve always thought that axiom was just common knowledge, and painfully obvious.

      I like watching the reality show Survivor still, and the way people react (1) when someone swears they’ll vote a certain way “on my ____” or (2) find out someone lied when swearing “on my ____” makes me think that most adults fall for that trick.

      IDK how you get past 8 years old without knowing that’s one of the easiest lie detectors there is.

  23. If you are honest, upright, and downright forthright then there’s simply no need to keep saying it.

    From what I can tell CBB is decently ran school. Fugate has built that school from the ground up with the blessings of God. No financial scandals that I am aware of. Go ahead Mr. Darrell be critical, it’s not like you have any personal problems or anything.

    1. If the are so decently ran [sic], why aren’t they accredited and registered with the state? What are they hiding from or scared of?

      1. Hey, if you feel something illegal is going on then you should call that county’s local sheriffs office. Otherwise, keep your trap shut!

        1. “Keep your trap shut!”

          I feel like that should be in the Statement of Faith for most fundy churches and schools.

        2. Well, well. How positively moral of you. Not.

          Stick it up your …. Fundies have done a lot that are immoral, even if not technically illegal. They deserve to be called on it.

          And as long as you act all nasty and self-righteous, so do you.

          Play nice or leave the sandbox.

        3. that is quite rude, everyone knows UncleWilver is not so inhumane as to use traps when trying to root out mice, so he has no need to keep them shut! – he uses a cat

        4. @daze, I’m not really a cat person, but do appreciate a good mouser. However, in this instance I seem to have unearthed a big ugly wharf rat too big for the cat, and may need the trap.

        5. Uncle W never said that this outfit is doing something illegal. It’s just that a “degree” from this place isn’t worth much, because it won’t be recognized by a *real* college or university.

        6. No answers, just defensive foolishness. Could fundy4life really be “DR.” Fugate in disguise?

          All I asked is why the “School: isn’t accredited or registered with the state as a post-secondary school.

          “The lady doth protest too much, methinks”
          ——Queen Gertrude

        7. Uncle, I doubt that fundy4life is “Dr” Fugate. I hear that the good doctor (*cough*) is down at the Charmin factory ordering more diploma materials.

        8. Weak clone attempt- How does that negate the need for accreditation and oversight? What minimum standards do they adhere to in the classroom?

          There are many that oppose accreditation; just look on the web. As far as their minimum standards, I really do not know. If you are that concerned you should probably call the school and not ask someone who has never been there. Your concern for the feeble minded fundy youth is well noted, thank you. Come one dude! Please, give me a hard one. You are making this easy UNLCE welfare. Lol.

        10. Clone- Beginning to wonder if fundy4life is related to stacy. The invective is approaching that level.

          Once again, nothing of substance. Just a lame remark.

        11. @Liutgard, No, I don’t think F4L is stacy. I think he’s that loser who was trolling here a week or 2 ago under 2 different names. I suspect those names were both banned by Darrell…

          And he’s baaaacccckkk….

        12. Clone- I think he’s that loser who was trolling here a week or 2 ago under 2 different names.

          Typical. More speculation, more assumptions. Very typical of your type. Clone access denied!

      2. Uncle Wilver’s statement- What are they hiding from or scared of?

        What else would he be implying here? It sounds to me like he feels that some shady business is going on at this school. If he feels that something is wrong with this school, then he needs to supply us with some facts. Otherwise, he can go back to watching reruns of Reba.

        1. Well, I guess you could consider advising people to pay thousands of dollars to send their kids to this guy’s ego-trip vanity college for a worthless degree pretty shady.

        2. Exactly, C.U.
          Why would you trust anyone who tells you it’s a good idea to pay to attend this unaccredited “school”?

        3. The kinds of things a school “hides” when it avoids accreditation include:
          1. Inadequately prepared faculty
          2. Inadequate facilities
          3. Inadequate finances
          4. Poor scores on standardized exams (NCLEX, teacher certification exams, etc.)
          5. Graduates unable to find jobs in areas related to major
          6. Inadequate grievance process
          7. High rate of dissatisfaction among graduates

          The point is, none of these are necessarily “shady business”, but they’re likely to be hidden all the same.

          Accreditation forces a school to take a good, long look at itself and make an open, honest attempt to fix whatever problems it finds.

        4. Clone quote: Well, I guess you could consider advising people to pay thousands of dollars to send their kids to this guy’s ego-trip vanity college for a worthless degree pretty shady.

          This a school designed for those who have a desire to go into the ministry. I’m pretty sure they don’t try to hide this fact. As far as his vanity is concerned that is between him and God. His school seems to be doing quite well, me thinks that your criticisms are not well placed. Come on clones! Is this the best you can do. Lol

        5. Clown quote–“This a school designed for those who have a desire to go into the ministry. ”

          How does that negate the need for accreditation and oversight? What minimum standards do they adhere to in the classroom?

    2. Ok, am I the only one? When fundy4life talked about “Mr. Darrell” all I could think about was Borat talking about “Mr. Jesus”.

      Am I the only reprobate here?

        1. Surely you must know who Borat Sagdiyev is? He is the subject of a documentery film “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan” and is therefore world famous all over Kaszakhstan.

        2. LOL, Mr Best. I was joking.

          You are the only reprobate here. THE REST OF US DON’T WATCH HEATHERN MOVIES FROM HELLYWOOD!!

          Now, be quiet … I’ve got to concentrate! I’ve got to concentrate!

    3. Built with the “blessing of God” and the pocketbook of Russell Anderson you mean

      2. Clone attempt: Built with the “blessing of God” and the pocketbook of Russell Anderson you mean.

        Right God never uses people to conduct His work.(sarcasm) You have made a great point. You can know go upstairs and tell your mother you scored a point on SFL.

      3. The joke they themselves used to make was that it wasn’t named Fugate-Anderson College, but “Common” (Fugate) + “Wealth” (Anderson).

  24. I never put a lot of value on people’s own declarations of how trustworthy they are, how devout they are, how intelligent they are, how skilled they are, or how attractive they are. All of those characteristics are best judged by others.

    But this does remind me of the discussion of taxation in “Gulliver’s Travels”:
    “I heard a very warm debate between two professors, about the most commodious and effectual ways and means of raising money, without grieving the subject. The first affirmed, “the justest method would be, to lay a certain tax upon vices and folly; and the sum fixed upon every man to be rated, after the fairest manner, by a jury of his neighbours.” The second was of an opinion directly contrary; “to tax those qualities of body and mind, for which men chiefly value themselves; the rate to be more or less, according to the degrees of excelling; the decision whereof should be left entirely to their own breast.” The highest tax was upon men who are the greatest favourites of the other sex, and the assessments, according to the number and nature of the favours they have received; for which, they are allowed to be their own vouchers. Wit, valour, and politeness, were likewise proposed to be largely taxed, and collected in the same manner, by every person’s giving his own word for the quantum of what he possessed. But as to honour, justice, wisdom, and learning, they should not be taxed at all; because they are qualifications of so singular a kind, that no man will either allow them in his neighbour or value them in himself.”

    Read the whole chapter here:
    http://classiclit.about.com/library/bl-etexts/jswift/bl-jswift-gull-3-6.htm

  25. I think HAC also said that you could “trust them with your daughters”.

    In light of the overwhelming evidence, that’s one place I would definitely NOT trust with my daughter.

  26. The lack of quotation marks around both “Dr.” and “College” makes the claim less credible right out of the starting gate. The statement also begs the question, “Trust Commonwealth Baptist College to do what?”

  27. Something about this guys isn’t honest.

    Was this guy trained by Hyles-Schaap or one of their buddies/disciples (i.e. Trieber/Brown/Hutson/Vineyard).

    1. He went to hack and got his further degrees here, according to the church bio:

      Bro. Fugate was honored with two honorary doctorate degrees: a Doctorate of Divinity from Oklahoma Baptist College and a Doctor of Humanities from Hyles-Anderson College.

        1. The bio is a little vague there. He became a pastor at the age of 21 when his Dad passed away, so I don’t know if he finished school or not. The only degrees mentioned are his honorary ones.

        2. He didn’t graduate college of any sort. Spent a very short time at Tennessee Temple and then at Hyles Anderson, only long enough there to be in the yearbook. Left both to return home as his father was battling cancer.

        3. Ahhhhhh. He is a Completely Honorary Fraud, then. That is taking fundamentalist tradition to its pinnacle.

          Or is that taking it to its greatest depth?

          C.S. Lewis talked about the Lowerarchy in his Screwtape Letters. Seems relevant here.

        5. Seems like someone who has not graduated from college should have to start with an honorary bachelor’s degree and work his way up… “Honorary B.S.” has a nice ring to it.

      3. It’s amusing, in a sad way, that these characters actually believe they’re being honored, rather than mocked, when they get these “honorary doctorates” from pretend colleges. Then they puff up their chests and call themselves “Dr. Fundy” for the rest of their lives.

        1. Once I had a pastor who had an honorary doctorate from BJU. I (naively – I was newly graduated from college) expected him to want to be called Dr. Smith but he specifically told people not to do so. He never flaunted it. In this and many other ways, he was very humble. He was an exceptional man.

        2. This.

          My family includes Ph.Ds, JDs, MSs, MBAs, MAs, and more – from institutions like Harvard, Yale, Georgetown, William and Mary, Florida State, Penn State, Louisville, Xavier, Loyola…

          And you won’t hear anyone brag about it. We were just raised to take the opportunities you could while working as hard as you can. And we were raised to value education and always be learning. To then see men call themselves “Dr” when they haven’t done any work…I get so embarrassed for them.

  28. King Tommy used to tell us practically every Sunday how “impeccable” his reputation was! Apparently violating counseling session privacy (yeah he is licensed by the State of Michigan), covering up embezzlement, and letting houses go into foreclosure is impeccable.

      1. The Blue Fugates and a few other blue Appalachian families are quite famous among people with an interest in physical anthropology.

  31. Over $28,000 to git a unakredited bachlurs dugree from this cawledge?

    Charmin is much cheaper than their diploma, and since toilet paper and a CBC diploma aren’t valuable for anything more than wiping your buttocks, I’ll go with the Charmin and keep my $28k. Plus Charmin is softer.

    1. On point, Larry. But look at Bob Jones. Room, board and tuition for an out of state student runs about $22,000 per year. Go to BJU and get an unaccredited piece of Charmin for a mere $88,000.

      1. Or, as I keep saying, use your own paper and crayons to make a diploma that will be every bit as valuable as one from an unaccredited college, but will cost only pennies.

    1. Not I, but now that you mention it, I would sort of like to see what the Commonwealth B.C. application form asks.

        1. They have on the application that if you were ever separated in your marriage you owe them an explanation. Not just “ever divorced”.

          You got separated and reconciled? Explain! I assume there’s no explanation that would be acceptable.

        2. I assume when they ask “Do you have a police record?” they mean “Do you have a criminal record?”?

          Or is there something different from a criminal record that is considered a “police record”?

        3. ZOMG!

          Have you ever sought psychiatric/psychological counsel? Yes/No
          If so, please explain when, any hospitalizations, any medications given and a brief description of the circumstances.

        4. Wow! Why would they need my mother’s name and address? She is 94 years old.

        6. Maybe they want to know if your parents are divorced? They’re testing your IFB pedigree?

          I think they’re most interested in the color of your money.

        7. “Isn’t a Police record Sting and the band on vinyl?”

          Uncle Wilver, that would show good taste in music, and heaven knows we don’t want that, do we?

        8. A buddy of mine had several Police records, along with dozens of other 70’s and 80’s groups. I stuck with the hand-me-downs from my folks…many from the 60’s.

          Now, if we’re talking about one’s criminal history, that’s a different story.

          B.R.O.

        9. At many Fundy colleges, listening to Sting’s old band is considered just as objectionable as breaking and entering or aggravated assault.
          If not more so.

        10. Don’t forget the picture! Make sure to smile! Jesus wants to see the whiteness of your skin!

          Looking through the pictures of their student activities really made me hurt for these young men and women. So many reflected an expression in their eyes like that of neglected dogs hoping beyond hope that – this time – they may have found a shred of unconditional love and genuine acceptance.

        12. Liutgard, I can’t seem to open “The Very Best of Sting”, but isn’t Sting’s “Every Breath You Take” standard operating procedure at Fundy “colleges”?

          “Every breath you take,
          Every move you make,
          Every bond you break,
          Every step you take,
          I’ll be watching you.”

        13. Yeah, I was trying to post the one song, and somehow it picked up a collection. Frustrating.

          Anyway, yeah. My daughters call it ‘the stalker song’, and I have to agree. And so does Sting, incidentally. He apologized for it, and wrote ‘If You Love Somebody (Set Them Free)’ as restitution.

          But here- one of my favorites, one of the loveliest songs he’s written:

          http://youtu.be/qI8toRERrG0

        14. I like the “In the last three years, have you engaged in smoking?” (If Yes, explain)

          Yes
          Explanation: Riding behind a truck on a skateboard, lost my balance, and started skidding. The friction caused smoking. This was last year sometime in the summer.

        15. It just occurred to me that the Sting reference fits.
          Frightfully well, even:


          Every breath you take
          Every move you make
          Every bond you break
          Every step you take
          I’ll be watching you

          Every single day
          Every word you say
          Every game you play
          Every night you stay
          I’ll be watching you

          O can’t you see
          You belong to me

        16. OOPS!
          Sorry, That Other Jean. Somehow I missed your comment until just after I clicked “SUBMIT”

          Please accept my apologies.

        1. I stumbled across these guys many years ago on “Austin City Limits”. They’ve been high on my playlist ever since. I have this song from their live album. One of my dream vacations to to drive as much of old US 66 there still is.

        2. Asleep at the Wheel keeps the fires lit in the house that Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys built.

    2. Why? It’s not like knowing our real names will give you any sort of power. This isn’t a fantasy realm. 😉

    3. I don’t usually post under my real name, because “Billy James Hargis” is just too distracting.

      1. Yep. That name *IS* distracting, especially if you are aware of his, uh, orgies with his students (of BOTH genders!).

        That was one of the early shocks I had about fundamentalism.

      6. Hugh Lewis Dewey, better known to the kids on Avenue of Champions as Hughey Lewey Dewey, senior partner of the Kentucky branch of the law firm Dewey, Cheatem, and Howe.

    6. Only if:

      1. You do it first.
      2. You post a picture of your driver’s license, nothing redacted.
      3. You post a picture of your SS card.
      4. You list your last three residences.
      5. You give your mother’s maiden name.
      6. You give us your Twitter/Facebook/Instagram passwords, well as all email accounts both business and personal.
      7. You give us all passwords/security codes for all your electronic devices.

      1. Also indicate if you have ever been separated in your marriage and if so, explain on an attached sheet of paper

    1. Clone quote: So trustworthy we don’t need accreditation!

      Most fundy schools are not accredited; this not abnormal. Of course we all know that government funded schools are turning out the cream of the crop in society now a days. Shees people, get a life.

      1. You’re right. This school is for those who want to go into IFB ministry.

        However, the degree is worthless for anything other than that. Problem is, the IFB is a shrinking movement. So Commonwealth, BJU, and other non-accredited fundy colleges are like a war college recruiting and training soldiers for horse cavalry warfare.

        1. Clone Quote: However, the degree is worthless for anything other than that.

          Wow, thank you captain obvious.

          Clone quote: Problem is, the IFB is a shrinking movement.

          Based on what data. The church I am in is booming right now. Church attendance as a whole is dropping.

          Clone Quote: So Commonwealth, BJU, and other non-accredited fundy colleges are like a war college recruiting and training soldiers for horse cavalry warfare.

          They are training folks to work in churches and Christian schools. It’s funny how you belittle those who want to serve others.

        3. Fundy4life, I could honestly wish fundy ministers wished to minister to others.

          Oh, some do. But so very many have not. And in this group, we have in common the victimization by those ministers.

          If you can’t come to grips with that, you are as dense or as callous as those who hurt us.

          This is a place where we can, in a more or less light hearted manner come to grips with the various ways fundamentalism has hurt people.

          We know fundamentalism. We have lived in its churches, served in its ministries, attended its schools, witnessed its abuses and infidelities, heard its excuses, discovered its lies and been the victims of its malice.

          So may I, very respectfully, ask you to shut your disrespectful trap?

        4. Clone quote: serve others? You mean enslave others

          Definition of slave- a person who is the legal property of another and is forced to obey them.

          Another definition- a person who is strongly influenced and controlled by something

          Students that attend these schools can leave the institutions at any time. I hardly think that is a smart thing to compare them to slaves. A bit politically incorrect I might add. Each one of us submits to something in life, and the particular thing we submit to is determined by our free will. If free will is able to be exercised then you cannot label the term “enslavement”
          Nice try clone!

        5. Well, Paul uses the term. For being under law and sin, he uses the terms for enslavement.

          Again, you should really read your Bible.

        6. Having a bible college degree does not guarantee ministry employment. There is little demand in full time ministry except when full time comes with part time or no pay.

          The greatest travesty is not the ministry degrees, but the degrees for women. Four year degrees in “Christian education” that probably won’t even get a job in a Christian school. The degree that they don’t advertise is the one most of the girls are there to get: the “MRS. degree”.

          Here’s an article on the subject of sheinking ministry job market: http://m.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/07/higher-calling-lower-wages-the-collapse-of-the-middle-class-clergy/374786/

        7. Most Christian schools that pay a living wage require an accredited degree and state certification. But maybe that’s only out here in the heathen West Coast.

        8. Clone- Having a bible college degree does not guarantee ministry employment.

          Neither does a degree in any other profession.

          Clone-There is little demand in full time ministry except when full time comes with part time or no pay.

          This is actually a good point. However, this proves that the majority of these people are in this for the right reason. They truly want to serve the King!

          Clone- The greatest travesty is not the ministry degrees, but the degrees for women. Four year degrees in “Christian education” that probably won’t even get a job in a Christian school. The degree that they don’t advertise is the one most of the girls are there to get: the “MRS. degree”.

          I know plenty of ladies that are working in Christian schools with degrees from these IFB schools. To your other point, finding someone who has a similar faith to hitch up with is a good thing.

        9. Clone quote- Most Christian schools that pay a living wage require an accredited degree and state certification. But maybe that’s only out here in the heathen West Coast.

          And that is their right, and I also know of many that don’t. You really ought to quit judging my thoughts and my motives. I have many friends on the West Coast, and I really don’t appreciate the stereotypical innuendo that I cast a negative outlook on the WC culture. Clone attempt blocked!

        10. “Students that attend these schools can leave the institutions at any time. . . Each one of us submits to something in life, and the particular thing we submit to is determined by our free will.”

          Young people who have been taught that anything outside the IFB is sinful are not truly free. An 18-year-old who has been sheltered from all outside influence and has no connections outside the IFB, whose family would cut her off if she chose not to attend the unaccredited IFB school, is enslaved – perhaps only by her own fear, but that fear has been conditioned into her since infancy.

          Some people’s personalities are more confident, forceful, and independent. Others aren’t. They’re being funneled into colleges that prepare them for only one narrow life choice – working within the IFB.

          I believe most of them desire to serve God, but they’ve been taught incorrectly that the best (or only) way to serve God is in 1) full-time ministry and 2) in the IFB.

        11. Clone quote- Some people’s personalities are more confident, forceful, and independent. Others aren’t. They’re being funneled into colleges that prepare them for only one narrow life choice – working within the IFB.

          You are right about that the personality traits for sure. Bible college is not for every one, that much is true. But for you to suggest that IFB schools are sweat shops to pump out workers for the factory is somewhat funny.

          Clone logic- Young people who have been taught that anything outside the IFB is sinful are not truly free. An 18-year-old who has been sheltered from all outside influence and has no connections outside the IFB, whose family would cut her off if she chose not to attend the unaccredited IFB school, is enslaved – perhaps only by her own fear, but that fear has been conditioned into her since infancy.

          Most youth in church is taught about the sins in life that will derail you. There are plenty youth that are not cut out for Bible college; and there are plenty who are. I do think that people should at least give God a chance though.

          Clone quote- I believe most of them desire to serve God, but they’ve been taught incorrectly that the best (or only) way to serve God is in 1) full-time ministry and 2) in the IFB.

          This is your best one yet. Most of the serving in church is done by the laymen, and I think you know that. The IFB churches in my community do the most outreach that I know of. I personally want to align with that. I’m not in full time ministry, so I guess my efforts are worthless. Lol.

        12. Bless your heart Clone-Well, Paul uses the term. For being under law and sin, he uses the terms for enslavement.
          Again, you should really read your Bible.

          That word is not in the Bible one time. Nice try Clone! We are free from the lawn and sin true; that gives us the chance to serve the One who freed us!

        13. Clone logic- If you can’t come to grips with that, you are as dense or as callous as those who hurt us.

          Wow, thank you for admitting that you are weak socially and that you let external stimuli control you.

          Clone quote-This is a place where we can, in a more or less light hearted manner come to grips with the various ways fundamentalism has hurt people.

          More like back bite. Misery always loves company; thank you for clearing that up.

          Clone- We know fundamentalism. We have lived in its churches, served in its ministries, attended its schools, witnessed its abuses and infidelities, heard its excuses, discovered its lies and been the victims of its malice.

          So may I, very respectfully, ask you to shut your disrespectful trap?

          You do not speak for the whole; sorry to burst your bubble. There are bad people in a sects of religion; why don’t you bash those? Oh wait, a hidden agenda! Now that makes sense. Oh and by the way, you can say whatever you want. You can be a big boy and assert yourself any way you see fit. Clones R Us. Lol.

        14. I personally think fundy4life is an atheist troll trying to make fundamentalism look even worse, which is why I don’t engage her.

          One thing is for sure, if F4L was a real fundy, she would be the best example on this site of why so many of us have rejected fundamentalism.

        15. I was getting ready to ask them for their MoG’s name so we can write them a pass to miss Saturday door knocking tomorrow since they have suffered so much persecution here today.

        16. Just for fun, I looked up the “living wage” for Fayette County, KY, at http://livingwage.mit.edu/counties/21067

          The living wage for a single person is about $17,121 annually at $8.23/hour. Minimum wage is $7.25. A living wage for household of two adults with two kids is $37,481 or $18.02/hour.

        17. Clone statement- personally think fundy4life is an atheist troll trying to make fundamentalism look even worse, which is why I don’t engage her.

          Nice try! Way to offer nothing of substance. Just an attempt to stir up anger within me. Next time maybe you will add something of worth to my points. I’m not going to hold my breath; my you clones are quite restless today.

        18. I still say that there is little to no job market for those whose skills are in cavalry. Horses are just no match for Apache helicopters.

        19. Students were (I assume still are) required to go visiting/soulwinning/doorknocking for three hours each week, and REQUIRED to present the gospel to someone (not at church, too). Failure to do so earned you demerits, or you just lied on the weekly activity report you turned in. Think most people did the latter though no one will admit it.

        20. Clone comment-I still say that there is little to no job market for those whose skills are in cavalry.

          No need to be too critical here sir. It’s not like the secular market has been that good to you either.
          I know your job history.

        21. Clone- Students were (I assume still are) required to go visiting/soulwinning/doorknocking for three hours each week, and REQUIRED to present the gospel to someone (not at church, too). Failure to do so earned you demerits

          Doctors in school are required to perform many medical tasks in the school of medicine. Any profession you train for your education will have something to do with your desired field. Failure to complete a task results in a non passing grade. So I appreciate your keen eye for observing the obvious. Is the best your kind has to offer? Brother!

        22. @F4Life: I’ve been pretty open about my 27 year career in law enforcement. I’ve never gotten rich, but I’ve made an honest living and received national recognition. And I’ve always been able to carry a gun, which is a plus:)

        23. Robocop Clone- @F4Life: I’ve been pretty open about my 27 year career in law enforcement. I’ve never gotten rich, but I’ve made an honest living and received national recognition. And I’ve always been able to carry a gun, which is a plus:)

          Thank you for your service to the community. Now, no need to be critical of others clone fodder. If you have nothing nice to say, then you don’t say it all. If you are a good little boy we’ll go out for ice cream and a comic book. Wowsers, the anti-fundy sure do know how to pick em.

        24. Misleading quote:
          Doctors in school are required to perform many medical tasks in the school of medicine. Any profession you train for your education will have something to do with your desired field.

          Um, you are assuming the rigor and training are similar. They are not. About the only thing bible college prepared me for practically was to run a bus route, which I don’t think i need a four year “degree” to do. Bible colleges like this do a terrible job at preparing young men for the ministry. By the way, there is so much more to ministry than soulwinning. I’ve spent close to a decade trying to learn things I should have been taught and was not trained to learn. Can you honestly say a class named “general psychology” should be teaching through hyles’ “blue denim and lace” book. Happened. Use bob jones high school textbooks in college courses? Happened. I was there. I went through it. I wasn’t impressed. I wouldn’t do it again. I wouldn’t want my children to do it. I am all for bible and ministry training, but the bible college system is flawed and broken.

          Oh, and I am in the “ministry”. Not full time, but I am very active with a title and a small weekly salary at an independent baptist church. Doubt that qualifies me for much of a “liberal”. Four years of bible college did very little to help me, in fact I think it set me back a decade at least.

          And another quote: Is the best your kind has to offer? Brother!

          No, it’s not the best I can offer. You couldn’t handle my best, or even my okay. You would dodge the facts and change the subject.

          I was there. I lived it. I saw it. Now I’m trying to move on in spite of it and serve God.

          And sorry for any spelling/capitalization issues. Stupid iphone keyboard. …

      2. Little Clone- I was getting ready to ask them for their MoG’s name so we can write them a pass to miss Saturday door knocking tomorrow since they have suffered so much persecution here today.

        Thank you for your consideration for my well being! To be perfectly honest I consider this somewhat fun; thanks again for your compassion.

        1. I’m glad you’re having a good time f4l.

          You have obviously received your reward.

  35. I’m wondering if Mr. Fugate’s “Commonwealth” reference may be a double entendre. Perhaps he idiologically partners himself with Oliver Cromwell and the English Commonwealth of the mid-sevententh century.

    The separatists sure enjoyed those commonwealth years.

    Just a thought.

    1. Jesus constantly said that He was the way, the truth, and the life. Man, I guess He never got that memo. Clone fodder.

      1. He made that particular statement once. It appears once in John, never in the other Gospels.

        You really need to read your Bible instead of just tracts with a few selected verses.

        1. Clone attempt: He made that particular statement once. It appears once in John, never in the other Gospels.

          You really need to read your Bible instead of just tracts with a few selected verses.

          Good one! But the point I was making is that Jesus constantly went around telling others that He was deity. It is throughout the whole gospels, and you know that. Be careful those straws you are grasping are fixing to snap. You better go get plugged back into the matrix.

        2. No, He did not constantly go around telling people he was deity.

          The early church wrestled with this very thing for nearly 300 years. From the words of Jesus and His works, the struggled to understand His relationship with God. Some Scripture appeared to indicate He had limitations, of time, place, knowledge, strength. He learned as he grew. His favor with God increased as He grew up. He learned obedience.

          The mystery of Christ being fully God and fully man at the same time has yet to be adequately explained.

          Read your Bible. You would not make so many incorrect assertions if you were more familiar with it.

        3. Clone quote- No, He did not constantly go around telling people he was deity.

          Foolish Clone Accusation- Read your Bible. You would not make so many incorrect assertions if you were more familiar with it.

          Revelation 1:8 – I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.

          John 10:30 – I and [my] Father are one.

          John 5:18 – Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.

          John 8:58
          Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.
          Matthew 28:19, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:”

          I swear conversing with you folks is like talking to a liberal. Oh wait, you are one in the same.

  38. Two kinds of fundies: fundies and antifundies. I left both some years ago. Out in indifferent land now, fundi-wise, though I can appreciate conversation, and I have valued friends of both persuasions.
    The two groups have more in common than either realizes. 🙂

    Trust has to be earned. Its proclamation is not appropriate for any college recruiting materials. In the secular world , the reputation of top schools precedes them. Harvard and Yale, for example, make no efforts to get potential stidents to trust them.

  40. Ah, yes the ubiquitous fundy college education degrees—’cause you can’t get a degree in “pastor’s wife,” and the girls need something to do.
    Seriously, I know a young woman who got one of these degrees from a sad little place in Alabama (makes PCC and BJU look like Yale and Harvard). She grew up in another country with missionary parents who carefully selected this fine institution for her. It was the only one they would pay for. My husband and I (both teachers) warned her parents about the uselessness of this kind of degree, but their minds were made up. She got her “degree” and was married soon after. She recently approached me to find out how to get certified to teach in public schools. I said there was a strong possibility she would have to start completely over. I am trying to help her look into other options.
    Apparently Liberty University is willing to consider accepting credits from unaccredited schools. No guarantees, though.

    1. Know someone who just went through this. Had a four-year “Christian education” degree plus taught at a Christian school. Now they are back at school starting from scratch to get a legitimate degree.

      One other option that they found was one accredited Baptist university near them that would consider accepting some of the Bible credits as electives, but this barely put a dent in the workload they were facing.

    2. Your young friend may have already done this, but she should be able to learn whether or not Liberty University will accept credits from her particular school by simply phoning them. If the answer is yes, she can have a transcript sent to that school for evaluation. Even if LU accepts credits earned from her school; however, her education classes will have to meet state requirements for teaching licensure. My guess is that, at an absolute minimum, she will need to repeat her student teaching. Of course she will also need to complete a certain number of hours at Liberty in order to get a degree from that school. Another school she may want to contact is Judson University in Elgin, Illinois. The problem there is the high price of tuition.

      Obviously if your friend is still married or if she has children, going back to school will be more difficult. Still, she may want to consider taking courses at a community college at night. She also might consider taking some CLEP tests so that even if her courses will not be accepted anywhere else, she won’t have to start absolutely from scratch if she decides to go back to school.

      I had a “diploma” from a “FundyU” myself, and I had to go back to school to get a legitimate degree. Possibly the only thing that keeps the people running those institutions from being arrested for fraud is the fact that the students enrolling in these “schools” know beforehand that those institutions are not accredited. The people running a lot of these places are not guilty of fraud to the same extent that the folks who own Amway are not guilty of running a pyramid scheme.

      Just my 2¢.

      1. Night at the Opera is my favorite. I have all their movies on DVDs.
        Often I’ll us a name from a Groucho character just to see who recognizes the reference.

    1. I like the inherent hypocrisy of fundy4life’s “clone” comments.

      The group here represents a huge swath of Christian (and non Christian thought), which is a stark contrast to the homogenous IFB movement.

      1. I would like to meet fundy4life. I would like to see if he/she/it really does have a aerial sticking out of his/her/its head…..

        1. True, calvinists and universalists don’t get along often 🙂 Fundie4life couldn’t get anyone to get along without forcing them to agree about EVERY SINGLE THING! Even if we told him/her “oh we were wrong, this school is wonderful. It’s totally worth conforming without question a detailed doctrinal statement and agreeing to cut our hair just like you say so God will be pleased. We will also pay thousands of dollars to asfwer (since one can serve without the degree, we need a new word)!” He/she would only switch camps and suddenly start talking about how one article of the dress code isn’t quite strict enough! Or maybe find some SBC students are attending the school…oh the horrors!

        4. Do you want a vanilla or chocolate clone, and how many scoops? (ducks to avoid tomatoes).

        5. Panda Rosa, I’ll have a mint chocolate chip, one scoop on a sugar cone, with chocolate jimmies and hot fudge. Thanks.

        6. Clone in training- I’m jealous. I don’t think any of my comments got a response from fundy4life. :(. I want a clone badge!

          Trust me, a clone badge would probably give you some sort of purpose in life. Obviously, you are quite board since your two browser screens are opened to this site and E Harmony.

      2. Clone comment- I like the inherent hypocrisy of fundy4life’s “clone” comments.

        The group here represents a huge swath of Christian (and non Christian thought), which is a stark contrast to the homogenous IFB movement.

        Right you people never use sarcasm or any other rude methods to try to prove your point. Lol. The problem is you do that and more. You lie, speculate, and start rumors about decent people. I’m enjoying my interaction with you clones so much. Pls keep them coming; you are really making this somewhat enjoyable.

        1. Only in your mind is this true interaction. You haven’t answered any questions put to you, just commented with the same insipid comments ad nauseam. Typical fundy parroting. I recognize it because I was a mindless clone following the cultic rules once.

          I was in extreme HAC/FBCH clone fundyness for a long time. I have seen the abuse of power, twisting of Scripture, and results of a fallen dictator. Commonwealth Baptist College is more ego trip mog narcissism. The only reason most Christian schools and basement Bible colleges exist is because their founders are trying to indoctrinate followers in their brand of supposed Christianity. They cannot afford for the impressionable to have any thoughts outside the cult for fear of losing followers to true Scriptural principles and actual historical Bible doctrines.

          When you find a “decent people” we have told any untruths about, please let us have some facts. If you can show me I am wrong, I will admit to it and change my view. I do not claim to speak for the greater SFL community, but I would imagine most of them would like to know if they are wrong, so that they can be correct in their thinking also.

        2. The troll says “Pls keep them coming; you are really making this somewhat enjoyable”, and I’m reminded of the old admonition not to wrestle with a pig.

          I don’t troll Vegetarian blogs and insult them for not eating meat. I don’t even troll fundamentalist blogs (such as my former MOG’s) and try to pick fights. Yet FFL sees no irony in hissing that we should “get a life”….

          What does it matter what the troll thinks? FFL is a pathetic composite of what we escaped, and oft-times, what we were. Ignore it, and it may slither away with its dated “LOL’s”. Or not. Won’t ruin this beautiful Saturday for me either way.

        3. Whats sad is years ago, my old fundie church would have “early class” before the main service on Sunday nights. It would be a session where people would bring in news articles, stuff printed out from the internet, etc.

          There was somewhat of an unwritten scoring system.

          1 pts – Articles on Israel
          5 pts – Articles of church “persecution” in the USA.
          50 pts – Articles of a fundie “soul winner” getting arrested.
          100 pts + you get to sit on the right hand folding chair of the pastor tonight – Bring in printouts of a blog post where someone is attacking the IFB or a Super MoG.

          I would do what FFL does just to stir up something then sit there proudly while my article was read with people shaking their heads. I felt such a great since of accomplishment when people would congratulate me on bringing in the “good stuff”.

          Oh how sad my existence was in those days…

        4. Clone- You haven’t answered any questions put to you, just commented with the same insipid comments ad nauseam.

          What questions are you referring to? Please help
          me here.

          Clone – Commonwealth Baptist College is more ego trip mog narcissism.

          Well I’m glad that we can have your helpful insights and judgements on others. Quite frankly, I don’t know where we would be without them.

          Clone-They cannot afford for the impressionable to have any thoughts outside the cult for fear of losing followers to true Scriptural principles and actual historical Bible doctrines

          Actually God builds the church as He sees fit. My church has encouraged problem members to leave. That doesn’t sound like a cult to me.

          Clone-When you find a “decent people” we have told any untruths about, please let us have some facts.

          This is your dumbest statement yet. There are a lot of posters that allude to and give forth the inuendo that there is always more that meets the eye with fundamentalist as a whole on this site.

        5. “Actually God builds the church as He sees fit. My church has encouraged problem members to leave. That doesn’t sound like a cult to me.”

          Well, it is rather cult-like, depending on your definition of problem members.

          Are problem members the ones who accept everything they are told and do everything they are told to do without question?

          Or are they the ones, who having been hurt before, question and even disagree with the MoG? Who, hearing inanity from the pulpit actually shake their heads in disagreement?

          Cults prey on the weak and weed out the strong or independent. They mock and jeer at those who do not conform — like you do, fundy4life. They reduce interaction from sincere discussion to a parody and nastiness, again, as you do.

          When I frequented talk.origins, a newsgroup devoted to evolutionary topics, I noticed that the Scientists and the students in the sciences used polite, clear language. They explained processes and details at length. The Creationists, on the other hand, would mock, jeer, call names, tell us how religiosandright with God they were, and how the rest of us were going to hell and how wrong we were to accept evolution. But they offered no explanations, gave no grace, and were repulsive examples of believers.

          They exhibited the classic combativeness of cults against the “others.”

          Fundy4Life, you fit right in with those bad examples. Perhaps, if you tried, you could be a better witness, not out for your amusement at the expense of others, but out to share your heart, soothe hurts, heal wounds, following the Great Physician.

          The choice is, of course, up to you. We will know what you choose by how you act.

        6. Rgtmath you stupid idiot. You are proving my point yet again. You took something I said and made a variety of assumptions and formed an entire ideology based off of that. Go back to your basement jack ass.

        9. Actually, you prove my point quite nicely. Thank you for doing it in such a explosively obvious manner.

          How you behave will guide the assumptions people have of you. Even a child is known by his doings, whether they be good and whether they be right.

        10. @ Darrell, thanks. I’m kind of sorry I kept feeding him/her. I do know better.

          Just out of nosy curiosity, is it a URL you’ve seen before, or someone new?

  43. So I’m filling out the application and having some trouble with this question:

    Type Of Discharge:

    Should I go with oily, gelatinous, or oozing?

  45. I’d only been a Christian a few years when I stepped in it at Pillsbury Baptist Bible College. I watched a lot of patting themselves on the back about how “separated from the world” they were. I didn’t have much discernment in those days and tended to trust anyone who poured on the “god talk”. I did have a nagging gut feeling though that told me something wasn’t right, but my nativity over-ruled it because I was deceived. Now to be fair there were a lot of fine people there, but there was a lot of politics, schmoozing and corruption and immoral students. I refuse to name names, and if I did number of you would probably recognize them.
    If you are “TRULY” separated from the “world” you don’t need to keep stating that you are over and over and over and over and over and over……..I need to inhale :-/
    In a post a few months ago I stated that I was yelled at and scolded in my own home by a few PBBC Fundy whack jobs for breaking down and weeping after the funeral of my youngest son because I wasn’t “rejoicing that he was in heaven”. This destroys a person’s heart. This also builds up a hatred that takes a heavy toll that took me YEARS to process. Someone was “skeptical” of my account of Pillsbury and my response was not very kind and for that I apologize.
    We are in enemy territory in this world. The enemy is inside the ” separated from the world” Fundy Bible colleges too. To think otherwise is to be naive.

      1. You are right. I’m an engineer and I tend to see mechanical faults but not so much in spelling. It is an auto-correct. Too bad I didn’t listen to my internal auto-correct gut feeling. I was misguided by my (naïveté). 🙂
        Thank you.

    2. I always compare fundies to the people in Poe’s “The Masque of the Red Death.” They tried to wall themselves off from the plague the way fundies try to separate from the world, little knowing that the infection is WITHIN! It is absolute foolishness for them to focus on avoiding certain clothing styles or entertainment choices while being angry, proud, harsh, impatient, and greedy.

      How DARE those holier-than-thou Job’s comforters criticize your tears? No matter how holy they claim to be, they are not followers of Jesus: Jesus WEPT at the tomb of Lazarus, even though He was going to raise him moments later. The Bible tells us to weep with those who weep, not judge them. They should have followed James’ injunction to be slow to speak in the face of your tragedy.

    3. My take on the “we are in enemy territory in this world” idea.

      I think that is a fundamentalist notion. I prefer to see that this is My Father’s World. I do not need to be afraid.

      There are pockets of danger. But outside of fundamentalism, I do not see the world and the people in it as my enemies. There are bad ideas. There is oppression. They need to be fixed. Wounds need to be healed. But in many of those instances, fundamentalism is a major source of the bad ideas and the oppression.

      People want be be seen as having worth, respect, and dignity. Usually they are willing to return the same unless someone is vilifying a group as being unworthy.

      Fundamentalism is the major enemy. It always has been. It is hard to realize this when you are in the middle of it.

  46. I truly feel sorry for the fine young men and women who attend Commonwealth, BJU, PCC, WCBC, etc. Most of them were raised to believe that they need a “Christian” education to serve God. A high percentage of these kids will graduate, and after that proud moment will try to enter the ministry or secular job market. If they can’t find a ministry position in a church in the shrinking demographic that is the IFB, they must broaden their employment horizons.

    They find that no other Christian churches will accept their unaccredited degree, or the underlying philosophy behind it.

    So they look for secular employment. Many secular employers see this degree and say “What is that school?” “Is is accredited?” The potential employer may not even grant an interview.

    And the graduate begins his or her path down the long road of disillusionment. Many of us have been on that road. Now, some of us can laugh wryly about it. But we still feel sorry for these young people who are spending 4 or more years of their youth, working hard, enduring draconian and demeaning rules enforced by an institution usually established by a narcissist and run by a cadre of sycophants and sociopaths.

    1. And so was the path I trod-ded…uh..went down…walked?

      But don’t feel sorry for me, BJg, I’ve made my way just fine. The narcissistic CEO-types that have littered my path in IFB land are no more. They continue to lord it over those who sincerely believe they are God’s chosen ones. I am no longer one of the lorded over ones.

      B.R.O.

  47. Thank you. I have known pain and abandonment that is so intense that there were times I couldn’t face tomorrow so I broke the time down into minutes and cried out to The Lord for grace for the next moment. I was taught a very valuable lesson by a very wise person on thoughts that hurt. He said that when I had an “incendiary” thought, build a library in your mind of “extinguishing” thoughts. This man to my knowledge was not a believer but what he taught me was very biblical. Phillipians 4:8-9.

    1. Understood. I have, too.

      I have had to let family members go who were full of rejection. It was for my own sanity and mental health.

      Acceptance with that part of the family was always so conditional and temporary! I had a family to build up, and I couldn’t do it if I let myself be torn down.

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