Holidays

Fundy Thanksgiving: Day 5

89 Comments

It has been six years, people! Six years of parodying, documenting, pondering, conversing, and generally having a blast.

Is there anything left to talk about? I guess we’ll find out…

Shameless Plug: If you’re doing any Black Friday shopping on Amazon.com today, do feel free to Click This Link to support SFL. Thanks!

89 thoughts on “Fundy Thanksgiving: Day 5”

        1. Ouch.

          Maybe Natalie should make burr cushions for the MOG of the week. I suggest that the first burr cushion be for John Wilkerson, because he graduated from HAC, which is at 8400 Burr Street, Crown Point, Indiana. Second and third should be for Schaap and Rasmussen.

      2. Thanks. Sorry that it’s a late thank you but this week has been rough for me. Actually, November through mid-February are rough for me. I was never a fundy but it’s mental issues/judgementslism seem to pop up in some Catholic corners and I’ve been dealing with a “friend” (who may soon become an ex-friend with the way things are going) who certainly sounds fundy and has many of the same prejudices even though she’s Catholic.

  3. I am SOOOOO thankful that I am first today and that I can lord it over people with my fifth or sixth embroidered butt cushion.

      1. It’s a traditional church.
        The medieval churches in Europe were built without any seats for the congregation, and some of them still don’t have any.

    4. Yes. As a child, I was fascinated by the little old ladies’ seat cushions that they put on the wooden pews of the fundy churches I attended. I felt that they should be immortalized on SFL, but I couldn’t very well just call them seat cushions. 😉

      I would have called them a** cushions, but I AM a lady.

      (shut up)

  4. Happy birthday, SFL! Keeping me sane from deep within hostile territory for 4 years and counting. Everyone on here is so greatly appreciated, as is the amazingly talented Darrell. Thanks, all!

  5. Happy birthday SFL! Even as one who hasn’t suffered directly at the hands of an MOG or fundy family, I’ve found this site enjoyable and good place to process some of the insanity of modern Pharisees. I hope that it’s proven to be therapeutic for all who have participated.

  7. Thanks for helping me analyze, and laugh about (although not always) my few years of insanity in Fundystan. I am thankful that it was only few years, especially given many of the comments I read on this site. I occasionally hear from friends who still live there, and I feel so bad for them. Of course, for many of them I am a “hopeless case” of “liberalism.”

  8. I didn’t find SFL until after I was out of the HAC church, but it was a comfort to know that others had been through similar circumstances.

    However, the pastor thought I was posting on some blog or forum about “his” church, and so preached at me on Sunday, not naming me, of course. The funny thing is that I didn’t know he was preaching at me! Later, I found out that he was spreading the word to others that I had done this, and was bitter, unhappy, ungrateful, unspiritual, which rather explained why people begain avoiding me even more. No one ever asked me; they just passed around gossip.

    1. Why find out the truth about you if they don’t even search the Bible to see if what is being spouted as Bible lines up with it?

    2. So sad. I had major surgery one year, and missed six months at my former Fundy church. Word had gotten around that I was “backslidden”, not “bedridden.” Other than one visit from a couple of the deacons, no one had been in to check on me in all that time.

      That was when I decided I was done.

      1. The evangelical congregations that I have been involved with since I left that church have, for the most part, been very caring and kind. I have a physical disability that catches up with me every few years and means more surgery. The last time, my church took such good care of me that I was quite overwhelmed. I have also been very busy since then “paying it forward.”

      2. I think this phenomenon is of more recent generations. The Fundy churches I attended as a child were in those days run by folks from the WWI and WWI generations—-totally different people from the baby boomers and beyond. If anyone was sick or otherwise in trouble, members descended on them with visits, food and fellowship, even to nonmembers, neighbors, etc. Part of what we see in the deteriorated fundy camp today is a product of inevitable influence by the culture at large, to which even the fundies are not immune. Selfishness and insecurity are in charge nowadays.

    3. I have heard fundies quote the scripture about truth setting you free but their freedom sure looks fear-filled. The pastor was afraid you were undermining his authority and power, preaches against you and rings the alarms. Everyone is afraid of what they have heard about you so they stop talking to you. For all the truth they supposedly hold onto, fundies are far from free–they are so full of fear.

      1. I have personally discovered that Truth can do (at least) 3 things:-
        1. It can set you free. (John 8:32)
        2. It can be used as a club to beat a person into submission.
        3. It can be told about someone or something in order to cause hurt or pain.
        I have experience plenty of 2 and 3 through the years. It is only relatively recently that I have truly started to experience 1.

  9. Like a covert CIA funded (minus the unlimited black budget funding) pamphlet drop behind enemy lines to win the hearts and minds, SFL has helped the proles discover the reality outside the wire for a respectable 6 years. As the number of those who have been freed from the oppression of ignorance grows it also provides a place to seek healing and and understanding that one is not alone.

    Snark, sarcasm, ironic literary point of view, and clever wit. Maybe Darrell doesn’t know what made him start this little experiment, but for those who need it, its much more than just a humorous blog (while remaining largely just a humorous blog) and that’s something.

  10. Happy bday, SFL! And many more…

    Do IFB preachers specifically preach against SFL? Or, are they afraid to mention it publicly lest members get curious and check it out?

    1. When I’ve heard it referenced it’s usually just generic “websites full of liars who will badmouth this great ministry…”

      1. Or “blogs by people who haven’t done anything for God and mock those who are doing something.”

    2. I think your hunch is correct, Neato.
      The guilty preachers don’t want to tell parishioners where to go for the unvarnished skinny on them and their confederates, so they make more veiled references.

      For an example, look at this recent posting, where Blowhard-of-God Chappell says “Call it legalism, call it control, I don’t care what you call it …”
      http://www.stufffundieslike.com/2014/11/dirty-dishrags/#comments
      There are other places Chappell could have picked up those terms for his approach, but Stuff Fundies Like is a prime candidate. But I will be very, very surprised if he ever admits to reading SFL.

      1. Interesting how only the church’s links come up when you do a google search under Paul Chappell’s name. That Dirty Dishrag post got a lot of attention from other blogs and even some news sites, but someone would have to scan through multiple pages of church sponsored listings to find any of it. IIRC SFL shows up on page 3.

        Lancaster Baptist’s IT dept. works pretty hard to keep his bad reputation out of the public’s view.

        BTW, if you search using the terms Pastor Dishrag 2 or 3 pages to links come up.

        1. I know of a guy who has waged (and continues to do so) such a hard internet campaign against his old Fundystan compound that his links come up when you search said compound.

        2. Can’t some pay Google to have their links always come up first? I am pretty sure this is how they are able to do it.

        3. I don’t use Google for a search engine. All of Google annoys me. Not only that, if Google were human it’d be a lieutenant. (You can’t spell “lost” without “LT”.) In other words, the nav system that was pre-installed on my phone gets lost easily.

  11. Happy 6th SFL, and thanks for helping to open my eyes. I hope you have another six+ great years Darrell.

  12. Thankful the inlaw’s don’t know I’m on SFL during our fundamentally family Thanksgiving feast fest….

  13. I have been out of fundamentalism for many years yet I still find that in some ways it still affects me. Thanks Darrell and SFL for providing ways to deal with that. The thoughtful people who comment here are a real blessing.

  14. Happy 6th birthday, SFL! I wouldn’t be the devious, backslidden floozy I am today without you. 😉

    And congratulations, Darrell. 6 years is an eternity in the blogging world! As long as there are Fundies, I’m sure you’ll have plenty of material.

  15. I remember when I was six. No one seemed to care as much since I was just finishing up my first grade year.

    What a shame.

    B.R.O.

  16. I love Homecoming at SFL. I brought the deviled eggs and strawberry cake, of course.

    Four years on here for me. I’ve been able to understand my past and be put in a healthier place thanks, in part, to SFL.

    It’s a place for rejects like me that the fundy world doesn’t want, but God does.

  17. Happy Birthday SFL! And may you have many more. This blog has been so helpful to many, including me. God bless us every one! (Tiny Tim, redivivus).

  18. Happy birthday, SFL, and congratulations to Darrell for making this one of the best places on the Internet for six years. May Darrell’s sanity survive the rigors of immersion in Fundydom, so that there can be many more. Thanks, Darrell, and everyone who hangs out here.

  20. What they said. Thanks for all the great years Darrell. This blog is my favorite place on the web.
    Mark

  21. Happy Birthday SFL! A fellow refugee from Fundystan told me about this site back in 2010. I have been reading it ever since. For me it was wonderful to find people with a similar background as me who had come to similar conclusions about Fundystan. It is good to know I am not the only one!

  22. I was looking for dirt on PCC/Beka a few years ago and SFL was one of the top links — actually, more than one SFL link appeared on that search. I spent hours going back through all the posts and the comments on each. People might accuse me now of spending too much time here, but I look at it as fellowship.

  23. Burpy Hathday to Stuff Fundies Like! May you have many more years of helping people like medeal with the insanity that is often so wrongly labeled “Christianity” and finding something of the True Message of the Gospel and God Incredible Love for all of us, even me. I joined this band of bandits in 2010 after Googling “Christian Appearance” and I immediately could related to much of what was being said. I’m not IFB or even officially a Fundimentalcase but I did grow up in the Protestant Evangelical subculture of Northern Ireland and the similarities are startling. This site has helped me unpick a lot of the tangled thread of Gospel and Cultural Religion and I love the humor.

  24. 6 years. Wow time flies when you’re having fun.

    I remember finding SFL when the the Lord struck me down and broke my leg for leaving the IFB cult… you know like how the shepherd breaks the rebellious sheep’s leg in order to bring him back into the fold.

    I’m glad that I found SFL during that time as it gave me an outlet for all the betrayal, frustration, anger, disappointment and stupidity I felt after leaving the IFB Cult.

    Thank you Darrell for all the therapy. I know that there for a time I was a constant commentator on here. (probably too much at times) I have made some great friends here and I have learned so much about how to be a true Christian from the experience.

    To my SFL friends and family, thank you! Thank you all for your friendship. love and patience over the years. I don’t post so much these days but I do drop in from time to time to see what’s going on. I pray that there will be many others who, like me, find SFL and it helps them in their journey out of the IFB cult. Here’s to many, many more years of fruitful ministry. 😉

    1. Dear Don:

      I would like to echo your words regarding the therapeutic role SFL plays in the lives of readers. But whereas you describe that role in terms of healing [which is certainly true], the image that came to mind was the exorcizing of IFB demons that possesses those unfortunate people in their grasp.

      Blessings this Advent as we begin a new, church year!

      And thank you, Darrell, for your work here. I suspect that you do more good than you know. God bless you.

      Christian Socialist

  27. Thank you for validating me in my pain, and helping me to find joy. SFL was a lifesaver when I needed it.

  29. Speaking of congregants knowing about SFL…

    I was once visiting a Fundy church, because the guest speaker was a friend of my wife. Succumbing to the devil in me, I secretly placed the web address “stufffundieslike.com” at several place in the church foyer, including on the bulletin board. I wonder if they knew it was me… 😉

        1. Congratulations Lady Semp. You didn’t put the preposition at the end of the sentence thereof.

  30. I would like to add my congratulations on the 6th anniversary of SFL. I looked up the first post I ever saw, which was December 1, 2009.
    Thanks, Darrell, for keeping this ride moving along. I’d like to thank all my favorite posters, but I’m afraid I might forget some or upset others. I will thank Les DuLunch, though. He sent me an email with the link to the “Thrones” post, my first. Since then I became a lurker, then became an occasional poster.
    While I appreciate all of you, I have found the therapy here with others who have survived ultra legalistic IFB pasts to be helpful in a way I cannot explain in a short statement, and a long one would digress into something best left unsaid. (I’d hate to diagram that wordy sentence)

    1. Offer it up to Beka Horton and her minions as a possible example for their grammar textbooks.

      1. My Fundy High used Abeka grammar. For some reason, that came to mind as I finished editing the post.

        2. Hmmmmmm….. a flashback to the seventies. Isn’t it supposed to be a bad sign when you remember the past, but not necessarily yesterday?

  31. I have been following SFL for about 2 years now but never posted. Darrell asked “Is there anything to talk about?”. Personally I think it depends: Anything new or anything at all? No, there won’t be anything new because fundies don’t change. However, as history repeats itself there will continue to be more fundy pastors going off the deep end, more scandals of pastors with children or young ladies, and of course more idiocy.

  32. I’ve been here for all 6 years, and have viewed every post. Though it took me years before I made my first comment, and now still only rarely comment, I have enjoyed making SFL a regular daily stop. In fact, it seems odd to think that it’s probably one of the only things that has remained the same in my life over that period of time.

    I came by SFL indirectly while searching “reformed fundamentalism”. I still have a pinky toe or two in the Fundy pool, but I’ve come a long way, by the grace of God, and look forward to the next 6 years!

  34. Happy Birthday, SFL!

    So, SFL is 6. My question is, will he/she be attending the evil, godless public school? Hmmmmmm?

  35. Happy birthday to SFL from the cockpit.

    I can claim 4.5 years of dedicated service to the SFL ministry.

    1. Scorpio:
      Do you know if anyone here other than Darrell has been commenting longer than you?
      Mark

  36. Sorry for sounding snarky, I truly didn’t mean to, but are you people closeted non-fundies? Or that’s just a joking picture?

    You actually are hiding your beliefs from your congregations?

  37. I have been reading/aware of sfl for at least 3 or 4 years, but I became a regular reader after some guy tried to rebuke Darrell with a blog called, “Stuffed Undies Like.”
    I tried to be a HAC-type IFB when I was a teenager (over twenty years ago), but I just couldn’t get excited about leading someone in a repeat-after-me spiel.
    As a young man, I also participated (unwillingly) in a competition for inviting folks to church and such. The other two “captains” and their teams used unscrupulous methods in an attempt to win, but I ended up winning on the last Sunday when 27 adult visitors showed up who had been invited by my team. I had been made fun of from the pulpit for the preceding six weeks or so about my laziness (because I was always behind the other two guys points-wise). When I actually won, the other two teams (two-thirds of the church) accused me of cheating, treated me scornfully, etc….
    I HATED that and all other campaigns to which I was subjected while under these types of ministry. I decided way back then not to be a part of that kind of church ever again, never to be that kind of pastor, and to speak out against that sort of behavior regularly.
    SFL has been a breath of fresh air, pointing out the egregious behavior to which this type of church inevitably leads.
    Keep calling them/us out, Darrell. Though I have repudiated the worst elements of the IFB, you help me to see bits and pieces of that mindset that still remain so I can try to excise them.
    Happy Birthday, SFL!

    P.S. Thanks to all the commentors, too, especially the poes. Your comments cause me to laugh, groan, and go, “Ouch!” when they hit too close to home. Without y’all, SFL wouldn’t be what it is!

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