24 thoughts on “Announcing: A Week of Fundy Love”

  2. Here are a few of the good things that I gleaned from fundyland. All of them they took too far and made them benchmarks for spirituality, but nevertheless good things.

    – An appreciation for classical music
    – Modesty in dress
    – a good work ethic
    – passion in ministry
    – respect for authority
    – love of country
    – Bible memorization

  4. hum, .. ah, .. hum. The primary things I can think of are the many friends who have left fundyland before and after I did and my wife, who I met in a fundy church.

  5. I had a hard time thinking up something good that I got out of fundamentalism, but I finally came up with one:

    My first piano gigs were playing at my dad’s IFB church on Sunday evenings (fewer people on Sunday nights; less of chance of embarrassing myself). I learned more about playing by ear and improvising through playing hymns than I have learned anywhere else.

    And I’d also like to thank Sword of the Lord and Revival Fires publications for hours of entertaining reading and for never ceasing to amaze me with the outrageous and outlandish stuff they loved to print.

  6. Before I became a fundy I didn’t take my faith all that seriously. I just wanted to play Myst 🙂 However, when I became a fundy, I began to take the Bible more seriously, even memorizing it so that I might be ready with an answer to any of my non-Christian friends who may ask me about my faith (1 Peter 3:15). At this point in my life I disagree with practically everything that fundamentalism says, but I still take my faith very seriously. Once you slay the dragon, you take its treasure, and a deeper faith was the treasure that I took.

  7. Here’s a few:

    -Staying sober
    -Quit smoking
    -Listening to music that didn’t have wild guitar leads & weird lyrics
    -Being able to tell men & women apart just based on hair length
    -No tattoos
    -Being around people who didn’t use “f” in every sentence
    -Good friends that prayed for you & helped out in time of need
    -Learning to say “A-MEN” instead of “AH-MEN”

    Of course these are some of my fundy blessings. Your mileage may vary.

  8. A desire to spread the Gospel to the uttermost parts of the earth. If they could do that without trying to spread the Fundamentalist culture, it would be even better.

  9. Spiritually, they’ve watered down the gospel to 1.2.3 pray with me. Since they have the gospel wrong then nothing spritually good can come from them. They are modern day pharisees in my book.
    Morally, they may look good on the outside (like the pharisees), but they are just as if not more immoral then the world. So they get no points there.
    Hmm, what good comes from fundyland??? All I can come up with is that my husband and I meet at at fundy college. We’ve been married for 20 yrs. now. We have 4 great kids.
    Oh, I got another good thing about them….after 30+ yrs in there camp I’ve learned what a believer in Christ is NOT! It isn’t about rules and regulations it is about a relationship with Christ, not being a “member in good standing” at the local, New Testamend, KJVO, Independant Baptist church. It about the transforming work of the Holy Spirit not about the box the pastor tells me to live in. I’ve also learned that am not going to get hit on the head with a billy club every time I mess up or if my car breaks down it’s not because God is made at me. I will have storms and trials in life. During those times I have learned to depend on Christ not on me and my precieved ability to make things right. I’ve learned to align my will with Christs, not the other way around.
    I look back at who I use to be and thank God I am being transformed into His image not mans. I am humbled beyond words that He would bother with such a sinner as I. So, fundyland has taught me one thing…who I should NOT be!

  11. Lol Morgan. That should get its own write up.

    Although sometimes taken out of context, these were good things that I learned.

    1. God is holy, and he wants me to grow to be like him.
    2. There are heroes of the faith who have gone before and provided a great example.
    3. Applying the Bible to daily life is important.
    4. The Bible is inspired by God.
    5. I need to find a church where the Bible is taught, the Lord is worshipped, and people are real Christians (unfortunately, no fundy churches lived up to these standards)

  12. Hmmm. . I never would have learned the “Wiggle Worm” song from Patch the Pirate. Does that count?!?

  13. if there were no fundies, there would be no “stuff fundies like”, and i REALLY enjoy this website.

    also, i like peppering my speech with kjisms (peradventure, must needs, &c.). had i not been fundy, i might have never learned alot of really cool words that exist only in the kjv.

    that’s all i’ve got

  14. I’ve got a list of good things the IFB planted in my life.

    -Dedication to family and ministry
    -Passion for outreach
    -The authority of Scripture
    -Desire for holiness
    -Appreciation for those who are different…

    lol, I was joking about that last one

  15. – I don’t have to worry about stumbling over the words in Shakespeare. Heck, I even consider the NASB and authors like John Owen “easy reading,” and I’ve gotten some really strange looks for saying so!

    – God used my fundy parents to bring me to faith in Christ.

    – My parents and one of my sibs are fundy and I love them (I think I’ve “corrupted” my brother)

    – I was taught a very high view of Scripture, and to use the Bible as the basis for my belief and practice. Of course, that was that very thing that led me *out* of fundamentalism, so I don’t think it had the effect they intended.

  16. I don’t have to worry about stumbling over the words in Shakespeare.

    I think I’ve mentioned this elsewhere, but my facility with Elizabethan English helped me learn German. It may not be exclusively due to my fundy upbringing, but it’s certainly something for which I’m thankful.

  17. “I think I’ve mentioned this elsewhere, but my facility with Elizabethan English helped me learn German. It may not be exclusively due to my fundy upbringing, but it’s certainly something for which I’m thankful.”

    English as we know it today has lost a lot of its Germanic characteristics. Elizabethean English had more of them than we do today (overall sentence structure and greater remnants of the case system English used to have), so that’s not terribly surprising. I had a professor once who said that his German classmates had a much easier time learning Anglo-Saxon (the real Old English) than his English-speaking ones.

  18. I had a professor once who said that his German classmates had a much easier time learning Anglo-Saxon (the real Old English) than his English-speaking ones.

    Yeah, I’ve gone about learning languages in a really roundabout way. I read from the KJV as a kid, which helped with learning German, which helped with learning Anglo-Saxon. Modern–Early Modern–German–Old.

  19. I learned that doctrine mattered. I came from a non-denominational background so we didnt really put any heavy emphasis on doctrine. Of course, I later discovered that I didnt agree with fundy doctrine, but it was there that I learned that when the bible says something, it means ONE thing.. not several things to several different people, or “whatever you get out of it.”

    Also, the baptists just have the whole “church family” thing down well. We’re going to a Lutheran church right now, and while we do a lot IN the church, outside of the church, we dont see them because they are living their lives. In fundyland, your church family are your friends outside of the church. They are your best friends. I really, really miss that..:(

  21. Here’s Mine:-

    Fundamentalists taught me that reformed theology must be true. Anyone who can recommend a Dave Hunt book cant possibly be reading the bible accurately.

    Fundamentalists taught me the consequences of ignoring the clear meaning of the biblical text :- by teaching that alcohol consumption and smoking defiles ones “holy temple”.

    Fundamentalists taught me what it meant to utterly ignorant – by teaching me to live as self-righteous, judgemental hypocrit who has no time for the thoughts and ideas of others outside the camp.

    Fundamentalists taught me the charismatic view of inspiration. I kept wondering about the will of God, until I left fundamentalism and actually found it in the bible. Fancy that!?

    Fundamentalism taught me what it means to have true freedom in Christ. “Giving God your Best”, is no substitute for the person and work of Christ.

    Fundamentalistm taught me NOT to marry a fundamentalist. Im now divorced. 🙂

  22. There are plenty of good things I learned during my evangelical/fundie upbringing:
    – The King James Version which, though I no longer use it in worship, I will forever love;
    – That memorized Scripture is a priceless asset in life;
    – Some truly great hymns by Wesley, Watts, etc. (amidst some truly awful hymns by other people);
    – That Jesus Christ is Lord and should be preeminent in all of life;
    – That I truly am a sinner in need of God’s grace;
    – That the Scriptural witness is to be taken seriously, and is a worthy corrective to tempting theological flights of fancy;
    – That the church, at its best, is a community of deeply caring people;
    – That fundie church supper food, even if carb-laden, can be really, really good. 😀

  23. I’m late to this party, but here’s my list:

    1. Music. I haven’t been around people who can sing four- and six-part harmony like we learned to do in my home church.

    2. Bible. AWANA and Sunday School and Christian day school was automatic, and so we memorized lots of Bible verses. I am shocked when I meet long-time Christians who are just discovering certain verses that I learned at Age 4.

    3. Friends. As has already been mentioned, the church family is your family in a way that I have only found in IFB and SBC churches. Not in a cultic sense, necessarily. It was a positive experience for me.

    4. Strength. My parents taught me to think for myself, and to study the Bible diligently to see whether these things are so. That exercise of my faith, coupled with the abusive words and actions of IFB University and pastors, forced me to confront the possibility that my conflicts with these people were the result of THEIR bad doctrine, and that I would have to step out on my own in search of a new spiritual home.

    1. Great points about music and Bible! I know I’m not stressing Bible memory with my kids the way it was with me, and I don’t necessarily think that’s a good thing.

      I know what you mean about friends, but that is a bittersweet one for me because they dumped us when we left the IFB so their friendship seems hollow now – friends only as long as I agreed with them. But while I did, yes, we were very close.

      And I agree on number four too. Our church taught the individual priesthood of the believer, and my parents taught me to study the Bible for myself. Ironically, they weren’t happy with the conclusions to which my husband and I came! They can’t seem to reconcile the Biblical teaching on soul liberty with their need for control and strict standards, but they did teach me the basics that in the end made me question the status quo of the IFB.

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