And you can get 3 of these beauties for only $21.99!
Fundamentalists are huge fans of original sin and never hesitate to point out that everyone from newborns to octogenarians are prone to spiritual corruption and gross wickedness. Even a child (of unspecified age and ability) is known by his doings.
One might be inclined to wonder how it is that an infant who possesses neither speech or nor rational thought could be guilty of willful sin but apparently the little critters are just rife with it. You see, sometimes they cry when there’s (and here’s the important bit) nothing wrong. Indeed this is deception of the most base kind involving fooling another human being into paying them attention when they simply don’t deserve it. That such evil should exist in the heart of a baby is breathtaking.
Indeed, the go-to illustration for most fundy pastors when addressing the topic of the heart’s corruption generally involves some infraction of their baby or toddler. Now godless, secular, atheist psychologists might have some theory or another on things like developmental stages and cognitive ability but fundamentalists have never been much bothered by psychology…or anything else. No, the simple reality is that your little smiling cherub is a willful and premeditated liar and the truth is not him.
Heed this warning well and watch for the telltale signs of corruption.
The text reads as follows:
The messengers of the General Association of Regular Baptist Churches, meeting together in regular conference June 27—July 1, 2011, in Denver, Colo.,
Believing that the Bible stresses the sanctity of human life (Gen. 1:27) and the marriage bed, and that it condemns all forms of sexual promiscuity (Heb. 13:4),
Affirming that the Bible also stresses the protection of and care for children, as evidenced by (1) commands to not provoke children to wrath, but to bring children up in the training and admonition of the Lord (Eph. 6:1–4); (2) exhortations to love children (Titus 2:4); (3) the Old and New Testament regard for orphans (Deut. 24:17–21; 26:12, 13; James 1:27); (4) the condemnation of the ancient pagan practice of child sacrifice (Lev. 20:1–7; Ezek. 16:20, 21); (5) the teaching of Scripture that children are considered a heritage from the Lord and a reward (Ps. 127:3); (6) and the model of Jesus, Who welcomed and valued little children (Matt. 18:1–5; 19:14),
Respecting the laws of the land and governmental authorities, for government can act as God’s servant for good and can bring wrath upon the wrongdoer (Rom. 13:1–4),
Distressed by a seeming rise in physical and sexual crimes against children, reaching alarming levels in our nation, and disturbed that this abuse has occurred too often in churches and homes and at the hands of family, educators, ordained ministers, and ministry workers, we
Call upon the churches of the GARBC, pastors, and people to submit to God’s standards and to practice ministry with complete integrity; to encourage religious bodies to rid their ranks of predatory ministers; to encourage civil authorities to punish to the fullest extent of the law sexual abuse among clergy; to discipline those guilty of any sexual abuse and to cooperate with civil authorities in the prosecution of those cases; and to offer support, compassion, and Biblical counseling to victims and their families,
Express a deep level of moral outrage and concern at any instance of child victimization, deploring the cover-up, ignoring, or passive condoning of abuse by any individual, church, or religious body, and urge them to change the course of their actions,
Recommend that churches have in place an effective abuse prevention policy and respond to any suspicions or allegations of child abuse in a timely and forthright manner, never retaliating against the victim,
Appeal to churches and agencies to exercise moral stewardship in their employment practices, exercising due diligence to check the backgrounds of ministers, employees, and volunteers,
Pray for righteousness to prevail in our churches and ministries, for the repentance of the victimizer, for the healing of victims of sexual abuse plagued by possible emotional, physical, or spiritual wounds, and for the church of Jesus Christ, that it would be found “blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world” (Phil. 2:15).
Thanks to chucklestravels for bringing this to our attention
Let’s play a numbers game…
The world’s population is headed rapidly toward 7 billion people. Of that number, perhaps 1.8 billion people speak some form of English either as a first or second language. America itself contains a mere 300 million residents. And of those 300 million only 2.5% (or about 7.5 million people) are Independent Baptists “in the evangelical tradition.” Not even all of those are fundamentalists as we understand them, but for the sake of argument lets assume they are.
If we take a step back, that means that of the entire population of the planet, fundamentalists make up 0.10% — the bulk of which are sitting at home in America stealing members from each others churches. And yet, somehow in every missions conference I’ve ever seen I’ve been told that Baptist fundamentalists missionaries are somehow the only hope that the world has to hear the gospel. My calculator tells me that if that’s the case then the majority of the world literally hasn’t got a prayer.
We can all be glad the congregation of the saints is a wee bit bigger than fundamentalism.