Odds and Ends

Friday Challenge: Recommend a Resource

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Today’s challenge is to recommend a helpful resource to those who are leaving fundamentalism. Read a good book? Listened to an informative lecture series? Surfed a website that challenged your thinking? Don’t just keep it to yourself!

Here are a few that I recommend…

Understanding Fundamentalism and Evangelicalism by George M. Marsden

If you want to understand fundamentalism you have to go back to the beginning and understand its historical and philosophical roots. Marsden does a bang-up job of putting the entire mess into context.

The Reason For God by Tim Keller

When leaving fundamentalism the temptation is often to swing to the extreme and leave Christianity altogether. Here a very non-fundamentalist Tim Keller makes a compelling case for why Christianity still makes sense in spite of people who may abuse it. Also check out Mere Christianity by C.S Lewis for a classic handling of the same topic.

Apologetics and Outreach lectures taught by Jerram Barrs

A fantastic class on faith and evangelism taught by a fantastic teacher. This completely changed the way I look at a Christian’s mission in the world. Load this one on your iPod and listen to it while you work or drive. You will not be sorry you did.

There are many, many more I could recommend but I’ll let you all have at it…

Public Life

Unwritten Rules

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Although fundamentalist preachers in the same camp will inevitably sound the same, look the same, and have the same basic approach to ruling their congregation, they do tend to come up with their own list of things-that-are-sinful-because-they-annoy-me to be followed by their church members. Although this list of unwritten rules will be well known to the local congregation it stands ready to ensnare any unwary visitor from another sect of fundamentalism.

If you happen to be in a position [ed. as I was for years] to travel about the country and visit numerous fundamentalist churches, you’ll as often as not unwittingly run afoul of these unwritten rules. The result can be anything from shocked silence to an obligatory two hour lecture from your hosts on why exactly that thing you innocently did or said was so completely unacceptable.

It may be something as simple as using the word “date” in a courtship-only church or mentioning that you play the guitar in a piano-only gathering. Maybe you let slip that you once read a book containing “magic” or perhaps you foolishly visited the local K-Mart which is managed by the same guy who owns the local liquor store and has therefore been therefore labeled by the pastor as a a den of iniquity and unsavory coupon policies. Upon these confessions, awkward silences abound.

When faced with conversations with fundamentalists who are not of their own group, even hardcore fundamentalists know that it’s best to just avoid doing or saying pretty much anything. If asked a direct question, preface every answer with “You know, that’s just one more thing I love about your pastor…”

Standards

Commandments on Men’s Jewelry

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And in the wearing of Jewelry, men shalt observe the  commandment which were given aforetime by thy fathers and shalt keep them with all due diligence, deference, and decorum.

And if thou art a male of the species thy jewelry shall be of these…

A wedding ring may adorn thy hand or perhaps a purity ring given thee by thy mother in a strange and terrible ceremony. A class ring from thy local fundamentalist university may also be displayed up to and including the ring that thou made for thyself after completing the requirements for a home college degree.

A watch may band thy wrist so that thou mayest take it off when preaching before the face of the congregation that they may know that thou are pretending to care if thy sermon ends sometime before kickoff.

A tie clip of gold or silver shall be permitted to restrain thy neckware from falling into Mrs. Allen’s famous green been casserole at the dinner on the grounds. Likewise a tie tack or lapel pin may be worn with the bearer receiving extra points if it is patriotic in nature.

But of the chain and the bracelet and the earring and the piercing thou shalt not wear for they are an abomination before our sight and do not fulfill our expectations for what good Christian men should look like. For in the day that thou piercest thy flesh or puttest on chains of gold thou hast brought confusion upon the genders and hast caused people to wonder whether thou art a man or a woman or (depending on the ear) possibly gay.

For in the book of Holy Scripture no man wore such jewelry except for all those men in the Old Testament who obviously wore quite a bit of it since they had it lying around to give to build the temple and whatnot.

Independent Baptist Book of Everlasting Rules and Requirements, page 190

Standards

Arguments Against Alcohol

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Promoted from the comments section on the About page because it’s just too good to let languish there

“Mike” says:

We are naturally sinful beings. It DOES mean that we will tend towards the sinful side of anything. Men love darkness rather than light. ALL of our righteousness is as filthy rags! We may say,”I’ll have a drink or two, but I’ll never get drunk.” But the Bible says, if any man thinks that he stands, take heed! lest he fall. And the Bible says that alcohol is not a sutable past time for even kings. And God Almighty is THE King, and we are His children in Christ, therefore we are literally royalty. We are heirs! Alcohol is not appropriate for us. The Bible says that he that drinks alcohol is not wise, that he is a fool. The same word found here for fool is the same word found when it says, “The FOOL hath said in his heart, there is no God.” If the Scriptures relate a foolish person who consumes alcohol as the equivalent of the fool who denies God and will perish in Hell for eternity, then God obviously is not fond of alcohol.

That’s beautiful. Anything I could add would be superfluous.

A silly blog dedicated to Independent Fundamental Baptists, their standards, their beliefs, and their craziness.