I personally heard this illustration from evangelist Ron Comfort…
Once upon a time, an atheist scientist discovered that there was ‘lost time’ in the cosmic record. Through some unspecified process he learns that several hours have just gone missing. His Christian friend told him he would discover the reason for the lost time in the Bible. After reading the stories of Joshua and Hezekiah the atheist realizes that the Bible is true. He falls to his knees and is gloriously saved.
Well…you guessed it. It’s just not so.
Regardless of the amount of time involved, the discovery of a “missing” period of time remains implausible. If the sun had indeed stood still for a day a few millennia ago, we would have no way of determining that fact through astronomic observations today. We have no frame of reference, no “cosmic calendar” or “master clock” to check against to see if we’re overdrawn at the Bank of Time. The concept described here would be like giving someone a non-functioning clock and asking him to determine how much time had elapsed since the clock had stopped running. One could note the positions of the hands on the dial and make a reasonable guess about what the time of day was when the clock stopped running, but without knowing whether that time was A.M. or P.M., and without knowing the calendar date on which stoppage occurred, one could not possibly make any reasonable estimate about how long ago the clock stopped.
“Worldly people know what Christians should act like better than Christians do. They know when you’re not living like a Christian!”
This is an oft-repeated bit of fundamentalist lore and like most fundy lore it contains a smidgen of truth…but only a smidgen. Surely most unsaved people would say that Christians shouldn’t shoot people in cold blood or steal from their employer but that’s not generally the point that the fundy is trying to make.
Indeed, many fundamentalists seem to think that deep down most unsaved people really think that women should only wear skirts, that the movie house is a wicked place, and that the J.C. Penny catalog is just as bad as pornography. Yet even though the unsaved know all these things are evil they just purposely ignore their own better judgment and do them anyway. It’s just like the days of Noah minus the fountain of youth water vapor.
Since the unsaved person has all these fundamentalist values emblazoned on their conscience, a Christian who breaks any of the legion of fundy rules might drive them away from Christ. After all the lost person KNOWS what the Christian should be doing and they’ll think they’re just a hypocrite and never listen to the gospel ever again! And all this because in a moment of weakness a Christian wanted to see the latest Disney film in surround sound.
The great thing about the Internet is that it brings a great diverse group of people together to collaborate, talk, and share information. Unless, of course, you’re a fundamentalist. They don’t generally like having to interact with diversity preferring rather to create their own enclaves of Christianity.
With the growing popularity of social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace, it was only a matter of time until an enterprising fundy decided to provide a much cleaner, more wholesome alternative — and try to make a little cash in the process. By this shall all men know that ye are His disciples, that ye form your own exclusive clubs and keep the sinners at bay.
Newly on the scene to stand in this internet gap is Edify One Another an IFB social networking site which states “As Independent Baptists, God has burdened us to create a place online that was separated from the world, but utilize the cutting edge technological advances to promote spiritual growth thru the fellowship of the saints online.” Finally an answer to the question “What Would Hyles Download?”
The best part? You can access to all of this for only $9.97 per month!
Online separation: only the holy may click here.
A silly blog dedicated to Independent Fundamental Baptists, their standards, their beliefs, and their craziness.
I personally heard this illustration from evangelist Ron Comfort…
“Worldly people know what Christians should act like better than Christians do. They know when you’re not living like a Christian!”
The great thing about the Internet is that it brings a great diverse group of people together to collaborate, talk, and share information. Unless, of course, you’re a fundamentalist. They don’t generally like having to interact with diversity preferring rather to create their own enclaves of Christianity.