fundamentalism by blunt instrument
Here are two quotes from my 1980 Church History class. The section I am dealing with in recent posts are basically preliminary to a discussion of new evangelicalism vs. fundamentalism. Here are the quotes:
A schismatic spirit is one that insists upon total agreement on non-essentials as well as on the essentials.
and
Fundamentalist creeds do not include denominational distinctives.
Is there any correlation between these two ideas?
My next set of Church History notes is entitled ‘Denominations go bad when these appear’. I have in brackets [or people, or whatever] beside the title.
This list is a series of observations concerning marks of deterioration to the point of virtual death in denominations. As we look back through church history, the landscape is littered with failed churches and movements that often started well. One could say the grand-daddy of them all is the Catholic church. What could have started better? What could have failed so miserably? Likewise, the churches of the reformation have evidenced decline unto death [in their original forms], spawning reform movements of their own. The Anabaptist and independent traditions also have their share of decline and failure… an all too familiar theme. The Church is not so superior to Old Testament Israel, though with much better advantages.
Denominations, then, go bad when these appear…
More notes from my 1980 Church History class with Dr Panosian. This one is a series of steps a nation or a denomination might take in devolving downward. It sounds a lot like the Judges cycle, but it is more complicated than what you usually hear on that one.
The cycle begins with Bondage, which is broken by Spiritual Faith…
The whole list follows below:
In light of my post ‘the vocabulary of compromise’, it was interesting to see one of the words show up on a fundamentalist blog recently.
This is the post, the word shows up in the comments. I will tell you which word it is after the ‘more’ tag … can you pick it up before you look?
Do you know how the date for Resurrection Sunday is calculated? It is the first Sunday after the first full moon after March 20. You can find a more detailed explanation elsewhere on the web, but that sums it up.
As many other churches, we had visitors in our services this Sunday. One was returning for a second time. It was a great blessing to minister the word of God to these folks. We hope that some of them at least will respond in faith to the gospel.
In addition to our own sermon summaries, I have an ‘extra’ offering in this post. At the recent Northwest Regional meeting of the Fundamental Baptist Fellowship, the president of Maranatha Baptist Bible College, Chuck Phelps, was the keynote speaker. He gave us permission to broadcast one of his messages, on music, on our website. The link will appear below.
Now for the sermon summaries:
A parable for my American friends…
The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks he’s a fool, and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed. The shivering grasshopper has no food or shelter, so he dies out in the cold.
The End
The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks he’s a fool, and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed. So far, so good, eh?
Speaking of my education, I have long thought it might be interesting to reproduce some of my notes from Church History class while in seminary. The area of interest is my notes on fundamentalism and the new evangelical compromise. My professor for this class was Dr. Panosian, but my notes should be no reflection on him! Some of them are direct quotations, but I take full responsibility for any errors.
Dr. P was famous for lists. The first lecture notes I’ll blog for you is called ‘The Vocabulary of Compromise/Infidelity’. You’ll no doubt recognize some of these terms. My sub-header says “words that must be clearly defined for our own use”.
Here we go:
I recently had a conversation with a friend of mine. We were in school together. We sat in many of the same Bible classes. We learned ‘the second heavenly language’ [Greek] from the same teachers and know the same mnemonic devices for keeping our linguistic facts straight.
But we don’t remember everything the same way. He says that we were not systematically taught the fundamentalist philosophy in our classes and were less prepared to put our philosophy in practice than we should have been. I am surprised by his assertion, for it was in those same classes I learned my fundamentalist philosophy. I have never been intimidated by the need to justify (even to myself) why I take the positions I do.
On hearing this, I wondered why we who shared so much have such a different perception of our training.
We concluded our annual Northwest FBF fellowship this evening with another fine message by Chuck Phelps, president of Maranatha Baptist Bible College.
Chuck preached / taught us on five occasions through two days here. His ministry to us was a real blessing. But more than that, personal conversation with him was a great encouragement to me for the future of fundamentalism.
Chuck became the president of Maranatha just this last summer. MBBC is one of the key institutions for Baptist fundamentalism. His ministry there will make a real mark (for the good) on future generations of young men coming out of that institution. He almost makes me want to go back to school again!
I am enjoying the fellowship of a group of friends at the Northwest regional Fundamental Baptist Fellowship meeting. Our featured speaker is Dr. Chuck Phelps, president of Maranatha Baptist Bible College. Chuck has been great, we had him going three times today. [He was delayed by the airlines who thought there was a blizzard out here yesterday … there are lots of flakes around, but they all walk on two legs.]
But my thought for you today is from Pastor Tom Nieman, longtime pastor of Galilee Baptist Church in Kent, WA, now retired and serving in pulpit supply and Bible conference ministry. He was rejoicing in the meeting tonight about the joy of fellowship with so many pastors from five states and two provinces. He reminded us of the days when he led his church out of a denominational association because of compromises he couldn’t countenance. Some of his people were reluctant because they would have no one to fellowship with.
Dr. Nieman said, ‘You know, they were right. If we left, there was no one else to fellowship with in those days.’ His joy tonight was in the wide fellowship that God has given as other men followed his lead and still others have moved into the area to pastor or plant and pastor like-minded churches.
Galilee Baptist withdrew from its association with a 94% vote. It cost them friends.
Here is what anyone who is willing to take a separatistic stance must realize. Separation means you will lose friends. It might mean you will have to rebuke friends.
The latest audio from the GBCvic
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