Within fundamentalism, as in other areas of Christianity no doubt, there is quite a bit of confusion over fighting sin. The thinking goes like this: if we erect a big enough fence, or hedge people in with enough rules, we will prevent them from falling into sin. Sadly, this tactic most often fails, to one degree or another.
The Former Fundys Blog recently posted some thoughts in this regard. In a post entitled What’s Wrong with Fundamentalist Pastors?, the problem of pastors running headlong into adultery is brought up. I thought the main point of the post, however, applied to more than just the fall of big name pastors. Here is an excerpt from that post that may be a help to some of my readers.
Fundamentalism has claimed to have the answers to stopping sin, by their superior standards that will keep one from sinning. Don’t go to the theater, and you won’t struggle with impure thoughts or with using foul language. Women have to dress a certain way, in order to protect men from lusting after them. Men and women can’t touch unless they are married(to one another), so they won’t fall into sexual sin. If one is a faithful soulwinner who reads/studies the Bible on a regular basis, they won’t fall into sin. I have heard “remedy” after “remedy” for stopping the presence of sin in one’s life, for keeping one away from sin by placing barriers in place to protect one from sin.
But these remedies do little to protect the very pastors who put these rules in place from sinning….
Fundamentalism misses the essence of what the Christian life is about. One is not moral because they follow rules. One is not moral because they go to church every Sunday. One is not a good Christian because they follow those rules. One is not a Christian because they follow those rules. Rule-keeping does not make a good Christian. And it does not make a good person. It is pure moralism, instead of Gospel.
The answer is in teaching the Gospel, instead of rule-keeping. Too many Fundamentalists fail to teach repentance from sins as part of the salvation process, thus watering down the Gospel to something that is more palatable to sinners. They make their Christianity easy for those who love their sin, but want fire insurance. The answer is also in desiring Christ, and desiring to live for the glory of God. So much of Fundamentalism is about keeping rules, and following a list of do’s and don’ts. But that’s not what the Christian life is about. Sure there are things that a Christian can’t do, like have sex outside the confines of marriage, or get drunk or high, or lie to others. And sure there are things that Christians need to do, like read the Bible, pray, go to church. But that is not the essence of the Christian life. Following Christ is more than not doing or doing those things. I would strongly recommend that Fundamentalists look to books written by non-Fundy authors that deal with things like sin, or living for God, because Fundamentalists don’t have the answer. Books like “Overcoming Sin and Temptation” by John Owen(the Puritan), or “Desiring God” by John Piper.
In short, such men are able to sin so gravely because they don’t understand the nature of sin, the Gospel, or the essence of the Christian life…
My response to all of this is first to point out that the post is primarily addressing the IFBx wing of fundamentalism. Not all fundamentalists that I’ve known are this bad. However, in seed form, this idea concerning sanctification is prevalent throughout fundamentalism.
The problem, as I see it, amounts to a widespread confusion over the nature of sin. It doesn’t attract us externally, the desire for sin comes from within us. We need the internal change of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Too often, Christians fail to remember that the Gospel is for them — for believers. And sadly, preaching is too often about moralism rather than the gospel.
A few of my previous posts may be of interest to those looking to dig more deeply into this topic:
Hmmm….faith without works is dead. I haven’t heard the preachers sermonizing on morals for years. In fact I read books that they STOPPED preaching hell-fire just to get more members and money and made their churches look like a Hollywood thang. The number of lawbreakers and thus sinners are raging like a wild-fire in our nation. Who is gonna speak up and warn them?? Sure, not those who are only in it for money. I sure wouldn’t have believed much if MY dad had gone into the church business to make money like he talked about! New questions…..have a great day.
You are right that many err on the opposite side these days. Still errors to both sides miss out on the importance of the gracious Gospel of Christ. My blog focuses more on the error to the hard right edge, hence my post.
Thanks again for reading.
Blessings in Christ,
Bob
A thoughtful post addressing a genuine problem. However, it would probably more effective if you avoided using the “fundy” pejorative which is unnecessarily offensive, don’t you think?
GN,
Actually the blog I’m quoting uses that pejorative. I agree that the language is loaded, but they are reacting to a pretty extreme form of fundamentalism in my understanding. I don’t use the term, but am quoting them and the name of their blog.
Hope that helps,
Thanks for stopping by.
Bob
@G.N. Barkman – I use the term “fundys”, because I am referring to an extreme wing of fundamentalism. A small confession though, the “friend” that I refer to whose father was a pastor who went running headlong into adulter, that is me.I use a psuedonym and a little different style of language when I post under this psuedonymn in order to protect my identity and the identity of my family who can be easily identified by my regular blog. Many in my former church follow me on my primary blog and through my facebook account, and so I take such precautions.
Captain,
I’m sorry to hear about your own personal involvement. Praise God for his grace in your life.
Thanks for stopping by to comment over here.
Bob