Tag: Fundamentalism

Fundamentalists and Music

~ fundyreformed ~ 4 Comments

Will Dudding (the Reforming Baptist) has a great post on music. He challenges fundamentalists regarding their stance on music. I don’t agree 100% with everything he says, but his post is definitely worth a read if you are interested in reforming fundamentalism. I am happy for any who are reforming and growing in relation to the word, whether they are fundamentalist still or not. Will’s posts are always a blessing and often challenging. Here’s an excerpt.

What I see is that we have constructed a culture in fundamentalism that is an extreme opposite of the ever-developing worldly culture within new evangelicalism. It’s an atmosphere of “us vs. them”. We wear suits and ties, they don’t; we use classical style music, they don’t; we use a King James Bible, they use everything else but a KJV; we make our women wear dresses, they don’t care what their women wear; and so on and so forth…

Let me make something clear from the beginning: I am no fan of the modern gimmicks and fads that the weak, luke-warm broader evangelical church has to offer! They must turn to all their new methods (or waves, as Rick Warren puts it) to cover up their inadequate, watered-down gospel which has made them irrelevant in the true sense of the word. On that same note, I am no more a fan of the man-made, manufactured traditions and taboos of fundamentalism that so many feel that they have to defend in order to stay holy and separate from worldliness. Just as the Pharisees were clean on the outside, they neglected the weightier things of the law and we tend to do the same thing….

Music has been another component in the Christian sub-culture of Fundamentalism. You can take the most un-scriptural, theologically bankrupt song and sing it with a piano, organ and an opera singer and the song automatically passes fundamentalist standards.

The post is entitled “Music -Style, Emotion, Instruments and Associations“. Be sure to read the whole thing.

Free from the Box

~ fundyreformed ~ 2 Comments

For a while now I’ve been meaning to highlight a new blog. Free from the Box is a great blog offering help to those in extreme fundamentalism. The authors seek to create a place for those still on the inside to explore issues and find help. They take pains to make sure we know they are not against independent Fundamental Baptists by any stretch. They stand against some extremist errors which characterize some but not all IFB churches.

Besides their blog, which is one of the best such blogs I know of, they also have an online forum. They will not tolerate unChristian and rude behavior as one often finds in other fundamentalist forums (I’m thinking FFF). So their forums offer hope for a civil and friendly environment where we can duke it out in a good fundamentalist way 😉

I’d encourage you to read some of what they have to say, especially if reforming fundamentalism is one of your goals or interests. This link won’t mean much to many of my readers, but for some of you, it will be a blessing. And you can be a blessing by leaving a friendly note at their site, or by joining the forums.

Can Fundamentalists fellowship with Mark Dever?

~ fundyreformed ~ 5 Comments

I’ve been distracted from my current series by some blog discussions regarding Mark Dever and fundamentalism. (I plan to bring my next post in the Land series tomorrow, Lord willing).

Mark Dever recently interviewed Mark Minnick, who teaches at BJU and pastors in Greenville. I haven’t listened to the interview yet, but I did read some various fundamentalist reactions to it. What piqued my interest was Dever’s recent post entitled: “Mark Dever Doesn’t Practice Separation?”

Mark’s post displays some consternation over charges by fundamentalists that he does not practice separation. He details many ways in which he and his church do separate. Dever’s explanation of separation describes my basic position: that separation does not have to look like the standard fundamentalist fare, in order to still be biblical separation.

You may want to read Dever’s post and then go on to read the comments. There are some thoughtful posts and discussions happening there which are helpful to anyone thinking through the issue of ecclesiastical separation and/or secondary separation.

John Piper's Respect for Fundamentalists

~ fundyreformed ~ 8 Comments

Here are John Piper’s 20 reasons for not taking “potshots” at the fundamentalists.

1. They are humble and respectful and courteous and even funny (the ones I’ve met).

2. They believe in truth.

3. They believe that truth really matters.

4. They believe that the Bible is true, all of it.

5. They know that the Bible calls for some kind of separation from the world.

6. They have backbone and are not prone to compromise principle.

7. They put obedience to Jesus above the approval of man (even though they fall short, like others).

8. They believe in hell and are loving enough to warn people about it.

9. They believe in heaven and sing about how good it will be to go there.

10. Their “social action” is helping the person next door (like Jesus), which doesn’t usually get written up in the newspaper.

11. They tend to raise law-abiding, chaste children, in spite of the fact that Barna says evangelical kids in general don’t have any better track record than non-Christians.

12. They resist trendiness.

13. They don’t think too much is gained by sounding hip.

14. They may not be hip, but they don’t go so far as to drive buggies or insist on typewriters.

15. They still sing hymns.

16. They are not breathless about being accepted in the scholarly guild.

17. They give some contemporary plausibility to New Testament claim that the church is the “pillar and bulwark of the truth.”

18. They are good for the rest of evangelicals because of all this.

19. My dad was one.

20. Everybody to my left thinks I am one. And there are a lot of people to my left.

The more I’ve maintained my ex-fundamentalist blog, the more I’ve learned how much I really owe fundamentalism and how much we can commend it. Sure it has problems, but so does evangelicalism at large. Praise God for those determined to preserve the Truth at all costs. I pray we evangelicals can aim to get along with the fundamentalists, rather than focusing on how we can woo the Catholics and others. It would do us all some good!