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Fundamentalism: Separation-Centered rather than Gospel-Centered

~ Bob Hayton ~ 3 Comments

President Matt Olson at Northland International University is stirring up his fair share of criticism as he enacts reforms and quietly changes the ethos of what was Northland Baptist Bible College. From afar, I applaud his efforts and his bravery. He is taking shots from all sides of the ring!

My blogging friend Will Dudding at The Reforming Baptist, recently explained the pickle that Olson is in a post intriguingly titled “Northland, CCM, Fundamentalism & the Separation Nazis.”

One particular comment from his post really resonated with me. I believe it is spot on and covers almost the entire gamut of fundamentalism. I have bolded the phrase in the except below.

The gospel as the central unifying factor and the matter of first importance is often scoffed at on their blogs. They regularly deride movements like T4G and TGC that are propelling the gospel forward more than Fundamentalism has been doing. Being Separation-centered is more important to them than being Gospel-centered. Fundamentalism as a movement has done nothing in my generation and is going nowhere except to the trash heap of history. Christianity will survive well enough without it. Matt Olsen would do well to eject, but it may cost him his school.

I believe this is the problem, fundamentalists as a whole eschew a gospel-centered unity in favor of a separation-centric modus operandi. I have shared similar thoughts on this idea before in my post “Minimizing the Gospel through Excessive Separation.”

What’s your thought on this? Is it unfair to say fundamentalism is separation-centered?

What Makes a Church a Cult?

~ Bob Hayton ~ 12 Comments

I was reading through a detailed article in Chicago Magazine (starts on pt. 78) on Jack Schaap’s fall and the history and legacy of First Baptist Church of Hammond, IN (HT: Sharper Iron Filings; more on Schaap here), and I came across an excellent description of what makes a church a cult. I added the numbers to the quote below to list out the four marks of a cult that were mentioned.

What makes a church a cult? I asked Rick Ross, whose nonprofit institute maintains an online archive of data on cults and controversial movements. (He says he is not familiar with the details of First Baptist.) Ross points to a landmark 1981 Harvard study on cult formation, which suggests that all cults, destructive or not, share three elements: [1] an absolute authoritarian leader who defines the group; [2] a “thought program” that includes “control of the environment, control of information, and people subordinating themselves and their feelings to the demands of the leader”; and [3] a lack of accountability for the head of the group. Another common characteristic of cults, Ross says, is that [4] they use shame and some sort of exploitation–financial, spiritual, or sexual–to exercise control. Members of a Bible-based group for example are made to believe that “it’s a sin of pride for you to think for yourself,” he says. “It’s your ego or a demon or Satan’s influence that causes you to doubt the edicts of the leadership.” [bold emphasis added]

Most people I know who have come out of a strict fundamentalist background refere to their former church as cultic. The points above seem to validate this concern. The group I was connected with would qualify as cultic according to this definition.

I shared this quote at Sharper Iron, where they are discussing this article as a whole. I wanted to share it here too, for my audience. What do you think? Are we off base to point to a fundamentalist church and say it is cultic?

Milestones, Markers and More

~ Bob Hayton ~ 3 Comments

Recently my blog passed a few significant milestones. I thought I’d take the opportunity to reminisce a little and also mention a few upcoming plans.

Two posts ago, on August 25th, I posted my 1,000th blog post. And my most recent post, on Aug. 31st was my 100th book or media review. We’re up to over 6,800 comments and close to 500 blog subscribers. I want to thank everyone who’s followed my blog and helped keep it alive this long. We’re closing in on 6 years this Fall.

Along the way, I’ve started a few other ventures. A couple have passed by the wayside, but KJVOnlyDebate.com is still going strong (although I don’t post as much as I’d like to there anymore). I contribute at Re-Fundamentals.org still, and occasionally you’ll find a post of mine on other blogs.

I also started CrossFocusedReviews.com with my friend Shaun Tabatt. Alright, I’ll go ahead and let the cat out of the bag. Shaun and I will be launching a book related podcast this month. Stay tuned for more details on that.

Speaking of books, SharperIron.org has asked me to be their book review editor, and so I hope to help them start publishing book reviews more often. More details to come on that announcement too. If you follow Sharper Iron, let me know as I’ll want to see if I can get you to do some book reviews for them.

I enjoy the blogging and the book reviewing, but I know this isn’t what makes me special or important. Jesus Christ shed his blood for me, and that’s all I could ever ask for. I need his grace each and every day just like you. Thanks for following my blog, I trust it is a blessing to some of you and at least somewhat entertaining for others.

Okay, enough about me and my blog. Back to regularly scheduled programming, I promise!