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Fundamentalist and Literalist

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen  Edited September 13, 2016  "Be a clone and kiss conviction good night. Cloneliness is next to Godliness. Right! . . . If you want to be one of his, gotta act like one of us!" — Steve Taylor, from "I Want to be a Clone" What is a Fundamentalist? If you ask around, you will probably receive several different kinds of answers. In the most basic sense, it is someone who believes in the fundamentals of the faith. In that way, most people who call themselves "Christian" are "Fundamentalists". One definition said, "Of or relating to or tending toward Fundamentalism". Thanks, that's very helpful, old son. I like this one : "Christian fundamentalism refers to a set of religious beliefs within the Protestant community which emphasizes strict adherence to Christian beliefs, including a belief in the literal truth of the Bible." I agree with that definition for the most part. As you p

You Should Know Part 2: Cult Busters

"And then if anyone says to you, 'Behold, here is the Christ'; or, 'Behold, He is there'; do not believe him; for false Christs and false prophets will arise, and will show signs and wonders, in order to lead astray, if possible, the elect. But take heed; behold, I have told you everything in advance." — Mark 13:21-23 NASB In the previous article , I was ranting that Christians need to know what and why we believe the way we do. 1 Peter 3.15 tells us to "be ready" to explain the hope that is within us. Learning our doctrines and the basics of our faith can be a bit of a daunting challenge. It takes time and perseverance, plus a great deal of reading and listening to good, solid, Bible-based teachings. One thing that made learning the basics of the faith more interesting for me was studying the cults as well as aberrant teachings. Again, I want to clarify that honest people disagree on certain nonessentials. We must walk in love as well as truth.

You Should Know

"I might believe in the Redeemer if His followers looked more Redeemed." — Fredrick Nietzsche "But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense [ apologia ] to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect — 1 Peter 3.15 (ESV)   I have a bit of a rant for you. Hopefully, it will motivate people. A few months ago on Stormbringer's Thunder, I wrote a piece about areas in which atheists are right about Christians. Not surprisingly, it drew no comments from either atheists or Christians. (My guess is that it took the wind out of the sails of the atheists, and that Christians were embarrassed.) I will probably rework it and present it here sometime. Still, I have to talk about two things tie into the quote at the top and what I just mentioned: Know what and why you believe. This is where the atheists are right, that too many Christians are ignorant of the Bible that

Good Old Touchy-Feely Jesus

An article was posted elsewhere about how Jesus used some rather harsh words. There are people who have an unscriptural view of Jesus that I detest: Wimpy. That comes from a preference-based view of love. Jesus is God incarnate (and, therefore, love incarnate), so how should he act? Perhaps it depends on your definition of "love". For that matter, your definition may differ from mine, and both of us may differ from a child's definition. If you grab Junior to stop him from wandering into a busy street and then give him a stern warning, he may say that you do not love him because you restrained him, got his attention and spoiled his fun. You expressed love with your words and actions, even though they seemed harsh to the child. He will understand, eventually. But at the moment, it seems unkind and unfair. Jesus was not always Mr. Nice Guy. He expressed righteous anger, spoke harshly and even acted physically (for example, John 2.15-16). People who are not all that familiar

Foundations

"The feare of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fooles despise wisedome and instruction." — Proverbs 1.7 (Geneva Bible, 1587) First, a recommendation: Get into the Word for the New Year. Make a commitment to read it every day. One thing I do is add one chapter from Proverbs each day. After all, there are thirty one chapters to keep you covered. I think we should start of 2011 with a look at our foundations — all the way back to square one. Greg Demme of Creation Ministries International has an important article that I hope you will read. Click here . By the way, the illustration on that page is a smaller variation on this one, from Answers in Genesis (click for larger size):

Compromise at Square One

One thing that I have noticed with people who want to compromise (or even deny) the Scriptures is that they do a song and dance routine around what is stated. We can go back to Genesis to find a hotbed of compromise. People want to appear educated or non-fanatical, so they accommodate an ancient Earth (and ancient universe) to fit with the ever-changing whims of man-made science. They do this in several ways, but I will only discuss the two most prevalent. One way is to put a "gap" between the first two verses of the Bible. Another is to invoke the "day-age" belief. When people are of the belief that science has "proven" that evolution is true and that the Earth is billions of years old, they interpret Scripture in light of man's word. They conveniently forget that man-made science is replete with errors, excuses, backtracking and even fraud. (I discussed a scientific principle that was believed by all, and then abandoned, here .) This raises the quest